Joint Press Statement by Projek SAMA and Bait Al Amanah (BAA) dated 7 March 2025
Terengganu currently has Malaysia’s lowest women’s legislative representation, at mere 3.1%, of all 13 states. Chief Minister Dato’ Seri Ir. Dr. Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar’s Government can amend Article 27(2) of the State Constitution for an immediate increase of Terengganu’s score to 13.9%, overtaking states like Penang, Sabah and Sarawak.
With the spirit of this year’s International Women’s Day theme, “Accelerate Action”, Project Stability and Accountability for Malaysia (Projek SAMA) and Bait Al Amanah call upon Dr Ahmad Samsuri to take another bold step to expand and enhance Malaysia’s only women reserved seats in Terengganu as per Article 27(2).
Supported by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), Projek SAMA and Bait Al Amanah, are proud to release the report titled “Enhancing Women’s Political Representation in Terengganu: Women-Only Additional Seats (WOAS)” with detailed suggestions and draft bills for the enhancement of Article 27(2). We are ready to assist the State Government in any way useful to the cause.
In 2003, under Chief Minister Tan Sri Hadi Awang’s leadership, Terengganu introduced Article 27(2) to allow the appointment of up to four women or non-Muslims as appointed State Assembypersons (ADUN) if no candidate from either group is elected.
In 2018, Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar’s Government wisely employed Article 27(2) to appoint YB Hajah Zuraidah Md Noor as Terengganu’s first female nominated ADUN. Till then, the Terengganu State Legislative Assembly (DUN) had not a single woman member for 44 years from 1974 to 2018.
Benefitted from two Terengganu State Governments’ wisdom in 2003 and 2018, YB Hajah Zuraidah Md Noor gained recognition of her calibre, leading to her candidature for and winning of the N15 Ladang seat in 2023, becoming the DUN’s precious 3.1%.
However, the Terengganu DUN has stayed stagnant at 3.1%. Four more women appointed ADUNs can be appointed to raise 3.1% (1/32) to 13.9% (5/36) but all four seats have to go to the non-Muslims under the current Article 27(2). Incidentally, non-Muslims constitute only 2% of Terengganu’s electorate.
We call upon Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar’s Government to amend Article 27(2) and legislate a WOAS enactment for these enhancements:
- Making the four appointed seats as permanent reserved seats for women, even when there is one or more elected women ADUN;
- Allocating the four appointed seats to parties based on their vote share in the last state election by the Party-List Proportional Representation method, underlining the commitment of PAS and Perikatan Nasional (PN) for multiparty representation;
- for the inaugural batch, based on the 2023 state election result, this entails three seats for Perikatan Nasional (PN) and one for Barisan Nasional; and
- Ensuring non-Muslim and youth representation in the four appointed seats by requiring parties to nominate a non-Muslim person and a youth amongst the first two candidates on their respective lists.
Thirty years after the UN’s Beijing Platform in 1995 which called for a minimum 30% women’s representation in all decision-making bodies, Malaysia’s federal parliament registers only a pathetic 13.5% (30/222) of women parliamentarians, shamefully ranking 154th amongst 185 national legislatures. Terengganu did not have a woman MP after Khatijah Sidek’s term ended in 1964.
