Marina Mahathir says not endorsing DAP, insists both BN and Pakatan failed women
(Malay Mail Online) – Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir clarified today that her praise for DAP’s young politician Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud does not mean she endorses the party.
Instead, Marina skewered political parties in both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) for their failure to offer better recognition of women in terms of equal representation in politics.
Both sides, the daughter of Umno veteran Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said, are “guilty of trivialising” Dyana as a politician.
“Dear all, I like Dyana Sofya cos she’s a smart young woman, not cos of the party she belongs to. So let’s x take it I’m endorsing DAP, ok?” the social activist said using her Twitter handle @netraKL.
In her reply to Marina on the micro-blogging, Dyana wrote: “Thank u so much for ur support! Coming from u, means a lot to me. :D.”
But Marina explained that she was not pitching for Dyana’s victory in the contest for the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat, telling the 26-year-old lawyer: “I’m not campaigning for you but good luck. May the better candidate win.”
In a series of tweets, Marina then criticised both BN and PR for failing to fulfil their promises of ensuring that 30 per cent of their candidates in the elections are female.
“Let’s x forget that both BN n PR failed women in GE13 by fielding less than 10% female candidates.
“So I’m still waiting to see some sincerity in the way political parties treat women. Thus far…#fail.,” she said on Twitter.
She then trained her attention on Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong, suggesting the obsession of his supporters with Dyana had preventing him from effectively campaigning for the Teluk Intan seat.
“Meanwhile I’d like to know what Mr Mah has to offer. Then we can all decide who’s the better candidate based on SUBSTANCE,” she said.
“If his people wd stop obsessing about his opponent, he might have a chance to be heard, no?” she added.
Mah today told the Malay Mail Online that he was aiming to provide better Internet access, a futsal hall and more vernacular education.
The former two-term Teluk Intan MP also suggested that winning the seat would be crucial to the future of his political career, also indicating that a defeat would weaken his voice in BN meetings as the Gerakan president.
Next Saturday, Dyana and Mah will engage in a straight fight for the Teluk Intan seat, which was abruptly vacated after the unexpected demise of DAP’s Seah Leong Peng on May 1.
Mah had won the Teluk Intan seat in 1999 and 2004, but lost it to DAP’s M. Manogaran and Seah in 2008 and 2013 by 1,470 votes and 7,313 votes respectively.
