COMMENT | Nurulhidayah is a disgrace to all women
In an interview with Sinar Daily, she said that "Women are not born to be leaders."
You couldn't make this up! How did someone who is as widely travelled as her, who has more money than most of us, and who is supposedly highly educated come up with such a daft statement like that? She is alleged to be a multimillionaire, but despite her millions, money cannot buy common sense. More importantly, females can also be the world's worst misogynists.
What is Nurulhidayah's definition of a strong woman? Is it someone who juggles between being a maid...
COMMENT | The latest person to contract foot-in-mouth disease is Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid, the eldest daughter of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
In an interview with Sinar Daily, she said that "Women are not born to be leaders."
You couldn't make this up! How did someone who is as widely travelled as her, who has more money than most of us, and who is supposedly highly educated come up with such a daft statement like that? She is alleged to be a multimillionaire, but despite her millions, money cannot buy common sense. More importantly, females can also be the world's worst misogynists.
What is Nurulhidayah's definition of a strong woman? Is it someone who juggles between being a maid in the living room, a cook in the kitchen and a whore in bed?
If Nurulhidayah did have access to world news, she would have read about the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in the United Kingdom and across the Commonwealth yesterday.
Queen Elizabeth II, the British monarch, celebrated 70 years on the throne. She has been served by 14 prime ministers, including Britain's longest-serving PM, a woman, Margaret Thatcher.
Just in case Nurulhidayah is confused, here are some of the queen's leadership qualities.
Vision. On her 21st birthday, Princess Elizabeth, as she was then, addressed the nation and shared her vision with the world. She declared that she would dedicate her life to serving the people.
In Malaysia, most of our prime ministers and senior politicians live only to serve themselves. Their greed and lust for power scuppered our chances of achieving Wawasan 2020.
Hard work. The queen puts in over forty hours of work a week. She works every day without any thought of personal gain.
Contrast that with the urgency of the work shown by a Malaysian PM, who would rather play golf with an American president instead of rushing home to direct operations when Kelantan suffered its worst flood for decades.
In the recent floods of Selangor, another PM allegedly took over two days before visiting flood victims to check on their well being and address the many flaws that hampered rescue operations.
Leading by example. When Prince Philip, the queen's consort, died in April 2021, Queen Elizabeth observed the strict coronavirus restrictions and social distancing measures, which meant that she had to sit alone at his funeral.
Malaysian leaders have only two rules. Rule 1: Rules are meant for the ordinary rakyat and not themselves. Rule 2: Do as I say and not as I do.
Many Malaysian leaders, most of them male, attended makan, and weddings and ignored the strict Coronavirus rules.
Commitment. The queen's lifelong work is to serve her people. She is the patron of hundreds of charities and public organisations. People who have done great work for the nation and proven themselves are bestowed titles on the queen's honours list.
In Malaysia, leaders are committed to helping themselves, their families, their friends and business associates. It is also alleged that titles are easily bought.
When a man becomes PM or cabinet minister, guess who is awarded multi-million ringgit contracts? When these leaders travel overseas on official trips, which are funded by the taxpayer, it is alleged that family members are also included in the entourage.
Respect. The queen rules a nation that is comprised of people of many faiths and cultures. She may be Christian and head of the Church of England, but her subjects know that there are laws to protect them if they are discriminated against.
Our leaders lost our respect the minute they decided that only one race and religion reign supreme over the others.
Embracing change. The queen is aware that if the nation were to achieve future success, she had to adapt to change. This included modernising the monarchy and using modern technology.
Malaysian leaders cherry-pick modern technological advancements, and one example is the recent debacle over the date for Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. When it comes to sighting the crescent moon for Raya, we appear to be stuck in the methodology of the middle ages.
Throughout history, there have been powerful queens and empresses, like Boudica, Cleopatra, Catherine the Great, Elizabeth I and Victoria. It would be pointless writing about them because one suspects that history is not one of Nurulhidayah's strong points.
More modern women leaders are Jacinda Adern, Angela Merkel, Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meir. Closer to home, we have Indira Gandhi, Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Megawati Sukarnoputri. The list is long, and Nurulhidayah must spend more time catching up on her reading.
Yesterday's statement was not Nurulhidah's first foot-in-mouth remark.
In 2015, she slagged off MAS stewardesses for being old. In a Facebook post, she accused Bersih 4 organisers of being stupid.
The "motor-mouth" syndrome runs deep in their family's genetic makeup.
In 2018, she uploaded onto her Instagram account her daughter's threat to Malaysians. Zahid's granddaughter was defending him, and she warned, "I would make your life un-peaceful (sic).
"I will make you regret your life. Remember, I am only nine-years-old, and I am my country's future".
Today, there are attempts to oust Ismail Sabri from the office and Umno politicians are positioning themselves for GE15 like pieces on a chessboard.
When Nurulhidayah said that women are not born to be leaders and that only "A man is born to be a leader", was she lobbying for her father to be the next PM of Malaysia?
Nevertheless, it is doubtful that any decent man, leader or otherwise, would listen to someone like her.
MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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