Wan Azizah; The MAN

My phone has been buzzing non stop today. It has been the same message all day. It is about YB Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail vacating her Permatang Pauh seat and Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim contesting there in a by-election. There is no talk other then this the whole day. Its on the TV, its on the radio, its on the internet, its on the facebooks, its on the phones and damn…., even my doctor is talking about it.

In all the excitement and the gearing-up for the “mother of all by-elections”, a few things just popped up in my mind.

First, the very obvious, Anwar is ‘sure’ of winning there in Permatang Pauh. I won’t bet against him in that seat. Nonetheless, immediately after the 12^th General Election, Anwar was so confident of winning in ANY by-election that he did not want any PKR MPs to vacate their seat to enable him to contest. According to him, the call was made based on principles.

He announced that he will contest in the first parliamentary seat that falls vacant ‘naturally’. Now, it takes a lot of gumption to contest in such a by-election as you can’t choose the battlefield or its timing. Probably it made a lot of political sense (and with it the political mileage) to portray such bravado on the wave of the GE12 victory.

However, if you had not been too caught up in listening but instead watched Anwar – he has always been a practical politician. He is contesting in a safe seat. Well done, some people get to keep their cake and eat it too.

Another issue that hangs over us is the timing of this ‘forced’ by-election. Anwar could have imposed a by-election on the nation at anytime after the expiry of his disqualification period. However, he has chosen to do it now, when the Police had just completed their investigations on allegation of sodomy and the Attorney General has yet to decide as to whether or not to charge him.

With this announcement, Anwar had upped the ante. Irrespective of whether the AG proceeds to charge him or close the file, the AG’s decision will be viewed as being politically motivated and magnified as such in view of the impending by-election. It’s a classic case of head you lose, tail I win. If the AG press charges, the government will be accused attempting to thwart Anwar’s political ambition and if he drop charges, the government will be accused of drumming up false allegation to being with.

Actually, I have transgressed from the main topic of my article. In a way, my diversion underscores the very point I am trying to make here. I started out wanting to talk about the woman behind the man, YB Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. Not only was she the woman behind the man, she was also the woman in front, when duty summoned her to the forefront.

Despite our differing political affiliation, I have always admired her courage and fortitude as a person, a wife and a mother. From a simple wife and mother, she took on the mettle to form and lead a political movement and party. She had continued the struggle when the going was tough. She, more then anyone else in this world knows Anwar, the man. And she had always stood by him, no matter what. Now, she is stepping aside to let him step forward. This brings to mind the final lesson in Nelson Mandela’s 8 Lessons of Leadership - Quitting is Leading too.

Well Anwar has taken the lime light – yet again. Whilst everyone is in a frenzy over the coming by-election and the ‘heroic’ Anwar Ibrahim, I thought it would be good for us to be reminded of the true hero that held the fort for Anwar, his wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Murugesan Sinnandavar