ABSTRACT
During the 2004 General Assembly of the United Malays’ National Organisation (UMNO), the hegemonic party in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN, or National Front) coalition, the issue of gender equality was a key theme among delegates attending the meeting of the women’s wing (Wanita UMNO) of the party.2 These delegates urged the public and private sectors to promote more women to key decision-making posts. Some of them called for more women to be absorbed into the Syariah and civil courts. In his inaugural speech as UMNO president at this general assembly, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also affirmed his commitment to the ‘protection of the rights of . . . women’ which was listed as part of the ten goals to be achieved through the promotion of Islam Hadhari.3 Does the prominence given to the issue of women’s rights, emphasised energetically from the time preceding the 1999 general elections and now endorsed by the new Abdullah administration, suggest that a fundamental change is emerging in terms of women’s rights in the UMNO as well as in Malaysian society?
