KL Islamic party opens to women

KL Islamic party opens to women

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's Islamic opposition party is
opening up to give women a bigger say in its forthcoming annual
assembly, its leader said on Tuesday.

For the first time, women will sit as delegates at the Parti
Islam SeMalaysia's (PAS) general assembly from June 1 to June 3
at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, said PAS president Fadzil
Noor.

PAS has more than 700,000 members and at least half of them
are women, he added.

PAS gained popularity in the November 1999 general election,
when it more than tripled its parliamentary seats to 27. It
captured the eastern state of Terengganu, and maintained control
over neighboring Kelantan.

Anger over the sacking and jailing of ex-deputy premier Anwar
Ibrahim helped split the ethnic Malay vote, at the expense of the
ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO).