The Asean Conference on Women in Politics 2015 (Asean WIP KL2015) to be held in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday will provide a major platform linking women politicians, particularly members of Wanita Barisan Nasional (BN) with the outside world, thus creating a wider network among them.
Wanita BN chairperson Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said the current political situation was global in nature and in order to remain relevant, the sharing of information at the international level was most important.
"Previously, politics was local in nature, but now it has become global and we have to know everyone, fighters and activists from other countries.
"Wide exposure in politics and the socio-economy was most important and that's the reason the theme for the conference concerns connectivity and innovation," she told Bernama in Kuala Lumpur today.
The Asean WIP KL2015 is organised by Wanita BN at the Dewan Merdeka, Putra World Trade Centre.
The international conference concerning women in politics is being organised for the first time and 121 delegations from 21 political parties from countries such as Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, South Korea, Maldives, Palestine, Russia, Sri Lanka, and several Asean member countries.
Shahrizat said that through the conference, Wanita BN also had the opportunity to share their achievements with the Asean member countries, besides learning on good practices between one another so that the women could become ‘global citizens'.
"The political ecosystem has changed, the rapid development in the field of technology calls for significant changes in politics to ensure that the movement remains relevant and at the same time enables it to face the current and future challenges.
"In addition, to attract support from the Gen Z, the wanita movement must prepare itself so that it can fully benefit from the digital technology to enable them to 'speak the same language' with the Gen Z," she said.
The focus of the conference to be officiated by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak included the digital network, innovations and policy, as well as laws on women in politics.
The panel members to be featured are Mimos Berhad (Mimos) chief executive officer Abdul Wahab Abdullah; Cambodian delegate for the United Nations (UN) Wenny Kusuma; the director of technology and information of the Bharatiya Janata Party, India, Arvind Gupta; and Bloomberg TV Malaysia editor Sophie Kamaruddin.
- Bernama
