Leading The Change
Malaysia You Matter: Women We Admire
Women in Malaysia have come a long way since we gained independence in 1957 and since we became one nation in 1963. Throughout Malaysia’s growth and expansion, she has bred many admirable women – all of whom carry a composition of grace, strength, and courage.
Eve Writes | 28 November 2019
About Eve is about a network of women supporting and empowering other women in their professional and entrepreneurial pursuits. Recognising and understanding how our success lies not in competition, but in cooperation, more and more Malaysian women are raising the bar in any field from medicine to art to technology to aeronautical. Malaysian women understand whether from holding positions in politics and corporate world to managing domestic front and shaping future generation, we have proven that anything is possible once we set our minds to it and work together.
We truly believe that amazing things happen when women support and work with each other. The importance and significance of cherishing our relationships with other women not only will be beneficial for our growth, but it also helps to develop long lasting and healthy business relationships.
Many women in our network are passionate about helping each other grow and working together to contribute to the development of the nation. For the second part of Malaysia You Matter: Women We Admire, we are proud to share with you the women who are dedicated and passionate about empowering the community around them as well as driven to lead the change in the country.
You can also read more about our first feature here.
Royals Leading The Way
Duli Yang Maha Mulia
Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin
Often seen in public with hair cascading in a simple yet elegant style, the Queen of Selangor, Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin is an apt symbol of modesty. She is poised and regal; a picture-perfect Queen whose beauty is captivating.
But the Queen of Selangor is tenacious when it comes to protecting the rights of animal.
She is the royal patron of Stray Free Selangor (SFS), which was launched on 24 March 2017 through the Selangor Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals (SPCA). When it comes to animals being abused or mistreated, the Her Royal Highness doesn’t hesitate to let others know how she feels about the issue.
A recent news of several municipal officers who were filmed trying to leash a stray dog in a cruel manner has upset her and it didn’t take long for her to make an official statement about the mistreatment. Strongly expressing her disapproval of the treatment, the Queen of Selangor emphasised how the abuse of stray animals need to stop because she noted on how such cruelty was still happening in the community even though there are many awareness campaigns on strays. Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin, who has more than ten cats herself, strongly advocates public awareness on humane treatment of strays and calls for the replacement of ineffective and unethical ‘catch & kill’ approach.
Being animal lovers ourselves, we admire Her Royal Highness’ passion in protecting the rights of stray animals as well as educating the public about respecting all manner of creatures.
Yang Amat Mulia Tengku Putri Iman Afzan
Recently during World Mental Health Day, this graceful Pahang princess talked about youth mental health. Sharing a personal episode where she suffered from anxiety when she was a teenager, Tengku Putri Iman strongly advocates about eradicating the stigma around mental health.
The 27 year-old mother of one talked about how she didn’t know what was wrong with her when she was having bouts of anxiety attacks then. Now, she is the royal patron of Mental Illness Awareness and Support Association (Miasa) and is determined to educate the public about the dangers of mental health. The association is a patient-led group and Tengku Putri Iman believes this is the right approach as patients of mental health would know best about what they’re going through.
Tengku Putri Iman strongly believes there are two main reasons why mental health issues need to be openly discussed because of two main reasons. She advised that the spectrum of mental health is wide and there is lack of understanding of the conditions even among patients themselves. Those around the patients also needs to understand of the issues and be aware of the signs in order to help patients better.
Other than that, she believes the public needs to understand mental illness because there are those who use mental health issues as a reason not to get by in life or nonchalantly use it as excuse when things do not go as plan.
Selfless Superheroes
A CELPAD (Centre for Languages and Pre-University Academic Development) lecturer in International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Zarinah Jan is dedicated in rescuing animals through the university’s animal rescue club, the Abu Hurairah Club IIUM, where is the Advisor. This club follows the footsteps of Karabuk University in Turkey, which set up its own animal rescue club back in 2016.
Zarinah has a Bachelor Degree in English as a Second Language (ESL) and worked in corporate world for several years. During her years with Panasonic System Engineering as Business Development Executive, Zarinah travelled to many countries to organise exhibitions and conduct training and seminars. In her travels, Zarinah build and grew her network, which includes those from education sector. After completing her Masters in MESL, she left her corporate career and joined IIUM as a lecturer.
To date, Abu Hurairah Club, which started in 2011, has over 150 members and 80 volunteers. The club is active in rescuing animals to help rescue, treat, and finding them loving homes. Their activities and efforts have caught the attention of Turkish government and a discussion is underway to collaborate, knowledge-share, and creating mobility programmes.
Zarinah’s selfless resolve in helping and protecting rescued animals is thoroughly commendable. You can learn more about Abu Hurairah club here.
Nik Suzila Nik Hassan
There are many companies now that are going green and wearing their green causes like a badge of honour. Through their efforts, more local companies are showing their sustainable practices in a much more visible form and that’s exactly what Kloth Cares is doing.
Nik Suzila is one of the founders of this sustainable apparel company where it makes, markets, and develops fabric, garments and other fabric-based wearable products. This fabric and garments are made from recycled plastic bottles and other recycled materials. The wearable products produced by Kloth Cares are supplied to several clients including Coca-Cola Malaysia and Agro Bank.
While Nik Suzila is active in growing the company and receive good investment offers, she acknowledges that Kloth does have some obstacles in its mission to promote green lifestyle in Malaysia because mainly there is still lack of awareness on recycling among Malaysians. Even though turning plastic into fabric and ultimately wearable apparel is a tedious process, Nik Suzila believes this challenge can be eased by having more regulated policies and practices concerning recycling in the country.
