Malaysia has been committed to meet its commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. One of the goals is to achieve gender equality. However, in Malaysia, the Global Gender Gap Index which measures gender disparities in economic participation and opportunities, education attainment, health and political empowerment reported that Malaysia ranked at 111 out of 145 countries in 2016. It has fallen far from its overall ranking of 72 in 2006. In terms of political participation, the low score in politics is because of the lack of women in leadership and decision-making positions that dragged down Malaysia's index even though Malaysia had set a target for women to fill 30% or more in decision-making positions. In the recent 14th general election, a total of 252 female candidates named out of the 2,333 parliament and state seats resulted in only 92 female elected representatives. This article provides an overview of women's political participation focusing on members of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS). There were 30 female respondents interviewed and they were recruited from the two states in Malaysia namely Selangor and Kelantan. It analyses the reasons for women's missing presence at the decision-making level in the party and at national level which contributed to Malaysia's slow achievement of the SDGs. This article will discuss how PAS's organisational structure and women's preference will impose challenges towards Zaireeni Azmi 68 achieving SDG 5. Women themselves determine the level of participation and contributions that they are willing to play in politics.
No abstract
This article examines the consumption of foods among the middle-class Malays in Malaysia and the progress of food products that have been constructed to meet the halal logo and certification. This article challenges the standard view of the Malay middle class, predominantly Muslim that they are traditional and hesitant to accept changes in food consumption due to religion and culture. This article discusses ways foods are reconstructed to allow significant market consumption to be produced or manufactured based on culture and religion. This research utilized a qualitative method through narrative interviews with seven middle-class Malays Muslim descent respondents to conceptualize the changing food patterns and improvise. The narrative interviews were transcribed and thematic analysis displayed the findings. The result highlights that a new taste in foods urges the Malay Muslim to be creative and Syariah compliance. The middle-class Malay informants are flexible to the changing food consumption as long as the foods are halal. The changing food consumption is influenced by culture, identity, and modern way of living, and simultaneously strengthening social bonding.
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