LETTER | Reward parties that elect women lawmakers with special funding

LETTER | We fully support and urge the government to consider the recommendations by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) to publicly fund political parties with an annual total of RM133 million in direct funding.

Parties should be funded both directly and indirectly by the government to reduce the parties’ dependence on private funds and subsequently disproportionate policy influence by the rich.

In particular, Sawo applauds the second recommendation in the Bersih 2.0 study, “Public Funding of Political Parties in Malaysia: Debates, Case Studies, and Recommendations”, that RM10 million should be provided to all parties that succeed in electing elect at least one woman parliamentarian, proportionally divided among the parties by women-held seats, and earmarked entirely for parties’ expenses in promoting women participation in politics.

Sawo sees it as imperative for governments at all levels to increase the percentage of women decision-makers in all bodies, including legislatures and cabinets.

Women’s representation has seen very slow growth in all levels of government, sitting only at 14.4 percent in our Parliament today. It is shameful that Malaysia ranks 142nd out of 190 countries surveyed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in this regard.

We at Sawo truly believe that providing financial support to parties with women MPs is the key to raise women’s participation in politics, which in turn, can improve our country as a whole. We call upon the four women MPs from Sabah (Noorita Sual, Christina Liew, Vivian Wong, and Isnaraissah Munirah) to advance this call to their party and in the next parliamentary sitting.

If the federal government is not keen, Sawo would like to call upon the Sabah state government to be a pioneer and introduce such a special fund - even with a smaller amount, say, RM1 million, for all parties that succeed to elect at least one women state assemblyperson (Adun) in Sabah’s next state election.

Public funding of political parties in Australia started in the state of New South Wales before the federal government followed suit. Sabah can be Malaysia’s New South Wales.

With such funding, parties would be incentivised to field more women candidates in winnable constituencies. A vast improvement in women’s representation in the state legislative assembly is badly needed as there were only seven women Aduns in 2018 out of 73 elected members, or 9.6 percent, ranking eight among Malaysia’s states.

Sawo calls upon the six women Aduns, including two assistant ministers Julita Mojungki and Flovia Ng, as well as Rina Jainal (Warisan), Christina Liew (PKR), Norazlinah Arif (Warisan), and Jannie Lasimbang (DAP) to lobby their parties and the state government to support this vital reform for women.

Sawo believes it is time for our Parliament and state legislatures to achieve a more balanced representation. With a better representation of women, there can be more growth in various areas for our country. More women in politics reinforces diversity and inclusion in our multicultural society.

SABAH WOMEN'S ACTION RESOURCE GROUP (Sawo) is a women’s organisation based in Sabah that advocates for gender equality and women’s empowerment through supporting women in politics and fighting against gender-based violence.