Now Looking At Running In Elections Says Ex Pkr Leader Haniza Talha

---

When former PKR women's chief Haniza Talha announced the formation of her civil society group called Nation of Women (NOW) in June, she had stressed that it was in no way a political movement
However, according to Haniza who spoke to reporters at a NOW event today, they are looking to run in elections too
"Although NOW is an NGO, our agenda is to ensure that women's voice gets its deserving place. And one of these places is in decision-making
"Be it in a company, a multinational company, a government department or in Parliament. Because that is where people make decisions
"In this country, the highest decision-making body is Parliament while for the states, it would be the state legislative assemblies
"If we need to put our women there so our voices can be heard, we will do that," Haniza said
The Selangor state assemblyperson for Lembah Jaya who is NOW president was speaking to reporters after a ceremony which saw the group signing a memorandum of understanding with Muka & Co, a cosmetics company, and Geomatika University College. The three are collaborating to help develop women entrepreneurship
Haniza was expelled from PKR in June following disciplinary action against those known to be aligned with former PKR deputy president Azmin Ali
Azmin had triggered the "Sheraton Move" in late February that led to the downfall of the Pakatan Harapan coalition government
Prior to her expulsion, Haniza was suspended pending an investigation by the party's disciplinary board during which she launched NOW, sparking rumours that it could be a precursor to a new political party
Haniza had dismissed this then, saying that there were no such immediate plans and their work was focused on functioning as an NGO
'Nothing wrong'She told reporters today that the plan to contest in elections, however, would not mean that NOW was going to be a political entity
Haniza Talha"There is nothing wrong for an NGO to contest in an election," she said
"Although we are not a political group, we see that this would be one way to ensure that women would be heard and policies would take into account gender equality and no discrimination against women."Asked whether this meant that she would not be joining Azmin and former PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin who had left the party and joined Bersatu, Haniza replied that she wanted to focus on her NGO for now
"You can ask this later when the time comes. For now, there is no plan yet (to join Azmin and Zuraida)
"I want to focus on NOW for now," she said. - Mkini

---