Chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said that, even though there were female candidates from his DAP party in the upcoming state elections, reaching the 30% representation target in the assembly had proven to be challenging.

“While the party had reservations about the proposal in the past, it is worth reconsidering,” he told reporters after opening the Malaysian Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society’s international congress in Bayan Lepas.

In 2020, Chow proposed the introduction of a “non-constituency supplementary members” system to the state assembly.

The purpose of this initiative was to ensure a minimum of 30% representation for women in the state assembly to promote gender equality in political and public life.

The previous state assembly had only 15% female representation, with 34 men and six women.

The concept of nominated assemblymen is not new, with Sabah, Pahang, and Terengganu already adopting such a system.