Tan Sri Dato Napsiah Omar Chair For Women's Leadership

**Tan Sri Dato Napsiah Omar Chair – Committee**

Tan Sri Dato Napsiah Omar was born in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan. She was remembered as an intelligent student throughout her primary and secondary school education. She proceeded to graduate with a Bachelor of Science, Australian National University, Canberra and a Master of Science, Cornell University, New York. Upon her return to Malaysia, she was engaged as a lecturer and later appointed as an Associate Professor in 1981 at the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, now known as the Universiti Putra Malaysia.

She later joined the world of politics and soon was appointed as Deputy Minister of National Unity and Social Development, 1982-87, Minister of Public Enterprise 1987-90, Minister of National Unity and Social Development 1990-95 and Senior Executive Councillor, Government of Negeri Sembilan 1996. During her services in the Public Enterprise ministry, she wanted to know whether permits issued by her ministry for taxis were given to responsible taxi drivers. One day she took a taxi ride without disclosing her identity. The driver looked a bit upset and shared with her that a single parent woman-customer was just taken by him to a place to ply her “trade” to customers so that she could earn money for her children to buy schoolbooks. That experience shocked Napsiah and that started her interest to run small business training courses for single parent women and other marginalised women.

Another experience she shared was when she undertook a tour of duty to Japan, which included a courtesy call on Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, the 3^rd longest serving Prime Minister of Japan. They shared an intellectual conversation about their two countries and before she took leave, he took a piece of rice paper, drew a picture of Mount Fuji, autographed it, and presented it to her as a gift. This gesture surprised Napsiah and her entourage, and word soon reached Prime Minister Mahathir’s ears even before Napsiah returned to Kuala Lumpur. Naturally, she was asked at the next occasion when she met up with the PM.

Napsiah is an impressive speaker whether in Bahasa Malaysia or in English and she outshines many ministers who are not fluent in both languages. This talent has paid off when she was appointed to deliver an Address at the United Nations General Assembly, New York, an achievement which no other Malaysian woman cabinet ministers have ever been granted.

One of Napsiah’s “biggest moment to help women” was when she presented Malaysia’s Domestic Violence Act in Parliament. She met a lot of opposition from some male parliamentarians, but her deputy minister, Tan Sri Alex Lee, stood up and championed her motion. The arguments went on until midnight before the Act was finally passed. The next day, the headlines in the newspapers referred to Napsiah as the “Cinderella Minister”. She also received good comments and congratulations from women leaders in Britain and around the world.

Leadership positions she held in Non Profit Women NGOs included as Co-Founder and Chairman of the Women’s Institute of Management (WIM), President of Federal Territory Girl Guides Association and National Vice President of the Malaysian Red Crescent Society. (The National President of the MRCS is the Prime Minister).

Awards bestowed on Napsiah Omar include:

A Dato by the Negeri Sembilan State Government
A Tan Sri by the Federal Government
Tokoh Wanita Negeri Sembilan, 2001
National Outstanding Educator Award (College category), 2015. She represented WIM College, which is owned by the Women’s Institute of Management

The Launch

The TSDNO Chair for Women’s Leadership was launched on 25 August 2020, where the Chairlady and Committee Members were each presented with a Letter of Appointment by Y.B. Dato Zuraida Kamaruddin, the Minister of Housing and Local Government at a WIM Hari Wanita Forum.

The WIM TSDNO Chair on Women’s Leadership is set up in honour of WIM’s first Chairman and co-Founder, the late Tan Sri Dato Napsiah Omar (TSDNO) for her invaluable contributions to WIM.

The Chair will lend support to the Executive Certificate on Women’s Leadership and will engage in the areas of research, forums, seminars, conferences, training and educational programme and collaborations with the purpose of empowering women to leadership roles.

The Committee:

Y.Bhg Puan Sri Siew Yong Gnanalingam (Chairlady)

Y.M. Raja Puan Sri Dato Noora Ashikin bte Raja Abdullah

Y.Bhg Datin Paulene Tunku Mu’tamir

Puan Hajah Ainon Kuntom

Puan Maizon Omar

Dr Indrani Manuel

Y.Bhg. Dato Dr. Nellie S.L. Tan-Wong (Ex-Officio)

Vision

Women and girls empowered with strong leadership skills, mentality and potential, groomed to seize “breaking the glass ceiling” opportunities for leadership positions in the corporate environment, public and institutional sectors, as well as development in entrepreneurship and the political arena, for a better and more meaningful future.

Mission

To upskill and uplift the status of women through dialogue, collaborative efforts, research, forums, seminars, conferences, training and educational programmes, with the theme, “Empower Women to Lead”.

Objectives

To increase the number of women in Leadership positions in the Corporate, Public and Political Sectors and Institutions of Higher Learning and entrepreneurship.

Proposed Actions and Events

Offer Executive Certificate Programmes on Women’s Leadership

Publish a Book on Women’s Leadership

Organise Exemplary Women Leadership Awards

Launch a Networking Platform for Women

Organise Forums, Talks, Seminars and Conferences on Women’s Leadership with iconic women leaders, including young women leaders in the different sectors

Organise Entrepreneurial Courses

To train Women Leaders to serve on Corporate Board of Directors

Enter into Partnership, Collaboration and Memorandum of Understanding with like-minded organisations, institutions of Higher Learning and Foundations

Plans for 2022

March 2022:

Organise the TSDNO Exemplary Women’s Leadership Award Committee, detailing sectors from which nominees should come from, criteria for nominations and method of nomination.

May 2022:

Organise a WIM 30 Anniversary Fundraising Dinner, at which the Award will be announced and presented.

June 2022:

Launch of Women’s Networking Site.

September 2022:

Organise Young Women Leaders’ Forum.