Home > Sarawak
More Power For Women
Dato Sri Doris Sophia Brodie , Rita Insol
October 4th, 2017 | 08:42 AM | 1559 views
KUCHING
Masing determined to put women candidates for GE14; Entulu, Nyallau likely casualties in this move
Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) is widely tipped to field two women in the 14th General Election (GE14).
However, PRS president, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing who insisted on having a Dayak woman elected as MP on his party’s ticket before his retirement was tightlipped when contacted by The Borneo Post to name the candidates yesterday.
“I had put Dato Sri Doris Sophia Brodie as a senator and later as the first Dayak lady Deputy Speaker of Dewan Negara. Before I retire I would like to see a Dayak lady to be an elected representative from PRS.
“I am getting old, therefore, new blood must be injected into Parti Rakyat Sarawak. The struggle to better Sarawak and the community must continue,” he said.
He said that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak recently said he wanted 30 per cent of positions of authority in government-linked companies and in other fields to be filled by women.
“In this ‘field’ (political arena) Dayak society did very badly. We have none!” he stressed.
Despite Masing’s reluctance to name the women candidates, party insiders have told The Borneo Post that the two women in the list he submitted to the Prime Minister for GE14 were PRS Wanita chief Dato Sri Doris Sophia Brodie and Rita Insol, PRS Tamin Wanita bureau chief.
When the two ladies’ names were mentioned to Masing yesterday as the women candidates for his party he dismissed it as speculation.
“Ya kah?. It’s speculative talk,” he said.
Doris has been bandied as the candidate to replace two-term Lubok Antu MP Datuk William Nyallau Badak while Rita is tipped to replace Selangau MP, PRS deputy president Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun.
Rita is a logical choice to replace Entulu as Tamin is within the Parliamentary constituency of Selangau and she has strong grassroots support there.
Rita is also the Sarawak Dayak Oil Palm Planters Association (Doppa) vice president.
She went to Kolej Tuanku Haji Bujang Miri for her upper secondary education before taking up law in University of Malaya and later obtained her MBA from Herriot Watt University.
She worked as a Magistrate for five years before joining Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd and was there for 20 years.
Her last position before taking early retirement was as head of legal advisors.
Rita is a well known public figure in Bintulu, being the chairman of Serakup Indu Dayak Sarawak (SIDS) Bintulu for 17 years.
Both the ladies were not available for comments.
Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST
by Abdul Hakim Bujang
If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]