Najib Tun Razak: Govt committed to continue empowering women

PUTRAJAYA: The government is committed to continue empowering women in the country towards ensuring their full potential can be realised and enhanced, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Najib Razak said the government not only recognised their importance but had included them in mainstream development and in transforming the country.

"In our history... in the struggle for independence... in our struggle after independence...in our struggle to achieve the nation's vision...women played an important role towards achieving the aspirations and goals of the country.

"That is why we are gathered here today, to trigger waves among women, so that women come forward and in turn raise the spirit, that national aspirations cannot be achieved without the empowerment of women throughout the country," Najib Razak said when launching the 1 Million Women Purple Walk 2013, here .

Also present were the Prime Minister's wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and wife Puan Sri Norainee Abdul Rahman, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim and Chief Secretary to the Government Datuk Seri Dr Ali Hamsa.

The Prime Minister  Najib Razak said that as a result of the government's efforts over the years, many successes had been achieved by women, for example in the field of education.

"In higher education centres, why is that 62 per cent of the enrolment comprise female students ... this is due to their having the qualifications, "he said.  
He also said that the government would continue with its policy of having 30 per cent of women employed at the decision-making level.

"Now 30 of the 62 High Court judges are women, of the secretaries-general in ministries, seven of them are women with the latest being in the Ministry of Health," he said.

Najib Razak also said he wanted government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) appoint at least one woman or more to their boards.

"The national transformation policy will not be achieved if women are not given equal opportunities, not empowered and included in the mainstream, not only at the highest level but also at the grassroots," Najib Razak said.

Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan launched the state level 1Million Women Purple Walk 2013 with almost 10,000 in attendance in the Sports and Youth Complex in Paroi. -- Bernama

Najib appointed Selangor BN election chief

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will lead Barisan Nasional’s (BN) polls blitzkrieg in Selangor as its newly-appointed election director, state leaders decided yesterday, in a move that shows the pact’s determination to recapture the country’s richest and most industrialised state. Utusan Malaysia Online quoted Selangor BN coordinator Datuk Seri Mohd Zin Mohamed as confirming that the decision was made during a state BN meeting last night, where leaders strategised on the best formula to ensure Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is toppled in Selangor after Election 2013.

“The Prime Minister, who is also BN’s state chairman will lead the election machinery in Selangor and this shows his continuous efforts for the party, showing his confidence and his ‘hands on’ approach in Selangor,” he was quoted as saying. The Sepang MP also revealed that he would be helping Najib (picture) as his deputy elections director in terms of planning and mobilising the state’s election machinery.

BN lost the country’s wealthiest state and three others ― Perak, Kedah and Penang ― in a historic upset in Election 2008, when the federal opposition also captured 82 federal seats to deny the ruling coalition its customary two-third parliamentary majority.BN later took back Perak in an electoral putsch in February 2009 and has been working hard to unseat PR in Selangor.

In recent months, Najib, who is faced with the tough task of ensuring BN takes a comfortable majority in Election 2013, has been traversing the length and breadth of the country, spreading his pledges of reform and transformation as he urged Malaysians against changing the government.But observers believe the next electoral race may be neck-and-neck between BN and the fledgling PakatanRakyat (PR) pact, which has grown significantly in strength and numbers since its surprise victories in the last federal polls.

Much focus will be placed on Selangor, said to be the country’s engine of economic growth, where talk is that PR’s administration under first-term MentriBesar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim may not have performed well enough to sustain its 2008 support.PR currently has tenuous control over the country’s richest state and holds 36 seats in the 56-seat state assembly and 17 out of 22 parliamentary seats.

A swing of seven state seats towards BN in the next general election, which must be held by June, will allow the federal ruling pact to recapture Selangor with a simple majority.The 13th general election is expected by the second week of April, a month after Najib razak ends his “Janji Ditepati” (Promises Fulfilled) national tour and his BN completes its candidates list and manifestos, sources have said.The Malaysian Insider understands the prime minister’s last stop of the tour is in his Pekan parliamentary constituency on March 16, after which he is expected to meet the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and seek a dissolution of Parliament.

“The Election Commission (EC) normally sets polling day about three weeks after Parliament is dissolved, so we expect the earliest is mid-April,” a BN source told The Malaysian Insider.

There had been speculation that Parliament would be dissolved this week and a general election will be held by the end of March, more than five years after the last general election on March 8, 2008.The EC will set the polling date with a minimum 10-day campaign period and is expected to do so after Parliament and all state assemblies except Sarawak are dissolved. Sarawak had its state elections in 2011.The Malaysian Insider previously reported that the BNmanifesto will be ready by the end of this month while activists from the component parties have already started their ground work.