Puteri Umno chief Zahida Zarik Khan said male chauvinists should have no place in BN. (Bernama pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: Puteri Umno has urged party leaders not to field sexist and racist candidates in the coming general election, saying the wing will refuse to back them.
The wing’s chief, Zahida Zarik Khan, said they will always work hard to ensure victory for Barisan Nasional (BN), provided that election candidates were those who understood women’s aspirations and female empowerment.
“Men who are ‘MCPs’ (male chauvinist persons), who think they are above everyone else, should have no place in BN,” she said in a speech at the Puteri BN convention today.
She said the coalition must take stern action against those who hold sexist and racist views, and those who like to ridicule and disparage women.
“When the whole nation is nauseated by the likes of them, the party can’t expect us to back them. No way, brother!” she said, without mentioning who she was referring to.
However, former Umno Supreme Council member Tajuddin Abdul Rahman recently made headlines, courted flak for sexist remarks against several opposition MPs in the Dewan Rakyat.
The Pasir Salak MP also allegedly used an expletive after switching off the microphone as the ruckus continued. The Umno man had accused DAP women MPs of being “biadap” (rude) and “tidak senonoh” (indecent).
He cited comments by DAP’s Teo Nie Ching, MP for Kulai, who accused him and his BN colleagues, Bung Moktar Radin and Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, of frequently making sexist remarks in the lower house.