Wan Azizah: The most qualified leader in the country!
Karamjit Gill, Malay Mail Online
Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is starting to look like the only capable leader in this country; or rather shall I say the only capable leader in PKR. Supporters from both sides of political divide are vehemently voicing their opinion on Wan Azizah’s candidacy in the Permatang Pauh by-election.
From a practicing medical doctor to a politician overnight, is Wan Azizah the best PKR has to offer?
Wan Azizah’s involvement in politics begun after Anwar Ibrahim was jailed in the late 90’s. She was elected as a Member of Parliament for Pematang Pauh in 1999 and continued to hold the position till 2008. She vacated her seat in 2008 for her husband, Anwar Ibrahim who subsequently won the by-election.
Fast-forward to 2014… the then-PKR Kajang state assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh, was forced to resign to pave way for Anwar to be a state assemblyman in Selangor in his quest to become the next Menteri Besar. All did not go too well with Anwar’s plan as his sodomy trial issue re-emerged and he was barred from standing in the Kajang by-election. Thereafter, the name Dr Wan Azizah popped up again and as expected, she won the Kajang state by-election. After her swearing-in ceremony, Wan Azizah openly denied any intention to take up the position of Selangor MB as has been touted in the media.
She went on to say “No (as I said before) the MB position is not important. I want to serve the people and the state.”
Not very long later, Khalid Ibrahim was ousted as the Selangor MB and suddenly Wan Azizah’s name was proposed by PKR as the next MB (with her blessings, of course).
A lot of problems arose with that proposal. The hardest opposition that time was not BN but was from within. PAS refused to acknowledge PKR’s decision to allow Wan Azizah as the next Selangor MB. Selangor PAS revealed that there was a lobbyist group actively enticing its assemblymen to sign a statutory declaration affirming their sole support for Wan Azizah as the next MB.
PAS president, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang came out in the open and said that they oppose Azizah as MB simply because she is a weak leader.
After a whole load of dirty games and tug-of-war, with the blessings of the Sultan of Selangor, Azmin Ali was appointed as the new Selangor MB.
Wan Azizah condemned Azmin’s appointment by saying it is illegal and did not adhere to ‘Undang-Undang Tubuh Negeri Selangor’. She went on to thank PKR comrades who supposedly supported her nomination instead of celebrating Azmin’s legitimate appointment.
Now comes the Permatang Pauh by-election and once again, bionic woman Dr Wan Azizah is the best candidate for it. Permatang Pauh is in Penang, more than 300 km away from Kajang. Unless PKR’s Woman of Steel has a cape, I don’t quite see how is she going to manage two far-apart areas.
What happened to her intention of serving the people of Kajang and the state of Selangor? Has she become bored of them? Has she transformed Kajang to be the best town in the country that she now envisions to do the same in Permatang Pauh?
Is PKR only about Anwar Ibrahim and family? I heard murmurs saying that trying out a new leader in the Permatang Pauh by-election is not the ideal thing at the moment. Apparently, it is not the time to experiment. After hearing that, I started to wonder from where did Nurul Izzah and Wan Azizah come from? Weren’t they ‘new leaders’ at one point of time? How come they were experimented?
If this candidacy of Wan Azizah does not mean there is a leadership vacuum in PKR, then what is? When the name PKR is chanted, we often only hear Anwar, Wan Azzizah, Nurul Izzah, Nurul Nuha, Rafizi and Azmin.
The rest of you, please step aside…
