Daughter No. 2 NURUL NUHA most likely candidate for Anwar's Permatang Pauh seat

Speculation is making the rounds that Anwar Ibrahim's daughter Nurul Nuha Anwar will contest the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in Penang.

However, when this question was posed to her elder sister, Nurul Izzah, at a press conference in the family residence today, she skirted the issue.

Nurul Izzah said the press conference was on the "March to Freedom" and therefore the by-election candidate issue would not be addressed.

"It is hard to survive in the political climate in Malaysia, especially if you are the opposition.

"For the meantime, my mother (PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail) and I will carry the torch," the Lembah Pantai lawmaker told reporters.

However, the PKR vice-president said a decision would be made on the Permatang Pauh seat during the Pakatan Rakyat meeting on Friday.

When quizzed about her mother’s absence at the press conference at their Segambut residence this morning, Nurul Izzah said her mother would be taking a back seat for now and the siblings would be shouldering the responsibilities.

“For 17 years, Dr Wan Azizah had to face the challenge herself. I believe her children are now all grown up. Nurul Hana in 1998 was only six years old, but now she can help more.

“Let her (Dr Wan Azizah) have her space. Facing the media is not easy even though everything has been all right so far,” Nurul Izzah said.

Some have claimed that it is Anwar's wish to see Nurul Nuha contest in his traditional stronghold, which he has to vacate following yesterday's Federal Court decision to uphold his Sodomy II conviction by the Court of Appeal.

Accused of nepotism

Anwar's critics have often accused the opposition leader of practising nepotism with regard to his wife heading PKR and his daughter being a vice-president of the party.

If Nurul Nuha is named as the candidate, it would also complicate matters concerning the next opposition leader.

Yesterday, Malaysiakini reported that DAP wants its parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang to assume the post but the party is willing to concede it to PKR, should Wan Azizah return to Parliament via the Permatang Pauh by-election.

During Anwar's previous jail term, his wife contested the seat and went on to become opposition leader.

However, Wan Azizah resigned after her husband's five-year ban from active politics expired, paving the way for Anwar to contest the seat in a by-election in 2008. - M'kini