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A Daughter of Malaysia Finds Her Political Star Rising
Rahman Roslan for the International Herald Tribune
Nurul Izzah Anwar
By LIZ GOOCH
Published: December 24, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
WHEN Nurul Izzah Anwar was elected last month to one of the senior leadership posts in Malaysias Peoples Justice Party at the age of 30, she became the youngest person ever to hold such a position in the partys history.
Her success in contesting one of the four vice-presidential positions came just two years after she was elected to Parliament, but her public image has been more than a decade in the making and, whether she likes it or not, is inextricably tied to one of Malaysias most recognizable politicians.
Ms. Nurul Izzah is the eldest daughter of Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister, who over a decade ago was jailed on what he called politically inspired charges of sodomy and abuse of power. In a Muslim country with conservative attitudes toward matters of sex, the sodomy charges were scandalous. But they were ultimately overturned in 2004, and Mr. Anwar emerged from prison having undergone a transformation into the leader of Malaysias opposition.
The tangled episode also triggered a political awakening in Ms. Nurul Izzah, who was just 18 at the time of her fathers arrest. She got her start in public life with an impassioned plea for his freedom before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, and that set her on a path to Malaysias Parliament.
Now, as her father, who was re-elected to Parliament in 2008, faces a second sodomy trial that he has denounced as similarly trumped up, this time to thwart his political return, Ms. Nurul Izzahs own political star is rising.
Her win in the internal elections has cemented her position as a key player in the Peoples Justice Party, which her father founded and of which her mother, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, is president.
I dont think after going through 1998 it would be possible to retreat back to a nonpolitical life, Ms. Nurul Izzah said, referring to her fathers first arrest.
While some analysts view her recent election to one of the partys top posts as an important step in emerging from her fathers shadow, others take it as a sign that Mr. Anwars family is engaging in dynastic politics.
In an interview in the opposition offices of the Malaysian Parliament, Ms. Nurul Izzah, one of her parents six children and the only one to follow them into political life, insisted on her independence.
Of course I love my father dearly, but at the end of the day I am a legislator in my own right, she said. I have to fight my own wars and I have my community and constituents to serve. I am answerable to them.
She emphasized that she was not appointed but rather elected by the partys members after campaigning against 17 contenders for the four vice-presidential posts.
I am proud of the fact that we had to fight, she said of the internal party contest.
She also said that campaigning for her fathers freedom had been her own decision, and not the result of family pressure. It was the right thing to do, she said.
It was her work with human rights organizations as well as her fathers arrest, she said, that gave her an understanding of the things that matter in Malaysia the state of our judiciary, the state of our civil and political liberties, and convinced her that politics offered an opportunity to effect change.
AFTER earning a bachelors degree in engineering in Malaysia, Ms. Nurul Izzah completed a masters degree in international relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, returned to Malaysia in 2007 and was coordinating the Peoples Justice Partys activities in Lembah Pantai, a suburban Kuala Lumpur constituency, when she was asked to run for Parliament in the 2008 election.
I had just had a baby then but in a sense that was an important move, I felt, in trying to garner support from our young voters, said Ms. Nurul Izzah, who has two children with her husband, Raja Ahmad Shahrir, who works for the management consulting firm Accenture.
She defeated Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, a three-term incumbent and the minister for women, family and community development, contributing to impressive gains by the opposition and, for the first time in nearly four decades, the governing partys loss of a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
The most recent tribulations of Ms. Nurul Izzahs father inevitably give rise to the question of whether she could eventually take his place at the head of the opposition. No one knows when that time would be, but this has been a turbulent season for him. In addition to his second sodomy trial, he was suspended from Parliament last week for six months for making a false statement to Parliament, when he said the government had adopted its 1Malaysia national unity program from a similar campaign in Israel.
While Ms. Nurul Izzah said the party must prepare for the worst, she sidestepped the question of whether she could be a possible successor to her father. Its not about me or what role I would play, but whats our strategy moving forward, she said.
Ong Kian Ming, a political analyst and lecturer at UCSI University in Kuala Lumpur, believes that Mr. Anwar would continue to be the partys de facto leader even if he returns to prison, and that the next step for Ms. Nurul Izzah would probably be the partys deputy presidency. If her mother stepped down from the presidency, the current deputy, Azmin Ali, would normally be next in line, but Ms. Nurul Izzah could always challenge him for the top job, Mr. Ong said.
Shes at the forefront of a small group of leaders who can and will replace Anwar eventually, he said.
Bridget Welsh, an associate professor of political science at Singapore Management University who taught Ms. Nurul Izzah when she was studying at Johns Hopkins, said her leadership potential was evident early on.
But despite the small steps Ms. Nurul Izzah has taken to distance herself from her father, Professor Welsh said she was still perceived rightly or wrongly as her fathers daughter and must blaze her own path.
ANALYSTS say that Ms. Nurul Izzah has also proved popular with the public, especially young Malaysians.
James Chin, a professor of political science and head of the school of arts and social sciences at Monash University Malaysia, said that during her younger days, Ms. Nurul Izzah had been known as puteri reformasi, or the princess of the reformation movement, which helped her garner a following among young people.
Ms. Nurul Izzah has repeatedly emphasized the need to overcome racial divisions in Malaysia, where tensions periodically flare, such as the firebombing of places of worship early this year.
She warns that Malaysia is at risk of becoming a failed state if it does not address the racial tensions and issues like the brain drain of young talent, the quality of the countrys universities, corruption and laws that circumscribe free speech.
While her rise through the partys ranks has been rapid, overcoming such challenges is likely to require a sustained effort. But she is emphatic that she is in for the long haul.
In terms of promoting and advocating reform, she said, I think it should be a lifelong struggle.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: December 28, 2010
The Saturday Profile article last week about Nurul Izzah Anwar, a rising political star in Malaysia who is the eldest daughter of Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition leader in parliament, misspelled, at one point, the name of the American graduate school where she completed a masters degree in international relations. It is the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, not John Hopkins.
(www.nytimes.com)
Nurul Izzah Anwar
By LIZ GOOCH
Published: December 24, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
WHEN Nurul Izzah Anwar was elected last month to one of the senior leadership posts in Malaysias Peoples Justice Party at the age of 30, she became the youngest person ever to hold such a position in the partys history.
Her success in contesting one of the four vice-presidential positions came just two years after she was elected to Parliament, but her public image has been more than a decade in the making and, whether she likes it or not, is inextricably tied to one of Malaysias most recognizable politicians.
Ms. Nurul Izzah is the eldest daughter of Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister, who over a decade ago was jailed on what he called politically inspired charges of sodomy and abuse of power. In a Muslim country with conservative attitudes toward matters of sex, the sodomy charges were scandalous. But they were ultimately overturned in 2004, and Mr. Anwar emerged from prison having undergone a transformation into the leader of Malaysias opposition.
The tangled episode also triggered a political awakening in Ms. Nurul Izzah, who was just 18 at the time of her fathers arrest. She got her start in public life with an impassioned plea for his freedom before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, and that set her on a path to Malaysias Parliament.
Now, as her father, who was re-elected to Parliament in 2008, faces a second sodomy trial that he has denounced as similarly trumped up, this time to thwart his political return, Ms. Nurul Izzahs own political star is rising.
Her win in the internal elections has cemented her position as a key player in the Peoples Justice Party, which her father founded and of which her mother, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, is president.
I dont think after going through 1998 it would be possible to retreat back to a nonpolitical life, Ms. Nurul Izzah said, referring to her fathers first arrest.
While some analysts view her recent election to one of the partys top posts as an important step in emerging from her fathers shadow, others take it as a sign that Mr. Anwars family is engaging in dynastic politics.
In an interview in the opposition offices of the Malaysian Parliament, Ms. Nurul Izzah, one of her parents six children and the only one to follow them into political life, insisted on her independence.
Of course I love my father dearly, but at the end of the day I am a legislator in my own right, she said. I have to fight my own wars and I have my community and constituents to serve. I am answerable to them.
She emphasized that she was not appointed but rather elected by the partys members after campaigning against 17 contenders for the four vice-presidential posts.
I am proud of the fact that we had to fight, she said of the internal party contest.
She also said that campaigning for her fathers freedom had been her own decision, and not the result of family pressure. It was the right thing to do, she said.
It was her work with human rights organizations as well as her fathers arrest, she said, that gave her an understanding of the things that matter in Malaysia the state of our judiciary, the state of our civil and political liberties, and convinced her that politics offered an opportunity to effect change.
AFTER earning a bachelors degree in engineering in Malaysia, Ms. Nurul Izzah completed a masters degree in international relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, returned to Malaysia in 2007 and was coordinating the Peoples Justice Partys activities in Lembah Pantai, a suburban Kuala Lumpur constituency, when she was asked to run for Parliament in the 2008 election.
I had just had a baby then but in a sense that was an important move, I felt, in trying to garner support from our young voters, said Ms. Nurul Izzah, who has two children with her husband, Raja Ahmad Shahrir, who works for the management consulting firm Accenture.
She defeated Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, a three-term incumbent and the minister for women, family and community development, contributing to impressive gains by the opposition and, for the first time in nearly four decades, the governing partys loss of a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
The most recent tribulations of Ms. Nurul Izzahs father inevitably give rise to the question of whether she could eventually take his place at the head of the opposition. No one knows when that time would be, but this has been a turbulent season for him. In addition to his second sodomy trial, he was suspended from Parliament last week for six months for making a false statement to Parliament, when he said the government had adopted its 1Malaysia national unity program from a similar campaign in Israel.
While Ms. Nurul Izzah said the party must prepare for the worst, she sidestepped the question of whether she could be a possible successor to her father. Its not about me or what role I would play, but whats our strategy moving forward, she said.
Ong Kian Ming, a political analyst and lecturer at UCSI University in Kuala Lumpur, believes that Mr. Anwar would continue to be the partys de facto leader even if he returns to prison, and that the next step for Ms. Nurul Izzah would probably be the partys deputy presidency. If her mother stepped down from the presidency, the current deputy, Azmin Ali, would normally be next in line, but Ms. Nurul Izzah could always challenge him for the top job, Mr. Ong said.
Shes at the forefront of a small group of leaders who can and will replace Anwar eventually, he said.
Bridget Welsh, an associate professor of political science at Singapore Management University who taught Ms. Nurul Izzah when she was studying at Johns Hopkins, said her leadership potential was evident early on.
But despite the small steps Ms. Nurul Izzah has taken to distance herself from her father, Professor Welsh said she was still perceived rightly or wrongly as her fathers daughter and must blaze her own path.
ANALYSTS say that Ms. Nurul Izzah has also proved popular with the public, especially young Malaysians.
James Chin, a professor of political science and head of the school of arts and social sciences at Monash University Malaysia, said that during her younger days, Ms. Nurul Izzah had been known as puteri reformasi, or the princess of the reformation movement, which helped her garner a following among young people.
Ms. Nurul Izzah has repeatedly emphasized the need to overcome racial divisions in Malaysia, where tensions periodically flare, such as the firebombing of places of worship early this year.
She warns that Malaysia is at risk of becoming a failed state if it does not address the racial tensions and issues like the brain drain of young talent, the quality of the countrys universities, corruption and laws that circumscribe free speech.
While her rise through the partys ranks has been rapid, overcoming such challenges is likely to require a sustained effort. But she is emphatic that she is in for the long haul.
In terms of promoting and advocating reform, she said, I think it should be a lifelong struggle.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: December 28, 2010
The Saturday Profile article last week about Nurul Izzah Anwar, a rising political star in Malaysia who is the eldest daughter of Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition leader in parliament, misspelled, at one point, the name of the American graduate school where she completed a masters degree in international relations. It is the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, not John Hopkins.
(www.nytimes.com)
