SHAH ALAM: The position of village heads in Selangor will no longer be restricted to men as the state government has recently amended its policy to enable women to take up the post.
Selangor executive councillor Rodziah Ismail said this was done in line with Pakatan Harapan’s target to have 30 per cent women representation in leadership positions in the state.
“We had recently reviewed the guidelines and we felt that the old ones are no longer suitable. It was last amended 10 years ago. Our new condition is that it will not be just men who will appointed as village heads but women, too,” said Rodziah, who holds the entrepreneurial development, rural and traditional village development portfolio.
Rodziah said this today when she announced that Selangor now boasts five women village heads who were chosen out of eight potential candidates.
She said they will take charge of fishing and traditional villages in the districts of Hulu Selangor, Kuala Langat and Hulu Langat.
“They are made up of civil society activists and those who are active in women empowerment centres in their areas. They are also picked as they understand the issues in their villages and aware of the duties required for the job,” added Rodziah.
She added that the state executive council meeting had approved a total of 354 village heads, who had been served with their appointment letter.
Their term took effect from yesterday (Oct 1) and ends on Dec 31, 2020.
Seventeen more candidates will be brought to the meeting for consideration soon.
Rodziah said all candidates had undergone interviews before a panel at their respective district office, and at chieftain (penghulu) and state assemblyman level.
“The village heads will receive an allowance of RM500 and RM700 respectively from the federal and state governments monthly. The Selangor state government has agreed to give an allocation of RM10,000 to each village head to enable them to plan and implement programmes that are suitable and beneficial to the locals.
“The federal government through the Rural Development Ministry will also allocate RM10,000 to fund programmes to enliven the villages,” added Rodziah.
