Malaysia’s Nurul Izzah Anwar to run for PKR’s No 2, rebuts ‘family party’ claims
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s eldest child says her family has faced nepotism claims since her father started the reform movement in 1998
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, has said she will join the race to become the ruling party’s No 2, despite allegations of nepotism and speculation that she will use the post to launch a bid to become the country’s first woman prime minister.
Nurul Izzah Anwar, 44, a long-time figure in her father’s reform movement, has received a flurry of endorsements from delegates of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) this week, with many saying Anwar’s eldest child is the ideal candidate to be the party’s next deputy president.
Announcing her candidacy on her Facebook page on Friday afternoon, Nurul Izzah dismissed allegations of PKR being a “family party”, which she said had been thrown against her family since the start of her father’s reform movement in 1998.
“Regardless of the titles and perceptions thrown at me over the decades, I will continue to serve, God willing, because I am convinced that the process of openly contesting and then receiving a mandate from the grass roots is not a form of nepotism,” she said.
Anwar has yet to comment on the matter since several of his top party colleagues, including his senior political secretary, Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin, began to push for Nurul Izzah to be PKR’s No 2.
But some critics said Nurul Izzah, who lost in the 2022 general election, had limited governance experience.