PETALING JAYA: PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail looks set to be thrown into mainstream politics once again after being considered as the frontrunner to replace Anwar Ibrahim as the candidate for the Kajang state seat by-elections.
A party insider told FMT today that Wan Azizah was being asked to replace Anwar to keep the party’s Kajang Move scheme afloat.
“Only she is seen as the most capable candidate to pull through the party’s plan, and to be the Selangor Menteri Besar,” said the insider.
“Within the inner circle of PKR, it is quite certain that Wan Azizah will be the replacement candidate, with Anwar leading the campaigning.
“What needs to be done now is to sell this idea to our Pakatan allies and that will be done in the course of the Pakatan congress which is underway now,” added the insider.
Kajang Move is a scheme put together by party’s strategic director Rafizi Ramli and a few others to enable Anwar to contest in the state seat, and then to eventually replace Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim so that Pakatan Rakyat will be in a much better position to take over Putrajaya in the next general election.
The plan however went awry following yesterday’s Court of Appeal ruling to sentence Anwar to five years jail for sodomy.
First it was believed that the party had shortlisted three candidates to replace Anwar in Kajang – Rafizi, party secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution and PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Last night Anwar told a ceramah in Kajang that the party has shortlisted 12 names as possible candidates for the Kajang by-election which will be held on March 23.
However now it has emerged that Anwar and leaders close to him want Wan Azizah to make a return to mainstream politics once again.
She was first thrown into the political landscape following Anwar’s sacking 1998 and subsequent imprisonment in 1999. She became the PKR president – a position which she still holds – and contested in Anwar’s Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in the 1999 general election.
She retained the parliamentary seat in the 2004 and 2008 general elections but stood down in August 2008 to pave way for Anwar – who by then had been released from prison and had exhausted the ban against contesting in elections.
Anwar won the by-election with a landslide victory to make a return to politics, and this coincided with Wan Azizah taking a back-step from politics and party matters, leaving everything to her husband.
She was also expected to step down as the party president in the coming party polls to allow Anwar to take over.
Reviving the people’s sentiments
However the Court of Appeal decision had changed all that. And with nomination day just days away – on March 11- the party will have to do something quick.
It is not just the matter of winning Kajang. It involves a bigger plan to take over the MB’s position and to march forward to Putrajaya.
“The party innercircle sees her (Wan Azizah) as capable of carrying the ‘victim’s’ role once again…just like how it had been in 1998,” said the insider.
“With the court decision against Anwar, and with Wan Azizah being the candidate, the party feels she can win with a huge majority, and also help revive the reformasi movement again.
“And along the way, she can be the right person to replace Khalid as the MB.
“This is Anwar’s last dice…to ask his wife to take up his fight once again and use her to build up the support for PKR and Pakatan.
“He hopes this will turn the people against Barisan Nasional, and hopes he can still make it to Putrajaya after the next general election,” added the insider.
If everything goes according to plan in the next 48 hours, Anwar is expected to name Wan Azizah as the Kajang candidate on Monday.
