Voting in Pakatan Harapan in the 14th general election may see Malaysia appointing its first woman prime minister, PKR deputy Youth chief Afif Bahardin told a forum on the future of Malaysian politics last night.

Responding to audience members at a TN50x session on politics, Afif pointed out that PKR is the only party in Malaysia to currently have a woman president.

"So if you vote for Pakatan Harapan in the next GE14, you might have a woman prime minister earlier than 2050," he quipped.

He said this in response to audience members who said they aspire to see more women representation in Malaysian politics, come the year 2050.

TN50x sessions are privately organised offshoots of Putrajaya's ongoing Transformasi Nasional 2050 (TN50) dialogue sessions, which provide a platform for the public to state their aspirations for 2050.

Last night's session organised by Umno Overseas Club Alumni at Kompleks Karangkraf in Shah Alam was a largely male dominated affair as Afif shared the stage with Umno Youth exco member Shahril Hamdan, DAP Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim and MIC deputy youth chief R Thinalan.

Responding to the same issue, Shahril said he believes that there still needs to be a form of intervention through imposing a quota system for women representation.

"Although if we were to ask some women leaders, maybe they do not like to have a quota system as they deem it to be an insult.

"At this point, I don't quite see how we can change the situation without any intervention," he said.

On the need for women leaders in politics, Thinalan also said that MIC currently already has more than 30 women division leaders nationwide.

Only three women ministers

The session earlier started with the panellists sharing their personal aspirations for Malaysian politics in 2050 and the moderator - Umno Overseas Club chairperson Wan Mohamad Hazlin Agil - later opened the floor for audience members to share their own aspirations.

The panellists brought their own supporters who are also mostly male members of the parties' youth wings.

The women who shared their views all agreed that there is a need to increase political representation at all levels, with one pointing out there are only three women ministers in the current cabinet line-up.

Another, however, pointed out that the empowerment process must start with providing more opportunities for women to be heard, including in such forum sessions which remain to be male dominated.