Wan Azizah Wan Ismail

This is a Malay name; the name "Wan Ismail" is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by his or her given name, "Wan Azizah".

Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (born 3 December 1952) is a Malaysian politician. She is the president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People's Justice Party) and the party's Member of Parliament for Permatang Pauh since 1999.

She is also the wife of former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim.

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Early life

Born in 1952, Wan Azizah received her early education in St. Nicholas Convent School, Alor Setar. She was to continue her education at the prestigious Tunku Kurshiah College [2] in Seremban. She went on to read medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland where she was awarded a gold medal in obstetrics and gynecology and she later graduated as a qualified opthalmologist.

Dr. Wan Azizah served as a government doctor for 14 years before deciding to focus on volunteer work, when her husband, Anwar Ibrahim was appointed the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia in 1993. As part of her voluntary pursuits, she became a patron of the National Cancer Council (Majlis Kanser Nasional in Malay or MAKNA) in that period ^{[1] [2]} and became the second woman to lead a political party in Malaysia's history (Ganga Nayar founded and became the first president of the Malaysian Workers' Party in 1978 ^[3]).

Wan Azizah is of Peranakan (Straits Chinese) ancestry.^[4]

Political career

Party founder

Following the dismissal and arrest of her husband on 20 September 1998, Dr. Wan Azizah earned the respect and admiration of many Malaysians as the leader of the fledgling Reformasi movement. She first led the Social Justice Movement (ADIL), a civil rights NGO, before helping to establish the National Justice Party on 4 April 1999. The establishment of the party saw Dr. Wan Azizah being elected as the first party president ^[5].

On 3 August 2003, she brought the party into a merger with the older Malaysian People's Party (or Parti Rakyat Malaysia) which saw the establishment of the People's Justice Party and was elected as the president of the newly merged party.

Member of Parliament

In the first elections competed by the party in 1999, she led the party to win 5 seats in the Parliament and was herself elected as the Member of Parliament for Permatang Pauh; the seat formerly held by Anwar Ibrahim; with a majority of 9,077 votes ^[6]. She successfully retained the seat in the 2004 elections with a reduced majority.

As a political party leader and also a parliamentary representative, Dr. Wan Azizah is involved in many programs and activities domestically and internationally. She has spoken at UN-sponsored programs, and the local and international media. She is also the Vice-Chair of the Malaysian Parliamentary Caucus for Democracy in Myanmar and a member of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus ^[7].

Recent developments

With the recent public announcement by Anwar Ibrahim regarding his intention to return to active politics despite being legally barred from doing so,^[8] Dr Wan Azizah has indicated her readiness to vacate the position of party president if he was elected.^[9] Nonetheless, she has also indicated that she intends to defend her parliamentary seat for Permatang Pauh.^[10]

See also

• People's Justice Party
• Anwar Ibrahim
• Reformasi (Malaysia)

References