KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s upcoming election presents an ideal opportunity for political parties to demonstrate their commitment to increasing women's representation by fielding more female candidates in the assembly, says an NGO.
Since 1990, the United Nations has set a target of 30% women in decision-making roles, a goal that Sabah has yet to meet. Currently, only three out of 25 MPs (12%) and six out of 73 elected state seats (8.2%) are held by women.
Political advocates are urging parties to nominate more female candidates in the upcoming election to address the significant gender imbalance.
“We hope Sabah will lead the way, especially with the state election looming. Why not, since in Malaysia, the sun rises first in Sabah.
"The call for 30% women’s representation in the Sabah state assembly is just a base camp to Mount Everest. It’s a hurdle we must overcome,” said Datin Fazar Arif, founder of Pergerakan Orang Wanita Empowerment and Revolution (Power).
Speaking at the Top-up Women-Only Additional Seats (Twoas) in Sabah Workshop, she noted that although women make up half of the overall population in Sabah, 91% of policies and decision-makers are men.
“Where are the women? Maybe it is not the lack of talent or opportunities given by political parties, but it is also the voters who are not ready to vote for women.
“Sometimes, women are our own worst enemies, but also, the men who have been sitting at the helm refuse to give away the political seats.
"It is happening in Sabah. In fact, for some politicians who want to be involved in politics, they form more political parties which are, again, headed by men,” she said.
Fazar stressed that while men see gender representation as a non-issue, it actually affects everyone, hence the need to constantly address the subject.
However, despite various political efforts, women’s representation in Sabah remains far below the global standard.
The two-day workshop, titled Enhancing Women’s Political Representation, organised by Projek Stability and Accountability for Malaysia (Sama), in collaboration with Bait Al-Amanah and Power, highlighted a pragmatic approach, even if it falls short of the 30% goal, could have a significant impact.
“Even if we add six women now, that brings us to 15%. It’s still far from the target, but it’s progress,” said political analyst Prof Chin-Huat Wong, who is also the Sunway University deputy head (strategy), adding that the message was clear - small steps can bring about a big difference.
To date, Sabah ranked ninth in terms of women's representation in the state assembly with Johor topping the list with 26.8% or 15 women representatives, followed by Perak (20.3%, 12 women), Perlis (20%, three assemblymen), while Terengganu is the lowest with just 3.1% or one representative in its state assembly.
In the 2020 state election, only 44 female candidates were fielded, or 9.6% from the overall 447 candidacies, and off the figure, six women won, of which two are new faces, while 29 others lost their deposits.
According to Bait Al-Amanah research director, Benedict Weerasena, as of 2022, Malaysia ranks second-last in women’s representation across Asean, with only 13.5% of seats held by women.
Globally, Malaysia ranks 151st out of 193 countries.
“In Malaysia, women perform well in many sectors, except politics. It is not that we have a shortage of women with talents and capabilities, but there are insufficient male retirees from their political helms.
“In Sabah, it is no longer about education capacity as there are more girls than boys in universities, it is a systemic issue that needs to change. There is room for advocacy,” said Weerasena.
He said there is a need for women icons to show that politics is about balance and to change the stereotype that female candidates are weak and unable to balance family and politics.
“I believe we need more women leaders to rise up and show that politics is never meant to be a male sport,” he said.
He added that increasing women's representation in decision-making mechanisms is crucial, saying, “It is not about numbers, or it looks nice, but it is about diverse voices to ensure that policy making is not dominated by just 50% of society, or men. It has to cover all aspects of society. We want diversity in our state assembly.”
Projek Sama, Bait Al-Amanah, and POWER also pointed out that among the biggest barriers to women’s representation is the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) electoral system.
According to Projek Sama convener Ngeow Chow Ping, the FPTP system favours popular male incumbents, making it difficult for women to break through.
To address this, they propose a Women-Only Additional Seats (WOAS) system, which would allocate six appointed seats in the Sabah legislature to parties based on their vote share, ensuring women’s representation.
“This would require a simple amendment to Article 14 of the Sabah State Constitution and new legislation to govern the operation of WOAS,” Ngeow said.
Inspired by a similar system in Penang, this initiative could raise women's representation to 7.6% in the Sabah state assembly if implemented.
The project is supported by the Canadian government, reflecting its commitment to gender equality and inclusive governance.
“This workshop aims to increase women's legislative representation by advocating for change in the existing seats of political appointees to top up women-only additional seats.
“The Twoas project aligns very well with Canada's ambition of advancing women's political empowerment. Representing half of the world's population, it makes perfect sense that women's perspectives are incorporated into all aspects of policy and lawmaking,” said High Commissioner-designate of Canada to Malaysia, Jodi Robinson.
She noted that women should be equal decision-makers and agents of change in economic, social, and political processes, but it requires a community to make it happen.
“Ensuring women are ready to participate in the political sphere can be achieved by targeted mentorship, capacity-building workshops, and knowledge-sharing efforts among local communities," she said, adding that it also must be supported by both male and female colleagues.
