KUALA LUMPUR: Calls for Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh to resign are unfair, says Wanita DAP leader Teo Nie Ching.

She said this in response to the call of United for Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) chairman P. Ramasamy for Hannah to resign over allegations that the contract for the Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) pilot project by the Selangor State Government was awarded to Hannah's husband's company through direct negotiations.

"If the investigation carried out proves that there is abuse of power, I believe that she (Hannah) will be subject to the same level of investigation.

"... I think she will cooperate with any type of investigation but the question is whether it is appropriate for her to resign, I think it is too early," she said in a press conference here today.

Teo who is also the National DAP publicity secretary also questioned the action of the former Penang Deputy Chief Minister II for 15 years who did not do the same when the former secretary general who is now DAP chairman, Lim Guan Eng was charged in court.

"Did Ramasamy then ask Lim Guan Eng to resign and why did he change his stance now? Was it because he now wants to be an angel ater leaving DAP?" she said.

Yesterday, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) explained that it had conducted an interim investigation regarding the issue of the contract awarding of the Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) pilot project by the Selangor state government to Yeoh's husband's company, but did not find any wrongdoing.

MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said therefore he decided that there was no case in the issue.

Asia Mobility Technologies Sdn Bhd, which is a company owned by Hannah's husband, is one of the two companies selected for the DRT pilot project.

DRT is a state government initiative to improve the effectiveness of public transport and mobility services in Selangor.

Meanwhile in the same press conference, Teo launched the HERLEAD programme by Wanita DAP which is a political education programme designed to empower and equip the party's women members with the skills and knowledge needed to become influential political leaders.

She said the specially designed programme featured a comprehensive approach by combining compact educational modules with a mentoring programme to ensure participants could gain theoretical knowledge and appropriate practical guidance within a year.

"(Most) political parties give the excuse of not having enough (female) candidates, this HERLEAD programme is designed to overcome this problem... we see that the talent pool is quite limited.

"... we now want to invite those who are interested in politics to join this programme so that we can see their (potential and abilities) and then we can prepare various programmes to (empower) them... we intend to help the party identify our talent pool," she said.

The first programme of HERLEAD will take place on June 22 and 23 in Kuala Lumpur and DAP women members who are interested can register from today at the link https://forms.gle/xqFxKyCW5ZbMdER77.

Besides, Teo said DAP recorded the highest percentage of female members of Parliament with 25 per cent, which is 10 female representatives out of a total of 40 representatives from the party.

-- BERNAMA