PETALING JAYA: A woman may be picked to be speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran said.
The Dewan Rakyat is scheduled to meet on July 16 to appoint the speaker. Parliament will then sit the next day.
Kulasegaran ruled out the possibility of Seputeh MP Teresa Kok or Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh being the potential candidates, Borneo Post reported, quoting its sister paper, Oriental Daily.
Women MPs have been calling for a female speaker in the Dewan Rakyat after years of tolerating sexist remarks in the country’s most august house.
In his interview with the Chinese language newspaper, the minister said he would fight for more benefits for the B40 group, given his past experience as a lawyer.
The B40 group refers to the bottom 40% of households with a monthly income of below RM3,900.