PKR Women Ready For GE16 And Sabah Polls
JOHOR BAHRU, May 23 (Bernama) -- The Women's Wing of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is on a solid path in preparation for the upcoming 16th General Election (GE16) and Sabah State Election.
PKR Women's chief Fadhlina Sidek said preparations began earlier through various training and empowerment programmes such as 'Run-2-Win' to ensure that the women candidates participating in the electoral arena are truly ready to win.
"We focus not only on training and talent but also on preparing the idealism, speech training, data training, voter engagement training, and instilling confidence in them to enter as candidates who can win," she said here today.
Fadhlina, who will defend her position as Women's chief in the central level elections for the 2025-2028 session, said this at a press conference after delivering her keynote address at the 18th Annual PKR Women's National Congress 2025 at the Danga Bay Convention Centre here.
The election for Women's chief will witness a one-on-one clash between Fadhlina, who is also the Education Minister, and Ampang member of parliament (MP) Rodziah Ismail.
In efforts to strengthen the line-up of women candidates, Fadhlina said PKR Women also introduced a financing initiative through the 30 Women Representatives (30Wreps) to help candidates enter the elections without having to worry about funding challenges.
The Nibong Tebal MP, who also touched on the matter in her keynote address, said that the women's talent development programmes are also being carried out through the Sekolah Wanita Keadilan (SWAN), which now operates according to zones -- Eastern, Northern, Southern and Borneo -- as a platform to discover and train future women leaders.
Meanwhile, she also emphasised that as a party that is now part of the government, all PKR members cannot be detached from national policies and must collectively support every government initiative for the welfare of the people.
"This includes preparations towards becoming an ageing nation by 2030, and among our members, there are those who have already reached such an age, but are very active citizens.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Borneo Post
3 hours ago
- Borneo Post
MOF: Targeted sales tax rate revision, service tax scope expansion to be effective July 1
Amir Hamzah says that complementing the Madani Government's efforts to stimulate the economy and strengthen the social safety net, the additional revenue from the SST enhancements will go towards further public service improvements. – Bernama photo PUTRAJAYA (June 10): The government will implement a targeted revision of the Sales Tax rates and expansion of the Service Tax's scope effective from July 1, 2025, in order to strengthen the country's fiscal position by increasing revenue and broadening the tax base. Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said these measures are aimed at improving the quality of the social safety net without burdening the majority of Malaysians. 'The government is committed to continuing the reforms under the Madani Economy framework. To ensure that the majority of people are not affected by the Sales and Service Tax (SST) revision, the Madani government is taking a targeted approach to ensure that basic goods and services are not taxed. 'In addition, various facilities are also being provided to mitigate the impact on micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs),' he said in a statement yesterday. Amir Hamzah said that complementing the Madani Government's efforts to stimulate the economy and strengthen the social safety net, the additional revenue from the SST enhancements will go towards further public service improvements. These include increasing the amount of cash assistance to the people, as well as strengthening basic infrastructure and the delivery of public services. 'This additional revenue can benefit the entire country without raising the burden on the majority of the people,' he said. Amir Hamzah said the SST review has undergone the process of engagement with stakeholders, particularly industry associations and tax agents. 'Legal preparations also took into account feedback and input from the industry to ensure that the majority of the people are not affected and the impact on the industry is minimised,' the minister said. According to the statement, the Sales Tax rate will remain unchanged for essential goods consumed by the people, while a rate of either five or 10 per cent will be imposed on non-essential or discretionary goods. The scope of the Service Tax will be extended to include new services such as rental or leasing, construction, finance, private healthcare, education, and beauty services. This expansion is accompanied by selective exemptions to avoid double taxation and to ensure that certain essential services for Malaysian citizens are not taxed. Amir Hamzah said the government has also taken into account the need for legal compliance by companies that are subject to the SST. 'In line with that, for companies that take steps to comply with the SST legal requirements, no legal action or penalty will be imposed up to Dec 31, 2025,' he said. Under the Sales Tax revision, the Madani Government is maintaining a rate of zero per cent on essential daily goods such as rice, chicken, beef, fish, vegetables, sugar, cooking oil, medicine, books, newspapers and pet food, as well as basic construction materials and agricultural inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides and machinery. This approach is aimed at ensuring that there is no direct impact on the cost of living for the majority of people and inflation rates remain manageable. Meanwhile, a five per cent Sales Tax is imposed on selected discretionary items such as king crab, salmon, cod, imported fruits, essential oils, and silk fabrics, while premium items such as racing bicycles and antique hand-painted artworks are subject to a rate of 10 per cent. Amir Hamzah Azizan lead MoF review Sales and Service Tax SST


Daily Express
3 hours ago
- Daily Express
What next for PKR and Sabah PKR?
Published on: Sunday, June 01, 2025 Published on: Sun, Jun 01, 2025 By: Teddy Chin Text Size: The dust following the party election is just beginning to settle down and Nurul is eager to get to work. What now for PKR? So the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) election has ended. Party president cum PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was returned unopposed. His daughter was elected the new Deputy President, defeating incumbent Rafizi Ramli who is a Minister in Anwar's Cabinet. This means that for the first time, PKR is led by a father-daughter team. It's historic in Malaysian politics, too. In his closing address at the PKR Congress, Anwar shot down talks of nepotism. Advertisement Tracing PKR's history, Anwar said when he was going to jail, he persuaded his wife to take over the party which Kak Wan agreed and for which he was grateful. 'It was a difficult time in the young PKR's struggle. At that time nobody said it was nepotism. Few people even dared to join the Opposition. 'But Nurul Izzah was elected by you all,' he reminded the party delegates, to applause from them. Indeed, Nurul Izzah had won from Day One. She got 200 nominations out of 222 parliamentary divisions. Had she lost, there must be something wrong somewhere. The dust following the party election is just beginning to settle down and Nurul is eager to get to work. What now for PKR? Party members expected Rafizi to keep his promise of resigning from his Minister post as he said he would if he lost the Deputy Presidency. The election was held last Friday. Rafizi didn't turn up the next and final day of the party Congress on Saturday in Johor. His press secretary said he had returned to Kuala Lumpur. Then on Monday he showed up at his ministerial office for work as usual and rumours had it that he was at the office to pack and resign. Wrong. Rafizi turned up for work to ask his officers to brief him on his role, if any, during the Asean Summit on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then on Tuesday, he showed up at the Asean meeting in his role as Economy Minister, accompanying the PM. Then on Wednesday, immediately after the Asean 'do', he resigned. It was quite responsible and sporting of him to show up at the Asean function as Economy Minister as required. Had he been absent on purpose, wouldn't that make Malaysia a laughing stock in the eyes of the World particularly Asean? But that's not the end of the story. On the same day, another Minister, Nik Nazmi also resigned following Rafizi's footsteps. Nazmi was in Rafizi's camp during the party election and he failed to defend his Vice-Presidency. But he didn't do too badly. He missed the boat by just about 100 votes. Only four Vice-Presidents were to be elected and Nik Nazmi was No 5. He got 5,556 votes while the No 4 successful candidate, Chang Lih Kang received 5,757 votes. The consolation was that Chang an incumbent and also a Minister, was in Rafizi's camp too. So now there are two vacancies. Expected to be the new Ministers are Nurul Izzah and another successful Vice-President, newcomer Ramanan who got the second highest votes among the four. But this is only on the assumption that the posts will be given back to PKR. For Nurul to be appointed, she would first have to be made a Senator as she is not an elected MP. If indeed Nurul is appointed, it will be another history in the political annals of Malaysia. Will this mean the breaking up of PKR? I don't think so. Nobody is indispensable. Somebody will replace you. As the Malay saying goes, 'Patah Tumbuh, Hilang Berganti'. When you are No.2, then behave like a No.2. The political history of Malaysia, let alone the world, is full of stories of the No.1 ''etting rid' of the No.2 when he becomes suspicious. Azmin Ali used to be Deputy PKR president until he ran foul of Anwar. Perhaps having been Selangor MP for two terms and appointed as Economy Minister by Dr M had some effect. During the last PKR Congress that Azmin attended, he was not even invited to deliver a closing address as Deputy President as was the custom. What a humiliation. But Anwar himself was a victim when he was Dr M's deputy. History repeating itself? The Old Man was probably jealous when an international magazine put Anwar's face on its cover. Anwar was then Finance Minister. Anwar was also given top protocol treatment when he visited USA as if he were the PM. Another incident which could have aroused the Old Man's jealousy was when Malaysia hosted the Commonwealth Conference. There was a dinner hosted by the British Government. It was on the Queen's royal yacht and Queen Elizabeth herself was there as Head of the Commonwealth. In her speech, British PM Margaret Thatcher said: 'If Finance Ministers are transferable, then I don't mind having Mr Anwar as my Finance Minister….' You can imagine how the Old Man felt on hearing that. Moral of the story – Never try to overshadow or outshine your boss! Coming back to the PKR election, no one from Sabah made it to the Supreme Council. Sabah PKR Information Chief Razeef Rakimin who had the blessings of the State PKR Leadership to contest only managed 2,920 votes compared to the last candidate who won and got 4,366 votes. Razeef is also the Tuaran PKR divisional chief and was recently reelected to that post. However, the Tuaran division is believed to be one of the four PKR divisions in Sabah who nominated Rafizi instead of Nurul. He was also not present at Nurul's event at SICC in May but instead attended Rafizi's function at ITCC on the same day. However, it is understood that a few of his divisional committee members defied him and went to SICC instead of ITCC. Sabah PKR chief Datuk Mustapha Sakmud himself did not contest as he would be invited to the party's supreme council meeting as State head. Instead he gave his blessings to Razeef at a press conference. But it is an open secret that Mustapha supported Nurul and was present and gave a speech at SICC when she came. Now that Razeef failed to get elected to the central committee, will his Sabah PKR Information Chief position be at stake or will Nurul replace him with one of her supporters? Datuk Christina Liew perhaps? It remains to be seen. This is politics. Anything can happen. Christina is close to the whole Anwar family including Nurul. When Nurul was in Kota Kinabalu to attend the SICC function, Christina accompanied her to Kota Belud for a party function after that. Another Sabah PKR leader who contested for a seat in the central committee was Sangkar Rasam. He is Keningau PKR head and he got more votes than Razeel although he too lost. He got 3,229 votes compared to Razeef's 2,920. Sangkar's name appeared in Nurul's 'Cai Dan', meaning he was in Nurul's team. Although he lost, he may be appointed to a position by Nurul. But who is this Rasam? A few years ago, he replaced Christina as Sabah PKR chief. How it happened or who was behind him, to borrow Dr M's words, 'I can't remember'. However, late last year or early this year, Rasam in turn was replaced by Mustapha Sakmud. How it happened? Again, I forgot. Anyway, politics is a game of being in the right team. Now that Nurul is elected, Rasam may see his fortunes coming back soon. However, he is neither a MP or Senator or Assemblyman. Mustapha is the MP for Sepanggar and Higher Education Minister. It is also possible that Rasam may replace Razeef as Information Chief. I am not sure how many Nominated or Appointed posts are there to the PKR central committee, if any. Assuming vacancies do exist, both Christina and Rasam stand a chance. However, Sabah PKR women folks had better luck at the party election. Rufinah Pengeran from Pensiangan was elected one of the three Vice Women Chiefs of PKR. She got 2,518 votes, far ahead of her closest rival who received only 1,574 votes. Another Sabah PKR leader who contested but failed to win a seat in the central committee was Dikin Musah who got 1,318 votes. He is the Beaufort PKR divisional chief. If I am not mistaken, he was also the PKR candidate for Beaufort in the 2022 MP election which was won by Umno. Not sure if he was in anybody's camp in the recent election. Now that no Sabah delegate won a seat at the central level, it remains to be seen whether anyone will be appointed and who he or she is. Nearer home, Sabah PKR is now in the safe hands of Datuk Mustapha Sakmud. He took over from Sangkar who in turn took over from Christina Liew. So full circle now. Sabah PKR has been associated with the name Christina for more than a decade. She has been the face of PKR which culminated in her being appointed a Deputy Chief Minister in 2018, the first Chinese woman to hold that post. But all good things must come to an end. In late 2020, the Warisan+ Sabah government which includes PKR and DAP and Upko lost the election and Christina found herself in the Opposition overnight. But as Kak Wan (Anwar's wife) said: 'Manusia merancang, Tuhan turut merancang' (Man plans, God also plans). Early 2022 Christina found herself a Minister again in the same Tourism Ministry after PH (DAP, PKR, Upko) threw their weight behind Hajiji who survived a coup planned by former comrades in Umno. But perhaps not many Sabahans remember that Christina actually took over from the late Datuk Lajim Okin as Sabah PKR chief last time after the latter left PKR to form his own party based in his native Beaufort. Lajim formerly of Umno and Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing joined PKR at about the same time when then Opposition leader Anwar came over to Sabah. Anwar spoke at Bumburing's property in Tuaran and Lajim's hometown in Beaufort. In the 2013 election, Lajim won in Beaufort, Bumburing in Tamparuli and Christina in Api-Api. After the election and the State Assembly sat, an Opposition Leader with official perks was to be elected. The fight for the post was between Lajim and Bumburing. But the Speaker announced that Lajim received more votes from Opposition Assemblymen than Bumburing. Christina became Lajim's deputy. A frustrated Bumburing soon formed Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS), saying that he was never officially a PKR member. PCS is now led by Senator Tan Sri Anifah Aman while Bumburing returned to Upko where he was deputy president (to Dompok). Christina continued to lead Sabah PKR until about a couple of years ago. She even led Sabah PH until she lost to the Upko president recently. To add insult to injury, she even lost her PKR divisional chief post to her aide recently. But by now Christina is mature in politics and she now concentrates on her duties as Tourism Minister and Api-Api Assemblywoman. Being aligned to Nurul, Sabahans have not seen the last of Christina. In fact, when Christina first joined PKR in 2001 and stood in the Likas by-election the same year, the PKR president was still Kak Wan and the Sabah PKR chief was Datin Saidatul Badru Tun Said Keruak, sister of former Chief Minister Datuk Salleh. Lajim and Bumburing were not in PKR yet. That is how long Christina has been in PKR and that explains why she is close to Kak Wan. She supported PKR and Kak Wan when not many Sabahans dared to. She deserves to be rewarded by Anwar and Nurul. She also deserves to be appreciated by CM Hajiji because when Sabah PH threw their weight behind him, Christina was the Sabah PH Chairperson.


Daily Express
5 hours ago
- Daily Express
Seek explanation, student group told
Published on: Tuesday, June 10, 2025 Published on: Tue, Jun 10, 2025 By: Crystal E Hermenegildus Text Size: Mustapha, also Sepanggar MP, said the Telibong II Water Treatment Plant (WTP) has been completed. - Bernama pic Kota Kinabalu: Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Mustapha Sakmud, advised a student group which urged Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to sue the State Water Department (JANS) to seek an explanation from the department. He said while it is the right of any party to file a lawsuit, such action must follow proper legal procedures. Advertisement 'The water supply issues at UMS were not deliberate. There are various technical factors that need to be considered,' he said during the 2024 Madani SPM Excellent Student Awards Ceremony for the Sepanggar parliamentary area, here, Monday. He was responding to the call from student group Suara Mahasiswa for legal action over the water supply disruptions at the UMS campus. Mustapha, also Sepanggar MP, said the Telibong II Water Treatment Plant (WTP) has been completed. 'However, pipe installation is still underway, causing delays. The real issue now lies with the unfinished Pan Borneo Highway. Because of that, the pipe installation couldn't be completed as scheduled. 'Efforts are being made to resolve the matter, but technical issues have caused setbacks. If students are still unsatisfied after receiving an explanation, they have the option to pursue legal action,' he said. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia