A study of two women: Wan Azizah and Rosmah

The PKR president, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was quick to defend her husband, Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim when it was evident that the latest sex video was to discredit and topple him.

“I have gone through it all, this is just another one,” said Wan Azizah, referring to past accusations of sexual misconduct against the former deputy prime minister.

Wan Azizah, explained that the allegation was politically motivated. She also wondered why the man behind the video, Datuk ‘T’, had also demanded her resignation.

“I'm shocked that I was asked to resign. What have I done?” asked Wan Azizah.

Wan Azizah defends her husband because he is the constant target of dirty tactics.

Just like Wan Azizah, the Prime Minister, Najib Razak’s wife, the First Lady Rosmah Mansor, also cares about her husband’s image.

Rosmah is fastidious about how she and her husband are packaged to the Malaysian public and she allegedly ‘approves’ which programs can be aired on television. She rejects those which present her husband’s government in a bad light.

However, there was one appearance three weeks ago when the First Lady had to defend herself, and not her husband. She urged the voters to reject the allegations and lies she claimed had been spread by Pakatan against her.

Rosmah’s by-election appearance at the Felda settlements in Kerdau today was undignified. Her pleas to the settlers of Felda Jengka 25 sounded pitiful.

She said, “Look at my face until you are satisfied. Do I look like a liar? I don't, right?” Is she so naïve to believe people will give direct answers to her face?

This was how Asiaweek described Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the wife of the Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim: “Emerging from the ashes of her husband's political demise, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail became a tireless campaigner for justice, transparency and change. Whether traveling around the country addressing crowds or appearing in court during her husband's corruption and sodomy trials, she became, in the eyes of the nation, a potent symbol of the reformist movement - and, equally important, of grace under pressure.”

Malaysians are only too aware how Rosmah paid US$7 million for a centre-fold spread in the New York Times to promote herself and to be praised for receiving the International Peace and Harmony Award.

Wan Azizah is a politician in her own right. When Anwar was controversially sacked from his government and party posts, Wan Azizah was rudely thrust into the center of national attention.

After her husband was arrested and jailed, she was propelled to the helm of the reformasi movement that her husband had launched to fight against what he claimed was a corrupt political system.

Many doubted her ability to perform saying she was too soft, naïve and inexperienced. But succeed she did and she kept the flame of her husband's cause alive. She cooperated with established opposition parties to form the Barisan Alternatif (BA) alliance that contested the recent general elections - the first time the government was challenged by a united opposition.

On the other hand, Rosmah has political ambitions but to the outsider, appears to want to get in by the back door, rather than contest on her own ticket.

She sidelined her husband’s deputy Muhyiddin Yassin when Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak had chicken pox and received foreign dignitaries on her husband’s behalf.

Recently, she travelled on her own, complete with entourage, to visit countries in the middle-east and Bangladesh, in her capacity as the First Lady of Malaysia. Her intrusion into politics and the manner in which she upstaged the Deputy PM and the Foreign minister have not endeared her to the public.

Wan Azizah has her own website as president of her own political party, whereas Rosmah, it was alleged, forced her husband to set up a website dedicated to her, dubbed FLOM or First Lady of Malaysia. After much controversy, and expense, FLOM was taken off the PM’s website.

In the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami, Rosmah was allegedly telling viewers, that the disaster was caused by Japan’s failure to implement environmentally-friendly planning and development policies. The remarks were met with outrage and there were calls for her to apologise for making insensitive comments.

Last month, the turncoat Lokman Nor Adam “spilled the beans” on Wan Azizah and her allegedly “expensive lifestyle”. He claimed that Wan Azizah spent an average RM8,000 each on suits and that she had 20 pieces made annually.

Despite that, the First Lady’s lavish spending spree and stories of High Commission and MAS staff, having to cope with her excessive spoils to ship them home to Malaysia, are legendary.

A documentary video posted on YouTube titled Rosmah Perempuan Puaka (Rosmah The Ghost Lady), allegedly portrayed how Rosmah treated her family and relatives and how she used black magic to fulfill her wishes and to gain power.

One doubts if Wan Azizah has time to feature in documentaries. However, feminist writer-scholar Cecilia Ng Choon Sim had this to say about Wan Azizah: “She has come to symbolise inner strength and resilience.” - Malaysia Chronicle