CALD Women’s Roundtable opens in Phnom Penh

(September 14, 2007)  The Women’s Roundtable of the Council of Asian Liberals & Democrats (CALD) opened today at the Cambodiana Hotel in Phnom Penh.

Jointly presided by Hon. Henedina Abad, chair of the CALD Women’s Caucus and former parliamentarian from the Liberal Party of the Philippines and Hon. Saumura Tioulong, MP, of the Sam Rainsy Party of Cambodia, the roundtable opened with messages of support from the host, Hon. Sam Rainsy, MP, leader of the national opposition of the Kingdom of Cambodia; CALD Secretary General, Dr. J.R. Nereus Acosta; Mr. Hubertus von Welck, Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF); and, Hon. Sue Huang, MP, of the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan (DPP).

The Phnom Penh event, which included a CALD Executive Committee meeting, was hosted by the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) with the support of FNF and DPP.

The theme of the Roundtable was “Women in Politics: Beyond Affirmative Action”. It is a follow-up activity of the CALD Women’s Conference Advancing Women in Politics: the Role of Political Parties held last October 25 in Taipei, Taiwan.

The roundtable started with a review of the Taiwan activity given by Hon. Bi-Khim Hsiao, MP, who was CALD Secretary General and Director of the DPP International Affairs Department when the Taipei conference was held.

This was followed by the presentations of Madam Mu Sochua, SRP Deputy Secretary General and former Cambodian Minister of Women’s Affairs; Hon. Hsiao;  Dr. Pusadee Tamthai, former Thai parliamentarian and former Director General of the Democrat Party of Thailand.

The three spoke on Part I: Getting There (Experiences and Best Practices for Getting Selected and Elected). In the session, the term “women’s votes” was operationalized and the following questions were asked and answered: Is there a women’s votes? If yes, how does one tap them? What are the roles of political parties in terms of establishing and tapping women’s votes? Do women candidates make a positive difference in affecting the nature of campaigns?

The discussions were followed by reactions from Dr. Acosta and Hon. Son Chhay, MP, of the Sam Rainsy Party. An open forum then ensued.

For Part II: Staying There (Transformative Politics) the speakers were Hon. Ng Siew Lai, Member of the State Assembly, and an official of the Malaysian People’s Movement Party (Gerakan); and Ms. Maria Pakpahan of the Nation Awakening Party of Indonesia (PKB). The discussants were former Ambassador Kasit Piromya of the Democrat Party of Thailand; and, Dr. Rajiva Wijesinaha, head of Sri Lanka’s Peace Secretariat and former President of the Liberal Party. An open forum followed.

Recommendations were made during the roundtable which would be presented to the CALD Executive Committee.

The objectives of the activity were consistent with the Win With Women Global Action Plan, namely: removing restrictions on women’s political participation, including restrictions on women’s suffrage and candidacy; increasing the number of women elected officials at the national, provincial and local level; ensuring that political parties include women in meaningful leadership positions and in meaningful numbers; and, encouraging greater participation of women in government decision-making and advocating for legislation that enshrines full equality of men and women.

Please click here for more information.

Categorised in: News Article

This post was written by CALD