Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said today that the government will employ more female trainers for the national service programme and urged more women to sign up.

"We also hope that more non-Malays will come forward as at present, most of the female trainers are Malays," he told parliament in his winding-up speech. Najib, as defence minister, is also in charge of national service.

He however conceded that not everybody can be trainers as commitment and ability are heavily imbued in the job.

"Even the army do not have sufficient number of women, and not all are qualified to be trainers," he said.

Najib later told a press conference that women are generally not keen to be trainers for the national service programme because they feel that the tasks in the camp are too heavy and that they also have family responsibility.

"Also, the work schedule in the camps is not fixed and for many, the camps are too far from home," he said.

Najib said ideally the government wants an equal number of female trainers as their male counterparts.

"But I doubt we can achieve that figure. I think it's good enough if we can get 25 to 30 percent," he said, adding that he did not have the exact numbers of female trainers available for the programme now.

Decision makers

Earlier, the house heard that the involvement of women in the corporate sector as decision makers was also still very low.

In his reply to Eric Majimbun (BN-Sepanggar), Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister G Palanivel said only 14 per cent (86 people) of the 613 people holding the post of members of board of directors in government-linked companies (GLCs) are women,

He also disclosed that in 50 companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia, only about 11.7 per cent of the key posts were held by women.

"They include chief executive officers, presidents and vice-presidents. About 10.5 percent of the companies' board members are women," he revealed.

He said the involvement of women at the decision making level should not be thwarted because of their gender, but have to be aligned with their ability and qualifications.