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Wan Azizah Wan Ismail
Malaysian politician (born 1952) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Wan Azizah binti Wan Ismail[b] (born 3 December 1952) is a Malaysian politician who served as the deputy prime minister of Malaysia from 2018 to 2020, becoming the first woman to hold the position.[1] Since 2022, she has also held the role of spouse of the prime minister as the wife of Anwar Ibrahim.
Wan Azizah was the second woman to lead a political party in Malaysia after Ganga Nayar, when she helped form National Justice Party in 1999, later renamed the People's Justice Party (PKR), and became its president.[2] She was Malaysia's female opposition leader in 2008, however she resigned to make room for her husband.[3] In 2018, she went on to become Malaysia's first female deputy prime minister after PKR's efforts to develop women leaders.[4]
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Early life and education
Wan Azizah was born on 3 December 1952 at KK Women's and Children's Hospital in Singapore.[5] Her mother, who only had a basic education, raised her.[6] Her grandfather was of Peranakan descent, and she was raised as a Malay Muslim.[7] She began her education at St. Nicholas Convent School before continuing her secondary studies at Tunku Kurshiah College.[8][9] She then pursued a degree in medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland,[10] where she was awarded a gold medal in obstetrics and gynaecology.[11] She later qualified as an ophthalmologist.[12][13]
Wan Azizah served as a government doctor for 14 years before deciding to resign, when her husband, Anwar Ibrahim was appointed the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia in 1993.[6][10] As part of her voluntary pursuits, she became a patron of National Cancer Council in that period.[14]
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Early political career
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Following the dismissal and arrest of her husband on 20 September 1998,[15] Wan Azizah became the leader of the Reformasi movement. She founded the Social Justice Movement,[16] later named the National Justice Party (PKN) in April 1999.[10] She was the first woman in Malaysia to lead a political party and the first to do so with parliamentary representation after winning the Permatang Pauh seat with a 9,077-vote majority that year.[16][17]
She promoted reform and attempted to unite opposition forces to confront Mahathir's government, albeit unsuccessfully in preventing his party from retaining a supermajority in the 1999 general election.[18] Wan Azizah rejected the idea of Malay unity as the central political issue following the election. Instead, she argued that Malay support had shifted to the opposition due to disillusionment with leadership, abuses of power, corruption, police brutality, mismanagement of the economy, and a judiciary that was seen to lack independence. Her position underscored fissures in the electorate and the limits of traditional appeals to ethnic solidarity.[19]
In August 2003, PKN merged with the Malaysian People's Party (PRM) to become the People's Justice Party (PKR),[10] with Wan Azizah as president.[20] Although PKR had not yet been registered by the Registrar of Societies at that time, she contested the 2004 general election on the ticket of the new party and retained the Permatang Pauh seat by a margin of 590 votes and became PKR's sole representative in Parliament.[21][10][22] With the public announcement by Anwar regarding his intention to return to active politics despite being legally barred from doing so,[23] Wan Azizah indicated her readiness to vacate the position of party president if he was elected.[24] Anwar, running as a PKR candidate, won the by-election after Wan Azizah relinquished the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat.[10][25] Under her continued leadership, PKR won 31 seats in the 2008 general election,[20] which she won with a majority of 13,388 votes.[26] The party also performed well at the state level by forming governments in Perak and Selangor and part of ruling coalitions in Penang and Kedah.[10]
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Leader of the Opposition
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On 30 April 2008, Wan Azizah became the leader of the Opposition.[27] Her position was acknowledged during coalition negotiations by the Malaysian United Indigenous Party, led by Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin, even though the party remained noncommittal about Anwar's release or future as prime minister. This recognition helped sustain PKR's leadership role within the opposition despite internal divisions and uncertainty over succession.[28] That same year, Wan Azizah sent a letter to Myanmar's ambassador expressing concern over the military junta's decision to proceed with a constitutional referendum despite the ongoing Cyclone Nargis crisis. She submitted a motion urging Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia to call for a postponement of the vote to prioritise relief efforts and to press the regime to grant greater access to aid workers. She also called on the Malaysian government to use its influence to advocate for a delay, though the motion was rejected on the grounds of Malaysia's policy of neutrality and noninterference.[29] Her tenure as opposition leader ended on 28 August 2008.[30]
On 9 March 2014, PKR named Wan Azizah as its candidate for the Kajang by-election after Anwar was disqualified from running due to a five-year prison sentence following the overturning of his sodomy acquittal.[31][32] She won the Kajang seat on 23 March 2014 with a majority of 5,379 votes.[33][34] After Anwar was disqualified from holding the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in 2015 due to the same conviction,[35] a by-election was held on 7 May.[36] Wan Azizah contested and retained the seat for PKR,[37] winning with a majority of 8,841 votes.[38]
Wan Azizah was sworn in as opposition leader on 18 May 2015 after winning the Permatang Pauh by-election, reclaiming the seat vacated by her husband Anwar Ibrahim following his imprisonment in February that year.[39] In 2016, she led the opposition coalition in forging an alliance with Mahathir Mohamad’s Malaysian United Indigenous Party. By January 2018, the coalition, known as the Alliance of Hope, named Mahathir as its prime ministerial candidate and Wan Azizah as his prospective deputy. This alliance brought together diverse factions, including Malay critics of UMNO and reform-minded groups, ultimately contributing to the defeat of Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 2018 general election.[40]
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Deputy Prime Minister
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Wan Azizah won the Pandan seat in the 2018 general election with a majority of 52,543 votes.[41] Following the general election, she was appointed as deputy prime minister and took office on 21 May 2018 after securing 64,733 votes in a five-cornered contest. She was sworn in before Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V at Istana Negara, alongside 13 other cabinet ministers, and concurrently served as minister of women, family and community development.[1]
During her time in office, Wan Azizah made several diplomatic visits. On 26 February 2019, she held a meeting with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah during her first official visit to Brunei.[42] Later that year, on 9 July, she met with Vice President Wang Qishan at Zhongnanhai.[43] On 12 February 2020, she publicly honoured three women whistle-blowers from the Auditor General's Office for exposing tampering in the 1MDB audit report, praising their courage and calling for greater female involvement in anti-corruption efforts.[44]
According to former attorney-general Tommy Thomas, Wan Azizah was the Sultan Abdullah's preferred candidate for interim prime minister following Mahathir's resignation in February 2020.[45] However, she officially left office on 25 February 2020.[46][47] Her successor, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, was only appointed by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in July 2021.[48][49]
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Later life
In the 2022 general election on 19 November, Wan Azizah won the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat with a majority of 9,817 votes, defeating candidates from Perikatan Nasional and BN.[50]
Personal life
Wan Azizah married Anwar Ibrahim on 28 February 1980. The couple have six children together,[51] the eldest of whom is Nurul Izzah, a member of parliament.[52]
Awards and honours
Awards
Wan Azizah received the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award in Ophthalmology from the Malaysian Ophthalmology Scientific Congress.[13] She was also honoured with the Eminent Educator Award by the College of Physicians Malaysia.[53]
Honours
On 7 July 2023, Wan Azizah was awarded an honorary fellowship by the Academy of Medicine Malaysia.[54] She later received an honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Political and Social Sciences from the University of Selangor on 9 September 2023.[55] On 14 December 2023, a new orchid hybrid was named after her during the launch of Orkid Putrajaya 2023.[56]
Penang :
Knight Commander of the Order of the Defender of State (DPPN) – Dato' Seri (2008)[57][58]
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Notes
- Serving simultaneously as the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development.[1]
- Jawi: وان عزيزة وان إسماعيل
References
External links
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