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Anwar’s wife may become opposition leader

— PHOTO: AP

New role: Wan Azizah and her husband and former Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, at Permatang Puah in Malaysia in this file photo.

SINGAPORE: Wan Azizah Wan Ismail leader of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR, the People’s Justice Party) is likely to become the Leader of the Opposition in Malaysia’s new Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives), amid rumblings of emerging dissidence in the ruling camp.

The outgoing Leader of the Opposition, Lim Kit Siang of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), has suggested that Ms. Azizah should succeed him.

He also said her husband Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister and a once-incarcerated leader, could later assume the mantle.

Mr. Anwar’s civil disqualification for elective office, the result of his conviction in a case of an alleged corrupt practice, will end by mid-April, an he has already said he would then enter Parliament through a by-election.

Mr. Lim said his proposal would reflect the political realities in the opposition camp, now dominated by the PKR as the party with more seats than either the DAP or the Pan Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) in the new House.

Mr. Lim’s initiative also projects Mr. Anwar as the challenger for the Prime Minister’s post in the emerging political situation in Kuala Lumpur.

Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, Home Minister in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s previous Cabinet, parted company on Wednesday after being overlooked for a similar position now.

With Mr. Abdullah having obtained a substantially reduced parliamentary majority in the March 8 snap election,

Mr. Anwar on Friday stepped up his campaign to unseat the Prime Minister,

on the ground that the poll mandate was, in fact, a vote for a change in the old order.

Mr. Anwar now commands the support of 82 members in the new House, against Mr. Abdullah’s tally of 140.

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