SIBU: Women in the Bukit Assek constituency here received 2kg of cooking oil in conjunction with International Women's Day celebrations on Friday (March 8).
"We asked Bukit Assek SUPP's women's wing what we could give to women on this day. They suggested cooking oil, which in Chinese sounds similar to 'jia yu' (come on), a motivational word," said Bukit Assek assemblyman Joseph Chieng.
A total of 500 bottles of cooking oil were given out to women in the constituency on Friday (March 8) and another 500 will be distributed on Saturday (March 9).
"Previously, we organised a dinner on this day but this year, we decided on a different approach, which is to give away cooking oil so that more women could participate," he said.
The give-away, Chieng said, was to honour the achievement and contribution of women to society in whatever role they were playing "whether they are housewives, hawkers, businesswomen, or even teachers".
"This is also a day for us to emphasise the voice of women and renew our commitment especially on gender equality as women can also be top politicians, leaders and scientists," said Chieng.
