Malaysian Punjabi Party Gets First Woman President
Warning: strip_tags() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given in /home/exdcom/public_html/gopio.org.my/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 631
KUALA LUMPUR – An ethnic Indian Sikh has been elected as the first woman President of Parti Punjabi Malaysia party, the 24-year-old political group that was formed to take care of the interest of the Sikh community in the country.
Susheel Kaur, 59, whose father Jeswant Singh founded the party in 1986, became its first woman President, elected unopposed by more than 50 delegates at the party’s biennial general meeting here.
Multi-ethnic Malaysia has a sizeable Indian population comprising about eight per cent of the total population.? Though a majority are Hindus, there are more than 100,000 Sikhs who came here for trade and business several years ago.
Susheel Kaur, a senior consultant who majored in social impact studies, felt that she was not cut out to be a politician but stressed that she felt responsible for the party which was founded by her father.
She took over the reins from her cousin, Gurdeep Perkash Singh, who led the party for the last six years. She had served as the party’s secretary for 10 years.
With a PhD in population geography from Punjab University, Chandigarh, she believed that her academic qualification and working experience would assist her in formulating a new direction for the party.
She, however, acknowledged the sentiments within the Punjabi community which saw the party as a weakling compared with other political groups.
“One of the reasons why the party has not been able to leap forward and become the de-facto voice of the Punjabis in this country is because of its repeated failures to gain admission into the ruling coalition of Barisan Nasional.
“We have been trying to do this for over 10 years now.? Not fewer than six applications were submitted but all went unanswered. In fact, our latest application was made on Feb 2.? We are still waiting for an answer,” she told New Straits Times
Source: http://www.indiajournal.com/pages/event.php?id=11613
Related posts:
- President hails role of Tamil ethos in Indian identity and progress
- Malaysian PM inspired by Tamil poet Bharti
- Malaysia spending crores on ‘mini-India’ revamp
- Nikki Haley’s success sees rise of Indian-American candidates in U.S. politics
- Malaysian Indian Congress team to look for missing two-year-old
Filed Under: Malaysia • News • PIO • Personalities
