Melanie Chia
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Independent Candidates Alliance (Sica) says it is high time for Kota Kinabalu City (DBKK) to have a woman as the city Mayor.
Proposing this, Sica member Melanie Chia opined that, if this becomes a reality in the near future, it will certainly reflect well on the Sabah State government, as it would be seen as making a pivotal move in boosting women’s empowerment in Malaysia, and Sabah especially.
“Women’s empowerment is a central element of growth and prosperity for the nation, and women’s participation in the development process is crucial,” she underscored.
A long-time advocate of gender equality and women’s empowerment, Melanie further stressed that democratic ideals of inclusiveness, accountability, and transparency cannot be achieved without laws, policies, measures and practices that address inequalities.
“We must go beyond the rhetoric of talking about these issues only at the time of elections. Rather we must weave these ideals into the social, political, and economic fabric of society, so that girls and women can reach their potential on an equal basis with men, whatever they choose to do,” she asserted in a statement issued today.
She especially opined that the current Director General of Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) Noorliza Awang Alip who she described as a ‘very capable’ civil servant, certainly qualifies as a candidate for the next Mayor.
“Noorliza’s vast administrative experience and ‘people-oriented’ attitude will make her an effective Mayor,” she added.
Melanie proposed this while expressing concern over the recent news report that the Malaysia Gender Gap Index (MGGI) scored 0.709 or 70.9% in 2019, dropping slightly from 0.711 in 2018, according to the Statistics on Women Empowerment in Selected Domains, Malaysia, 2020. This also made Malaysia rank 73rd globally in 2019, dropping 10 places compared to 2018.
MGGI identifies the gap between women and men across four sub-indices encompassing economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. A score of 1.0 (100%) indicates that equality between women and men has been achieved.
Melanie also cited that the MGGI 2019 reported that women’s achievement had surpassed men in the educational attainment sub-index with a score of 1.053 but the labour force participation rate for women was still low at 55.6% in 2019 compared to Singapore at 69.1%. Malaysia women’s score in political empowerment is still a poor 10.8% in 2019.
“The statistics tell us that there is no shortage of qualified women in Malaysia but the participation of women in the labour force still needs improvement especially the participation of women at the decision-making level. Women have to be equal partners and drivers of growth!” she said.
Melanie then observed that the US President-elect Joe Biden’s move of nominating many qualified and experienced women to key cabinet and cabinet level positions has received overwhelming endorsement from civil society organizations worldwide; if approved by the Senate, the move will create many “firsts” in women holding key positions. His appointment of the all-female White House communications team is certainly also the first time in US history!
To better illustrate women’s capability as a leader, the former Luyang assemblywoman cited a recent study which found that countries with female leaders have handled the coronavirus pandemic ‘systematically and significantly better’ than those run by men.
This study of 194 countries was conducted by Supriya Garikipati, of the University of Liverpool, and Uma Kambhampati, of the University of Reading reported that women-led countries like Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, Taiwan, Iceland, and Finland recorded far fewer deaths and lower death tolls. (It is worth noting that some male-led countries, like the Czech Republic and Greece, have recorded lower deaths as well.
Sica is an ad-hoc five-member political grouping which was formed during the recent Sabah state election. Its members include Melanie, Achmad Noorasyrul Noortaip, Sim Sie Hong, Chin Ling Lingand Jan Chow Yee Fah. Sica is committed to the agenda of uplifting the socio-economic wellbeing of Sabahans and building a civil society.
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