Mahathir Mohamad’s wife, Siti Hasmah, addresses crowd and condemns violence against women.
KUALA LUMPUR: About 1,000 people, including politicians and women’s rights activists, gathered at a rally in the city today to protest against the country’s “toxic politics”.
The participants, mostly women, gathered around the compound of Maju Junction Mall along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman from 4.30pm today before the rally kicked-off at about 5.30pm.
Among the prominent figures there were former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife Dr Siti Hasmah Ali, who delivered a speech to the crowd from the back of a four-wheel vehicle, calling on all women to play their role in putting an end to toxic politics in the country.
Later, rally-goers took the opportunity to take selfies with Mahathir.
In her speech, Siti Hasmah said, “Women want peace and stability in their lives.
“However, we can see that there is violence against women, and it is a violation against our rights.”
Siti Hasmah also remarked about an incident that took place in May, in which local movie producer David Teo was slapped by a member of the audience while asking a question at a forum.
“Back in the old days, no one could be easily slapped at a public event,” she said.
Teo was slapped by actor Sulaiman Yassin, better known as Mat Over, for behaviour that was allegedly insulting to Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was speaking at the Transformasi Nasional 50 (TN50) dialogue session.
Siti Hasmah added that it was time people rid themselves of their “toxic” natures as it was a bad trait in their personalities.
Meanwhile, Noor Farida Ariffin, spokesperson for G25, a movement made up of prominent Malays, told participants to reject candidates in the coming general election, who were sexist.
“Bring back civility. We do not want people who are poisoning society,” she said.
Speaking to reporters after the rally ended at 6.30pm, Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah, said she and 30 fellow activists organised the rally to voice out their dissatisfaction at the government’s many unfulfilled promises.
“Violence against women is still rampant. The issue of child marriages has yet to be resolved and laws are increasingly repressive,” she said.
She also expressed her happiness at the 1,000 people who participated in the rally today, saying this indicated that women wanted their voices to be heard on many issues.