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| Published in Washington, D.C. October 11, 1998 |
Jailed Anwar's wife steps into spotlight
Defends spouse, the former deputy leader, condemns Malaysian 'oppression'
By Richard S. Ehrlich
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
After police allegedly Anwar Ibrahim bloody and unconscious, his wife has stepped in to fight against "oppression" and proclaim her husband's innocence of sodomy and corruption charges.
"I have six children," Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said with a laugh. "If you think he's bisexual, six children is a lot."
An eye doctor by profession, she said the charges against her husband, the former deputy prime minister, are a plot to destroy the reputation of her husband, who is a sincere Muslim.
"It is a way of character assassination. If someone is religious, then you will link him to doing something morally wrong," she said during an interview in her home, decorated with large Arabic calligraphy denoting religious passages from Islam's holy book, the Koran.
Clad in her Islamic "tudung" head scarf, Dr. Azizah said homosexuality "is very wrong in our religion. That is supposed to have demeaned him. But if you go and have a consensus among the public, they do not believe" the allegations.
Asked if Anwar is, or ever was, homosexual or bisexual, as charged in the court and splashed in graphic detail across government-controlled newspapers, she replied adamantly, "No."
The good news for Dr. Azizah, 45, is that she is being compared to Burma's bold pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The bad news is Mrs. Suu Kyi languished under house arrest for six years, and today is still unable to bring democracy to her heavily policed nation.
Dr. Azizah could be heading for a similarly grim fate.
The government recently threatened her with imprisonment on sedition charges for saying in a televised interview that she was worried about "rumors" that authorities might inject her husband with HIV virus, which causes AIDS, in an bizarre effort to portray him as a homosexual.
If she is arrested, it would mirror the fate her husband, who is now detained under the dreaded Internal Security Act, which allows two years of imprisonment without trial.
Buoyed by his simultaneous posts as deputy prime minister and finance minister for the past six years, Mr. Anwar was being groomed by his close friend Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to lead Malaysia sometime in the 21st century.
But Mr. Anwar, 51, and Mr. Mahathir, 72, recently squabbled about the country's faltering economy, how to expose alleged government corruption and possibly about Mr. Anwar's escalating popularity, especially with international bankers, diplomats and the Malaysian public.
As a result of Mr. Anwar's dismissal on Sept. 2 and imprisonment 18 days later, Mr. Mahathir is now not only prime minister but also in charge of police as home minister and is acting finance minister.
Mr. Mahathir has not yet named anyone for the No. 2 position of deputy prime minister.
Mr. Anwar's imprisonment while he awaits his first hearing on Nov. 2, has devastated his wife and children.
The last time Dr. Azizah saw her husband was in court on Oct. 5, after he received medical treatment for a reported police beating on Sept. 20 that Mr. Anwar said left him unconscious, bleeding from his nose and with a black eye.
"In the court, we could just manage a few hushed sentences to one another. He said: 'I'm all right. How are the children?' she said.
Mr. Anwar's frustrated followers, and others who oppose Mr. Mahathir's rule, now hope Dr. Azizah can lead Malaysia's smoldering "reform" crusade for a freer society.
"The reform movement's spark has been lit, and the glow is carrying on," she said. The government "can actually, physically, forcibly control, but you cannot control the hearts and the minds of people."
She said she took strength from women in similar situations, like Mrs. Suu Kyi.
"I got a call from Cory Aquino just now, and I'm very honored," she said, referring to the former president of the Philippines who toppled the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos after Mrs. Aquino's husband -- a political rival of Marcos -- was assassinated in Manila.
"She just said that she had read the report in Time magazine about me, and my interview, and she's impressed by that," said Dr. Azizah. "She also told me that she started with a prayer vigil. So she will pray for me. And we both believe in the power of prayer."
Dr, Azizah's latest prayers are also directed at President Clinton and others in Washington -- especially officials in the State Department -- who have offered public words of support.
She said she hopes the U.S. and international pressure will be enough to get her husband released.