The Wanita Umno movement bared its teeth at the party’s 66th general assembly today, demanding a more active role and a bigger cake for women in the nation's economy.

NONE “Women are no longer just ‘ teman tidur ’, or sleeping partners, but must be polished and trained,” argued Wanita representative Norliza Rahim ( right ) when debating the motion on the economy tabled on the second day of the general assembly.

Norliza called on party president Najib Abdul Razak, who is prime minister as well as finance minister, to set up a 1Malaysia Women’s Cooperative, a 1Malaysia Women’s Bank and a Women’s Investment Corporation modelled after PNB.

The 1Malaysia Women's Cooperative, she said, could be the launchpad for the proposed women's bank and also create a huge vote bank for the BN.

"Wanita requests support and injection of funds to fertilise the 1Malaysia Women's Cooperative.

"With support from all 222 parliamentary districts, it will be the largest cooperative and will be the biggest support base for BN."

Empower women economically

Norliza expressed confidence that the 1Malaysia Women's Bank would be very successful as even Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz is a woman.

"The Bank Negara governor is a woman, so it is not impossible for women to have their own bank."

Norliza added that the women’s investment arm will help the women to invest and empower them economically.

NONE Additionally, she suggested, a mentor-mentee programme be established, supervised by super-mentors, who are CEOs of government linked companies.

A programme like that would create hundreds of successful women entrepreneurs who would, in turn, return the favour and support the ruling BN coalition.

The time has come, she argued, for women to be given a greater place in the nation's economy.

More so, Norliza added, since this would obviously increase the BN's support base by harnessing the large population of women in the country.

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