I WOULD like to refer to the recent announcement by Prime Minister Najib Razak that he shall be chairing the MyWIN Academy Advisory Council for empowerment of women and his deputy being Lim Kok Wing.

I was trying to be objective about it. Hence, I googled for their track records on empowerment of women. Najib appointed himself as the women, family and community development minister in 2012, much to the chagrin of many feminists and gender-sensitised individuals as it was a big slap on the face of women in general.

Some may argue that by putting the prime minister in charge of women’s affairs would be a better option than putting a woman who was powerless. Well, so what has Najib achieved during his tenure as the women’s affairs minister? What was his report card? Quite lacklustre, I must say.

I opine that the lack of women empowerment was the main reason why the debate for women related bills like Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) (Amendment) Bill (LRA) and the Domestic Violence (Amendments) Act had to be postponed in order to debate Hadi’s Private Member’s Bill, or RUU 355.

Lack of empowerment of women is also the reason why the section for unilateral conversion was removed from the LRA.

Lack of empowerment of women, too, was the reason why there’s no political will to stop sexist statements from being uttered in Parliament.

Lack of empowerment of women, too, was the reason why women are often objectified and judged by what they wear by male BN politicians and blamed for the prevalence of rape and sexual assault cases.

The list goes on and on.

Najib’s report card is so bad that women from all sectors are planning a Purple Walk on September 10 to protest against toxic politics.

Noor Farida Ariffin of G25 referred to “toxic politics” as violence and threats against individuals as well as racist and sexist language which she claimed have become prevalent among the nation’s leaders.

As for Lim Kok Wing, I can’t find anything remotely gender sensitive or women empowering about his track record.

Hence, we now question the rationale for appointing Najib and Lim Kok Wing as the main pushers for empowerment of women not just because they are males.

We question their appointments based on merits. Najib, being the prime minister holding the portfolio of finance minister as well, would be bogged down with a lot of other responsibilities.

Why can’t the government exhibit some sincerity and political will to empower women? The whole exercise now reeks of another sham publicity stunt to show us that the government is doing something to empower women rather than actually empowering women. – August 28, 2017.

* Nicole Tan Lee Koon is a DAP Wanita National Executive Committee member and political secretary to Rasah MP Teo Kok Seong.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.