Wan Azizah should contest in Penang

The PKR president should contest for a state seat as that would derail attempts by BN from playing up issues about marginalisation of Malay leaders by the DAP.

COMMENT

Reports that PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will be a candidate in the next general election is a hotly debated issue among the public.

Will she be a candidate or not? Where will she be a candidate to fight her way back into mainstream politics?

These are the main questions.

The answers are not easy to come by since it is not known where will she lean to in the end.

However, there may be a solution to the corny issue that might simply tame Umno as well as hunt them for the next five years.

Wan Azizah may well be a candidate for a state seat, rather than a parliamentary seat, and it should be in Penang.

There are already two members of the Anwar Ibrahim family who will contest in their respective parliamentary seats in the next general election – Anwar in Permatang Pauh and daughter Nurul Izzah in Lembah Pantai.

This leaves way for Wan Azizah to be a candidate for a state seat and Penang seems to be the best bet so far.

There is the possibility that the Malay voters in Penang may be giving some credence to the BN-Umno propaganda in Penang. The opposition should not allow any lapses in their campaigns and they may need a stalwart politician from the PKR to fend off this menace.

With this in mind, Pakatan Rakyat may as well allow Wan Azizah to contest in the state rather than Selangor – the two states reportedly interested in paving way for her return.

The decision to let her contest in Penang may just render BN’s anti-Pakatan campaign in the state to be ineffective.

It will be an unexpected move as it will mean the communal campaign led by the BN will have been diluted with the presence of a major Malay opposition figure in the Penang state assembly contest.

Her campaigning in Penang may altogether divide the pro-BN supporters and this will surely cause a steep fall in the BN’s expectations to retake Penang back.

It is such wildcards, if used wisely by Pakatan, that will win the opposition more seats in both the state assemblies and in the parliament. Her

Wan Azizah’s presence will also ‘douse’ any hesitations by the Malay-Muslim community in Penang while it will comfort the even bigger ‘pro-reformasi’ community there.

The prominent role played by her in the reformasi movement and her presence as a valuable opposition MP in Parliament since 1998 until her resignation in 2008 will be an added boost to the opposition in Penang.

It is not to be forgotten that her international campaigns altogether pressured the BN government and contributed to the release Anwar in 2004.

This is true to her immense popularity in some Arab states and even in the US after her multiple interviews online and in private international television stations, just as she is still popular locally.

So its best that PKR convinces her to contest for a state seat in Penang.

KL-based Amir Ali works for an Indonesian NGO called the Warisan Melayu Riau, which is based in Bengkalis, Riau.