Asia and the Pacific

After Perkasa's threat to attack the Chinese and the prime minister's lambasting of Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan as someone who "threatened Islam", pro-UMNO supporters opposed to the July 9 rally have stepped up their campaign, this time with yet another vile tirade against Ambiga.

In two of the latest threats, flyers bearing images of Ambiga have been distributed. A quick look at the tone of its wordings - exhortation to "defend Islam" while using abusive and un-Islamic language - leaves no doubt that the flyer is the work of supporters of UMNO and its offshoot Perkasa.

The gender divide is systematic in Pakistan’s electoral system. Not only that women were barred from voting or contesting in parts of Pakistan, they were not even registered as voters in many other parts. In fact, Pakistan counted 11 million fewer women registered voters than men in the recent elections.

Asian universities are beginning to do what has long been practiced in the West: offer short courses specifically for women who are leaders in business and politics. While the business schools at Harvard, Oxford, Stanford and others have established courses for female executives, such offerings are just starting to make their mark in Asia. Last month, the University of Hong Kong held the first part of a course meant to prepare Asian women for the boardroom: The Women’s Directorship Program.

Though female participation helps in terms of making specific policies related to women, MNA Bushra Gohar of Awami National Party thinks serving women is not the only purpose of a woman politician.“We shouldn’t be asking these questions now. Women politicians have played an active role in everyway. Why is nobody asking a male politician whether his joining politics has helped men in anyway?” she asks. Gohar believes that women make their own space in a party and that space is never available on a platter.

Along with the youth factor and the effect of militant violence, one of the unpredictables in the upcoming elections are the women voters.

As the contest between MCA and DAP for the Kulai parliamentary seat heats up, members of the public have been receiving pamphlets depicting a woman MP deserting her constituents to nurse her baby.

They are all printed in Mandarin and the target of attack is obviously the DAP candidate, Teo Nie Ching, who gave birth to a girl last year.

In one of the three pamphlets, the caption tells the viewer that the woman is telling her baby she would be back to suckle her after she had finished hoodwinking her constituents.