NO DENYING THE WOMAN POWER IN UZBEKISTAN

By Nor Faridah Abd Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 (Bernama) -- There is no denying the woman power in
Uzbekistan.

As the nation gears itself for parliamentary elections on Dec 27, the fairer
sex will make up 31.9 per cent of the candidates, constituting a significant
figure for a country which attained its independence from the Soviet Union, just
18 years ago.

Uzbekistan Ambassador to Malaysia Shukur Sabitov said that this figure was
a “must” under the country’s election laws.

“Uzbekistan is a modern country now where women are actively involved in
politics, economics, small and medium businesses and other fields,” he told
Bernama here recently, after a round-table conference on the upcoming election.

According to Sabitov, the country has a deputy prime minister, who is also
chairperson of the women's committee; the speaker of its parliament is a woman,
and there are two other women ministers.

“We now give a lot of opportunities to women,” he added.

According to reports, women make up more than half the population of
Uzbekistan, and almost half the working population.

Meanwhile, in efforts to make Malaysians more knowledgeable of this
landlocked country in Central Asia -- formerly part of the Soviet Union --
the embassy has invited five Malaysians to observe Uzbekistan’s Dec 27
parliamentary elections.

They are Election Commission deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar,
Perdasama president Moehamad Izat Emir and Mohamad Ibrahim Abdul Rahman of
Progressive Mastery, a company which provides certified training, leadership &
team development and event management.

The other two are senior lawyers S. Radhakrishnan and Kamarudin Ahmad.

Wan Ahmad, who was an observer during Uzbekistan’s 2004 parliamentary
elections, praised Uzbekistan’s election process, a system which he said was
working “very well.”

“Democracy works very well in your country and the election process is very
much transparent,” he told the ambassador.

Shukur had told the conference that four parties would take part in the
upcoming election and that Uzbekistan’s Central Election Commission had
registered 517 candidates

Noting the close relationship between Malaysia and Uzbekistan, Wan Ahmad
said a working agreement had been signed between the election commissions of the
two countries.

Radhakrishnan, sharing his experience when he was in Uzbekistan for the 2004
parliamentary elections, said there were positive developments in the country of
27 million people, adding that for a young country, “Uzbekistan has done very
well.”

“Malaysia is also very highly regarded over there,” he noted.

Uzbekistan, a country measuring 447,400 sq km in size, where Muslims make up
about 85 per cent of its population, shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west
and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and
Turkmenistan to the south.

-- BERNAMA