Rafidah forgets she is a woman

"How do you feel being the only female among the all-male ministers in the APEC meetings?"

The question was hurled by a journalist at Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz upon her arrival at the Soekarno-Hatta airport yesterday.

Apparently unprepared for such a "sexist" question from a female journalist, the minister blushed and then made a wish: "I wish nobody asks me that question again in the future."

When her response was interrupted by thunderous laughter, she continued, "I did not come here as a `female' minister. I came here as minister of international trade and industry.

"I forget I'm a woman actually." (pan)