KUALA LUMPUR: Although the vacancy for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat has not being announced yet, some political observers see Nurul Nuha, the opposition leader’s second eldest daughter, coming to the fore to continue the family’s political legacy.
Nurul Nuha, 31, a housewife with a degree in arts and visual technology from George Mason University, United States, was given an ‘early assignment’ to lead a movement called the ‘March to Freedom’, a campaign to secure her father’s freedom from a sodomy conviction.
At a press conference held at the family’s residence today Anwar’s eldest daughter and PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah introduced her sister to the media.
“The focus (now) is to set up the secretariat (for the campaign) and we will be engaging several personalities in this regard and to ensure that Nurul Nuha becomes its face,” said Nurul Izzah.
She, however, refused to answer questions on whether the campaign was aimed to put Nurul Nuha as the next-in-line for the parliamentary seat.
“Today we are focusing purely on the ‘March to Freedom’ campaign and there will be no announcement regarding candidacy at this press conference,” said Nurul Izzah.
Yesterday, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s (COA) conviction of Anwar for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, and maintained the five-year jail sentence handed to him by the COA.
With the jail sentence, Anwar now stands to lose his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat as the law bars anyone fined over RM2,000 or imprisoned more than one year from serving as a lawmaker, unless a pardon is granted.
Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the commission would only announce the vacancy for the Permatang Pauh seat after receiving notification from the Dewan Rakyat Speaker.
Meanwhile, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) geostrategist Prof Dr Azmi Hassan said Nurul Nuha’s involvement in the campaign was seen as an effort to make her a candidate for the seat.
“If this is true, looks like PKR is lacking candidates.
There are so many other candidates who are qualified in PKR and Nurul Nuha’s credibility has not been proven,” he said when contacted by Bernama.
Azmi said that if Nurul Nuha was selected as the candidate, it would indicate that the family wanted to continue to dominate the party and continue the practice of nepotism in the party.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Faculty of Social Science and Humanities lecturer Prof Dr Mohd Fuad Mat Jali believed that if Nurul Nuha was nominated for the seat, it would clearly show nepotism within PKR.
He also explained that if Nurul Nuha was nominated, it was because Permatang Pauh is PKR’s stronghold.
“The issue of sympathy may also be used to ensure Nurul Nuha’s victory, as previously used by Anwar’s wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail when competing for the seat before,” he said.
Besides Nurul Izzah and Nurul Nuha, Anwar has four other children namely Mohd Ihsan, Nurul Ilham, Nurul Iman and Nurul Hana.
Anwar, 66, of Cherok Tok Kun, Bukit Mertajam, Penang first contested the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in the 1982 general election.
Representing the Barisan Nasional (BN), Anwar easily beat Zabidi Ali of PAS with a 14,352 majority vote.
He retained the seat in the following general elections until he was jailed six years on April 14, 1999 for corruption and was disqualified.
The Permatang Pauh seat was then contested and won by his wife Wan Azizah in the general election on Nov 10, 1999.
Wan Azizah continued to defend the seat until her resignation on July 31, 2008 to make way for Anwar to contest the seat in a by-election in August 2008.
Anwar won the seat by beating Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah (BN) with a majority of 15,671 votes.
He retained the seat in the last general election held in May 2013. — Bernama