• Updated to include comments by Teresa Kok and Ivy Josiah

Veteran political leader Rafidah Aziz has lauded Kamala Devi Harris' nomination as vice-presidential candidate for the US Democratic Party as a great step forward, saying that with the right leadership qualities, ancestry, gender and faith should not be a factor.

"It is the dream, I believe, of girls of the new millennium generation to reach for the highest possible level of achievement possible, in any endeavour.

"Who our ancestors were, what faith we follow or what gender we are are all immaterial for as long as we are citizens of the nation we belong to and have the requisite leadership qualities," she told Malaysiakini.

Rafidah who herself ...