Permatang Pauh: Anwar’s wife makes emotional plea ahead of Malaysia vote

The wife of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who led his Keadilan party while he was in jail, has made an emotional plea to voters to return him to parliament.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, a medical doctor and mother of six, held Anwar’s seat of Permatang Pauh during his political exile after he was sacked in 1998 and jailed on sodomy and corruption charges.

She stood aside to trigger a by-election that will be held tomorrow, in the latest step of his plan to oust the government with the help of defectors after March general elections that handed the opposition unprecedented gains.

“I appeal to you to vote for my husband. My husband was put in jail for six years, at that time my children were small,” Wan Azizah said at a campaign event last night.

“They said my husband had committed a heinous crime, but when my children asked me why their father had been put in jail, I told them it was because he wants to help the less fortunate.”

Wan Azizah, a petite woman who wears traditional Malay dress and headscarf, was thrust into the political spotlight after Anwar’s dramatic sacking and trial.

The original sodomy conviction was overturned by the nation’s highest court, allowing Anwar to go free, but the corruption count still stands and barred him from standing for public office until April this year.

Wan Azizah urged voters in Permatang Pauh to reject new allegations that Anwar sodomised a 23-year-old male aide, which the opposition says have been concocted by the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

“After 10 years Anwar wants to contest and they come up with a similar allegations. I urge you not to believe this, it is a slander,” she said.

“I appeal to you to vote for Anwar. We need to continue our struggle. We are victims of the Barisan Nasional. This government is corrupt and evil.”

AFP
25/08/08