KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Women’s Action-Resource Group (SAWO) hosted the first ever International Women’s Day (IWD 2021) virtual rally in Sabah on March 8 from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm with its theme #ChooseToChallenge.
The rally was organised to call out the long-standing poor representation of women in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly and to adopt the Top-up Women Only Additional Seats (TWOAS) concept.
It garnered 78 participants in the Zoom platform and 549 views on SAWO’s Facebook livestream at 9:30 pm. The rally was also attended by representatives from various political parties, individuals from civil society organizations and the public who whole-heartedly supported the demands of the rally.
These demands are for the Sabah State Government to support TWOAS and its adoption in the State Legislative Assembly; the State Opposition to support the adoption of TWOAS in the State Legislative Assembly, or if nothing happens, promise it in their manifestos for the next State Election; and the State Legislative Assembly to set up a select committee to study the adoption of TWOAS in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly.
In this rally, the concept of TWOAS garnered support from all attendees, notably the various representatives from political parties such as Jannie Lasimbang (DAP, N19 Kapayan), Nor Azlinah Arif (Warisan, N63 Kunak) and Datuk Seri Panglima Madius Tangau (UPKO, P170 Tuaran). MUDA, PBRS, PKR, Umno and STAR were also present and declared their support.
The rally began with representative speakers sharing their perspectives on women in politics and leadership from different communities.
A representative for the local communities from SAWO, Jollify Daniel, spoke about how the concept of leadership that is still a male dominated role in villages.
Jannie then spoke about the role of the government and political parties in increasing the level of participation of women in politics.
Karen Lai from the TWOAS working group under the Penang State Government also shared their experiences in initiating TWOAS and of their recent success in implementing it at the end of 2020.
Finally, a representative of the youth, Mahirah Marzuki from UNDISabah shared her support for TWOAS and the need to widely share the information on TWOAS to the youths and public.
There was also slogan cheering and poetry recitals throughout the event. The participants of the rally showed their support by cheering in unison, demanding for more women to be given a place in the state assembly.
During the virtual rally declaration, the audience showed their support by raising their right hand and shouting “I support!”. It was agreed by all that there is an under representation of women
in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly which impedes and delays the overall and sustainable development of the state. It also shows the presence of a systemic and structural barrier which prevents women from being in important decision-making positions in the state.
This highlights the need for new and bold approaches to accelerate the political empowerment of women.
SAWO said the Sabah State Legislative Assembly should be a platform for the voices of all Sabahans but sadly is not the case today, 58 years after becoming a nation.
As the primary administrator of the state, it is incumbent upon the state government to play a pivotal and active role in spearheading substantive changes towards a more meaningful representation of women in the State Legislative Assembly.
SAWO believes that the state government has the capacity to provide for such circumstances and will remain steadfast in its stance that a day wasted not remedying this degenerative problem is a day lost in the progress for a better Sabah.
The presence of so many different political parties with different ideologies and concepts in the rally shows how our differences do not stop us from uniting towards a common goal which is to increase women’s participation in politics and leadership, it added.
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