QUICK TAKE: The Dayaks of Sarawak are traditionally strong supporters of the Barisan National (BN) but they have yet to break out of tradition by supporting their womenfolk to be elected people's representatives, whether at state or federal level.
Not since the time of Tra Zehnder, who was a member of the then Sarawak Council Negri (now renamed Dewan Undangan Negeri) from 1961 to 1963, have the Dayaks put up another woman candidate to represent them in the government.
Presently, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) women chief Doris Sophia Brodie is a senator as well as the deputy speaker in the Dewan Negara but this is a political appointment rather than by virtue of being an elected representative.
There are some 40 sub-ethnic Dayak groups in Sarawak, each with its own distinct language, culture and lifestyle. However, the three main groups are Iban who make up approximately 31 percent of the state's 2.64 million population; the Bidayuh (eight percent) and the Orang Ulu (five percent).
Doris Sophia BrodieDoris Sophia Brodie
After the recent redelineation excercise, they have now 36 seats out of a total of 82 seats in the state legislative assembly. Eleven of them are from the Pesaka wing of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) while PRS has another 11, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and its breakaway party Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) have nine while Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and its splinter party United People's Party (UPP) have five.
At the federal level, they have 15 Members of Parliament out of the state's 31 parliamentary seats. Six of them come from PRS, four from PBB, four from SPDP/Teras while SUPP has one.
Recently, PRS Bukit Begunan division women chief Lucy Kalong expressed her disappointment that the party did not pick any woman candidate for this state election despite having many capable and well-educated women members.
She claimed that PRS president James Masing had promised them five years ago that the party would see a woman candidate this election but the promise has not been fulfilled. All the 11 PRS candidates named by Masing are men.
There is also no sign that the Pesaka wing of PBB or the other BN component parties are proposing any Dayak woman candidate.
Where politics are concerned, has the Dayak woman being pushed to the backroom, much like in the olden days, when tribal conflicts were common occurrences, when their men would go to war, leaving the womenfolk waiting anxiously at home? Or the days when their men would go hunting for wild animals while the womenfolk would get ready the pots to cook, and to rejoice?
Even in modern times, such a scenario is not uncommon in their community: the men would sit on the sofa in the living room, eating and drinking wine, discussing serious business and current affairs, while the women would huddle in the kitchen, talking and laughing over trivial matters.
Times have changed and Dayak women play an important role in the society. Statistics have shown that six out of every 10 Dayak graduates are women and many among them are holding important jobs in the public or private sector.
Malay and Melanau seem to be more liberal with their fairer sex. PBB's Bumiputera wing has three women representatives in the state legislative assembly – Sharifah Hasidah (Semariang), Fatimah Abdullah (Dalat) and Simoi Peri (Lingga) while SPDP has one in Rosey Yunus (Bekenu).
At the federal level, PBB has four women MPs – Norah Abdul Rahman (Tanjong Manis), Nancy Shukri (Batang Sadong), Rohani Abdul Karim (Batang Lupar) and Rubiah Wang (Kota Samarahan).
The Chinese have three women representatives in the state legislative assembly and one MP, though they are all from DAP, the opposition party. They have Violet Yong (Pending), Christina Chew (Batu Kawah) and Ting Tze Fui (Meradong) at state level and one MP, Alice Lau (Lanang).
It is time for Dayak women to catch up.
Not since the time of Tra Zehnder, who was a member of the then Sarawak Council Negri (now renamed Dewan Undangan Negeri) from 1961 to 1963, has the Dayak put up another woman candidate to represent them in the government.
Presently, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) women chief Doris Sophia Brodie is a senator as well as the deputy speaker in the Dewan Negara but this is a political appointment rather than by virtue of being an elected representative.
There are some 40 sub-ethnic Dayak groups in Sarawak, each with its own distinct language, culture and lifestyle. However, the three main groups are Iban who make up approximately 31 percent of the state's 2.64 million population; the Bidayuh (eight percent) and the Orang Ulu (five percent).
After the recent redelineation excercise, they have now 36 seats out of a total of 82 seats in the state legislative assembly. Eleven of them are from the Pesaka wing of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) while PRS has another 11, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and its breakaway party Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) have nine while Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and its splinter party United People's Party (UPP) have five.
At the federal level, they have 15 Members of Parliament out of the state's 31 parliamentary seats. Six of them come from PRS, four from PBB, four from SPDP/Teras while SUPP has one.
Recently, PRS Bukit Begunan division women chief Lucy Kalong expressed her disappointment that the party did not pick any woman candidate for this state election despite having many capable and well-educated women members.
She claimed that PRS president James Masing had promised them five years ago that the party would see a woman candidate this election but the promise has not been fulfilled. All the 11 PRS candidates named by Masing are men.
There is also no sign that the Pesaka wing of PBB or the other BN component parties are proposing any Dayak woman candidate.
Where politics are concerned, has the Dayak woman being pushed to the backroom, much like in the olden days, when tribal conflicts were common occurrences, when their men would go to war, leaving the womenfolk waiting anxiously at home? Or the days when their men would go hunting for wild animals while the womenfolk would get ready the pots to cook, and to rejoice?
Even in modern times, such a scenario is not uncommon in their community: the men would sit on the sofa in the living room, eating and drinking wine, discussing serious business and current affairs, while the women would huddle in the kitchen, talking and laughing over trivial matters.
Times have changed and Dayak women play an important role in the society. Statistics have shown that six out of every 10 Dayak graduates are women and many among them are holding important jobs in the public or private sector.
Malay and Melanau seem to be more liberal with their fairer sex. PBB's Bumiputera wing has three women representatives in the state legislative assembly – Sharifah Hasidah (Semariang), Fatimah Abdullah (Dalat) and Simoi Peri (Lingga) while SPDP has one in Rosey Yunus (Bekenu).
At the federal level, PBB has four women MPs – Norah Abdul Rahman (Tanjong Manis), Nancy Shukri (Batang Sadong), Rohani Abdul Karim (Batang Lupar) and Rubiah Wang (Kota Samarahan).
The Chinese have three women representatives in the state legislative assembly and one MP, though they are all from DAP, the opposition party. They have Violet Yong (Pending), Christina Chew (Batu Kawah) and Ting Tze Fui (Meradong) at state level and one MP, Alice Lau (Lanang).
It is time for Dayak women to catch up.-The Ant Daily
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