LETTER
Today my team and I are distributing roses at Siniawan, Siburan and Baki (three places under parliamentary constituency of Puncak Borneo) to the person that really mattered. The person that we care and love. Yes, the women. Kerana hari ini adalah hari kamu. Hari Wanita Sedunia.
To all the women who received my roses, i want you to know that it carries a message from me.
I come from a family, where the women are strong in their work, in their characters and in their beliefs. My grandmother was a single mother, she was illiterate and poor, orang kampung, life was hard and out of 11 children only 4 survived.
She delivered one baby alone when she was working on the paddy field, and that baby sadly didn’t make it. But she tried her best to give her remaining children, food, education and future.
Kehidupan yang susah itu malangnya diwarisi oleh ibu saya sendiri. Tetapi ibu saya tidak pernah menyerah kepada nasib. Walaupun susah, ibu dan bapa saya juga mampu membesarkan kami sampai kami adik beradik masuk kolej dan university.
If you can hear me today, this is the message I want you to bring home especially to the young women. Be involved. Get out there and seize the opportunity.
If you have no money, work. If you don’t have education, study. If you want a better life, work harder.
Be involved. Because in this age, zaman sekarang, semua peluang ada di depan mata. Orang tua kita dulu, nak pergi universiti tak dapat. Kerana tak ada duit. Mereka yang ada tanah itu senanglah, jual tanah. Dapat masuk U. Tetapi sekarang, nak masuk U tak perlu gadai tanah, gadai harta benda, sudah ada PTPTN. Kalau masuk U di KL naik AirAsia tiket murah.
My point is, we are very very lucky to live in this age.
Saya ingin bercakap mewakili kaum wanita muda. Kepada rakan-rakan wanita muda, saya nak ingatkan kita adalah generasi pelapis. Sebagai generasi zaman ini, kita tidak boleh bercita-cita biasa-biasa sahaja.
We must aim high, think big. We must be daring.
In schools today, there are more women teachers than men teachers. But do you know when it comes to principles or guru besar, mostly its male guru besar. Betul ke tidak?
In the corporate world, most of the secretaries or personal assistants are women, while the more important and higher posts like the managers or CEOs are men.
Why don’t the women manage when we are obviously such good managers?
We are very proud to have for the first time in history a female Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. But it’s tough if you are a woman politician especially in Malaysia.
We don’t have to look far. I can tell from my experience when it comes to elections, most of the ground work, campaigning, paperwork etc, women are there to work as hard if not harder than their male counterparts. But when it comes to picking a candidate, it’s always a man.
But we can see here in Kuching in Sarawak that women are becoming more aware, more educated, and most importantly more women know their rights.
More and more modern Sarawak women have careers. But in most organisations, there is still a big gender gap.
There are more male workers than female workers. Which is ironic, because statistics have shown that in Malaysia, the gender gap in the higher leaning educations is also high.
There are more female students in our local universities than male students. This is not to say that women are smarter than men, but where have all these smart women gone to? If we are capable and qualified then I say we should take the drivers sit and take the lead.
I would like to call on all women, single women, working moms and stay at home moms, to stand up tall. Be proud. Know your worth and demand your rights. That is why it is important to educate ourselves. Every one of us has potentials.
We are entitled to achieve our dreams. Kita bukan hanya hiasan. Lampu lip lap. Walaupun kita cuma pelayan di kedai makan, pencuci atau penjaja, kita berhak untuk dihormati dan didengari.
Don’t let ourselves be used. Let’s close this dream gap. Show the world that we are women of principles!! We are women of substance.
To do that, we need to change our mindset, we are not any lesser. We must be bold enough and courageous. We stand right here in front of the row together with the men. And together we beautify the world. Because when we want to empower ourselves, we do not mean to disregard the men.
Men, please don’t take it wrong. We love men. We especially love men who have to take over the role of a mother to their children, men who take the role of a child who take care of their old and frail parents, men who play the role as our true friend, partner and soul mate. Men who allow us women to have the same opportunity, men who treat us equally. Because only then can we have a balance in society. Because balance is better.
I want to wish all women and men Happy International Women’s Day.
ATHINA SIM
Women’s Chief, PKR, Puncak Borneo
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
