Who walks down the streets of Kuala Lumpur to the cheers and
chants of support. Together with her children, they are given thunderous applause from an
eager loving crowd. In front of the courts as if parading with her lawyers, even those
serious lawyer types smile and wave back and by doing so even encouraging the eclectic
crowd to elate further. So much so that the police has to enforce the barrier lines
forcing the people further back until they are now over the river only to be pushed
further so as to hide them away from their symbol of their champion of discontent. The
husband has over the period been seen always waving his hand up high for the crowd who in
turn cheer his name and shout his slogan. He has never once shown any sign of defeat ever
strong spirited. They try to shield his person from being seen by the public, blocking the
roads, circling with trucks so that they cut him off from the very people he struggles
for. How tragic and how sad things have become. The way things are going they are even
afraid of his shadow and looking at the way things are heading for it is as if they are
going to crucify him.
They incarcerated her husband but not his spirit and not his ideals. And that spirit and
image is in her and her children, family and friends. Truly the spark has been lit, as she
said in a TIME interview and she is indeed the torch bearer. The symbol of what is badly
wrong in the society and why the fight for truth and justice must go on. It is not a
lonely struggle for the goals are shared by all wise minded people. But the suffering, the
anxiety, the grief is solely borne by her and her children. Indeed, when a woman has to
fight for the cause of righteousness, she has to summon great strength and courage to
boldly face antagonists of overwhelming proportions. She has to find the time for her
children, keep attending to her beloved husband never once being away from his side in
court under much restrictions and to visit him in prison never leaving his side except to
part because of forced circumstance. At the same time she has to spearhead and carry on
the struggle for justice and carry on her husband's message for reform.
Being the wife of Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Wan Azizah can never be the same after that fateful
month of September when everything was taken away from them, their honour, their
happiness, their space. That such inhumanity and such cruelty could be perpetrated in full
view and in full knowledge of all thinking people was an insult and an affront to dignity
and common sense. It caused such a profound reaction and public anger and resentment never
before towards an authority which sees itself as benevolent and an authority which seeks
constantly gratefulness and homage from the very people they are supposed to serve.
Who says the Muslim woman can never rise above the situation for this is the clear living
proof of a woman challenging the odds. Her children steadfastly beside her, her family and
friends always being there for her.. But there are no easy ways. A lady welfare minister
'advised' her through the press to just stay home and look after the children and not
concern herself. How pathetic can you get and how totally out of touch that veteran lady
politician was compared to Wan Azizah. Other politicians were more harsh menacing her with
their open and veiled threats. How could this lady overnight be a threat to seasoned and
crisis hardened politicians and the vast administrative machinery, one would ask. Some
others stayed away from her and but the people were with her, the ordinary public, the
NGO's, the ordinary folk rather unlike those fair weather friends. This lady then became a
celebrity by being called upon near and far. The Indonesians, Philippines and the Thais
send messages of sympathy and personal support for a start. Corazon Aquino immediately
identified herself by her. Wan Azizah's daughter Nurul Izzah created a coup by her ASEAN
visits showing much the mantle of her father. Then the much vaunted Western sympathies and
later the Americans strutted into the scene. They snubbed the already unpopular
antagonists and accorded Wan Azizah the level of a dignitary by receiving and meeting with
their top officials. This and among others a certain line of a speech provided ammunition
for an anti-American backlash in the wake of APEC and was exploited to the hilt to once
again slander Wan Azizah and her fledgling movement.
But she is undeterred, not apologetic and much more determined. As they, the well
organised and entrenched forces try to put her down, her spirit soars as well as the
masses realisation to be with her and to reject what Rehman Rashid calls the politics of
contempt. Things will change and ultimately she will prevail, insyallah. As she said in an
iftar-breaking of fast gathering in the northern town of Alor Star, quoting from the
Qur'an: al-insyirrah - with hardship comes ease, and with hardship comes ease.
Hamdan Muhammad Hassan
24 January 1999.
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[Currently, he is a Senior Civil Engineer at the University Science of Malaysia. He is
involved in youth activities with the Muslim Youth Movement in Malaysia. He is also the
President for the Muslim Staff Association in his university.]
