Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard To get her poor doggie a bone But when she got there The cupboard was bare So her poor little doggie had none – Old nursery rhyme The Women’s Candidacy Initiative (WCI) notes that each time elections come around, whether it is parliamentary, state or by-elections, parties fielding [...]

Corrected on 17 Nov 2009 at 11.30am DESPITE stepping down in 2008 as executive director of Sisters in Islam (SIS) which she co-founded and led for two decades, Zainah Anwar has not retired from her commitment to women’s rights and justice. Currently project director of Musawah, a global movement for equality and justice for Muslim [...]

IS PAS ready for non-threatening, open dialogue with dissenting voices within civil society? The recent resolution by PAS to investigate and possibly ban the women’s rights group Sisters in Islam (SIS) suggests that PAS needs a reminder to react democratically to opposing views.  This is not an unfamiliar call that civil society and political parties [...]