| Honorific-Prefix: | Yang Berhormat Dato' Seri |
| Wan Azizah Wan Ismail | |
| Native Name: | Malay: {{Script|Arab|وان عزيزة وان إسماعيل |
| Office: | Spouse of the Prime Minister of Malaysia |
| Term Label: | Assumed role |
| Primeminister: | Anwar Ibrahim |
| Term Start: | 24 November 2022 |
| Predecessor: | Muhaini Zainal Abidin |
| Office1: | 12th Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia |
| Monarch1: | Muhammad V Abdullah |
| Primeminister1: | Mahathir Mohamad |
| Term Start1: | 21 May 2018 |
| Term End1: | 24 February 2020 |
| Predecessor1: | Ahmad Zahid Hamidi |
| Successor1: | Ismail Sabri Yaakob |
| Office2: | 1st President of the Pakatan Harapan |
| Deputy2: | Lim Guan Eng (2017–2022) Anthony Loke Siew Fook (since 2022) Mohamad Sabu Wilfred Madius Tangau (2021–2023) Ewon Benedick (since 2023) |
| 1Blankname2: | Chairman |
| 1Namedata2: | Mahathir Mohamad (2017–2020) Anwar Ibrahim (since 2020) |
| Term Start2: | 14 July 2017 |
| Predecessor2: | Position established |
| Office3: | 1st President of the People's Justice Party |
| Deputy3: | Chandra Muzaffar (1999–2001) Syed Husin Ali (2003–2010) Azmin Ali (2010–2018) |
| Term Start3: | 4 April 1999 |
| Term End3: | 17 November 2018 |
| Predecessor3: | Position established |
| Successor3: | Anwar Ibrahim |
| Office4: | 11th and 13th Leader of the Opposition |
| Monarch4: | Abdul Halim Muhammad V |
| Primeminister4: | Najib Razak |
| Term Start4: | 18 May 2015 |
| Term End4: | 10 May 2018 |
| Predecessor4: | Anwar Ibrahim |
| Successor4: | Ahmad Zahid Hamidi |
| Constituency4: | Permatang Pauh |
| Monarch5: | Mizan Zainal Abidin |
| Primeminister5: | Abdullah Ahmad Badawi |
| Term Start5: | 9 March 2008 |
| Term End5: | 28 August 2008 |
| Predecessor5: | Lim Kit Siang (DAP) |
| Successor5: | Anwar Ibrahim (PKR) |
| Constituency5: | Permatang Pauh |
| Office6: | Spouse of the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia |
| Monarch6: | Azlan Shah Ja’afar |
| Term Label6: | In role |
| Term Start6: | 1 December 1993 |
| Term End6: | 2 September 1998 |
| Primeminister6: | Mahathir Mohamad |
| 1Blankname6: | Deputy |
| 1Namedata6: | Anwar Ibrahim |
| Predecessor6: | Dayang Heryati Abdul Rahim |
| Successor6: | Endon Mahmood |
| Constituency Mp7: | Bandar Tun Razak |
| Parliament7: | Malaysian |
| Term Start7: | 19 November 2022 |
| Majority7: | 9,817 (2022) |
| Predecessor7: | Kamaruddin Jaafar (PN–BERSATU) |
| Constituency Mp8: | Pandan |
| Parliament8: | Malaysian |
| Term Start8: | 9 May 2018 |
| Term End8: | 19 November 2022 |
| Predecessor8: | Rafizi Ramli (PR–PKR) |
| Successor8: | Rafizi Ramli (PH–PKR) |
| Majority8: | 52,543 (2018) |
| Constituency Mp9: | Permatang Pauh |
| Parliament9: | Malaysian |
| Term Start9: | 7 May 2015 |
| Term End9: | 9 May 2018 |
| Predecessor9: | Anwar Ibrahim (PR–PKR) |
| Successor9: | Nurul Izzah Anwar (PH–PKR) |
| Majority9: | 8,841 (2015) |
| Term Start10: | 29 November 1999 |
| Term End10: | 31 July 2008 |
| Predecessor10: | Anwar Ibrahim (BN–UMNO) |
| Successor10: | Anwar Ibrahim (PR–PKR) |
| Majority10: | 9,077 (1999) 590 (2004) 13,388 (2008) |
| Constituency Am11: | Kajang |
| Assembly11: | Selangor State Legislative |
| Term Start11: | 7 April 2014 |
| Term End11: | 9 May 2018 |
| Predecessor11: | Lee Chin Cheh (PR–PKR) |
| Successor11: | Hee Loy Sian (PH–PKR) |
| Majority11: | 5,379 (2014) |
| Birth Name: | Wan Azizah binti Wan Ismail |
| Birth Date: | 3 December 1952 |
| Birth Place: | KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Colony of Singapore (now Singapore) |
| Party: | People's Justice Party (PKR) |
| Otherparty: | Pakatan Harapan (PH) Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Barisan Alternatif (BA) |
| Children: | 6, including Nurul Izzah |
| Alma Mater: | Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland |
Wan Azizah binti Wan Ismail (Jawi: وان عزيزة بنت وان إسماعيل; born 3 December 1952) is a Malaysian politician who has served as Spouse of the Prime Minister of Malaysia as the wife of Anwar Ibrahim, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bandar Tun Razak since November 2022 and 1st President of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition since July 2017. She served as the 12th Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Women, Family and Community Development in the PH administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from May 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020, 1st President of the People's Justice Party (PKR) from April 1999 to November 2018, the 11th and 13th Leader of the Opposition from March 2008 to August 2008 and again from May 2015 to May 2018, MP for Pandan from May 2018 to November 2022, for Permatang Pauh from November 1999 to March 2008 and again from May 2015 to May 2018 as well as Member of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Kajang from April 2014 to May 2018.[1] [2] She was the first female Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition as well as the highest ever female political officeholder in the history of Malaysia. She joined politics and held a number of political offices on behalf of her husband Anwar to retain his political influence during his absence from politics due to a series of his sodomy trials and prison sentences that had prevented him from holding the offices. She most notably served as the 1st President of PKR from the party formation to officially handing over the party leadership to Anwar after his release from prison while Anwar served as the "de facto" leader during the period.
Wan Azizah was born in 1952 at KK Women's and Children's Hospital in Singapore.[3] She has a Peranakan grandfather and was raised Malay Muslim.[4]
She received her early education in St. Nicholas Convent School, Alor Setar and continued her education at Tunku Kurshiah College[5] in Seremban. She went on to study medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland where she was awarded a gold medal in obstetrics and gynaecology[6] and she later graduated as a qualified ophthalmologist.[7]
Wan Azizah served as a government doctor for 14 years before deciding to focus on volunteering work, when her husband, Anwar Ibrahim was appointed the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia in 1993. As part of her voluntary pursuits, she became a patron of MAKNA (Majlis Kanser Nasional or National Cancer Council) in that period.[8] [9]
Following the dismissal and arrest of her husband on 20 September 1998, Wan Azizah became the leader of the fledgling Reformasi movement. She first led the Social Justice Movement (ADIL), a civil rights NGO, before helping to establish the Parti Keadilan Nasional on 4 April 1999. The establishment of the party saw Wan Azizah elected as the first party president, a position she was re-elected to in 2001.[10] The position made her the second woman to lead a political party in Malaysia's history; after Ganga Nayar as the founder and first president of the Malaysian Workers' Party in 1978.[11]
On 3 August 2003, Wan Azizah brought the party into a merger with the older Malaysian People's Party (or Parti Rakyat Malaysia) which saw the establishment of the People's Justice Party and was elected as the president of the newly merged party.
In the first elections competed by the party in 1999, Wan Azizah led the party to win five seats in the Parliament and was herself elected as the Member of Parliament for Permatang Pauh; the seat formerly held by Anwar Ibrahim; with a majority of 9,077 votes. She successfully retained the seat in the 2004 elections, after five recounts, with a reduced majority.[12]
As a political party leader and also a parliamentary representative, Wan Azizah has spoken at UN-sponsored programs, and the local and international media. She is also the Vice-Chair of the Malaysian Parliamentary Caucus for Democracy in Myanmar and a member of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus.[13]
Wan Azizah won her parliamentary seat of Permatang Pauh in the 12th Malaysian general election with a majority of 13,388.[14] She was supported by all the component parties of Pakatan Rakyat to lead the opposition in the lower house of parliament, House of Representatives.
With the public announcement by Anwar Ibrahim regarding his intention to return to active politics despite being legally barred from doing so,[15] Wan Azizah indicated her readiness to vacate the position of party president if he was elected.[16] Nonetheless, she has also indicated that she intends to defend her parliamentary seat for Permatang Pauh.[17] She resigned her parliamentary seat for Permatang Pauh on 31 July 2008, to make way for her husband, who won the subsequent by-election on 26 August 2008 with a large majority.
See main article: Kajang Move. On 9 March 2014, PKR announced Wan Azizah as its new candidate for the Kajang by-election.[18] This was following Anwar Ibrahim's sentencing to five years in prison after Malaysia's court of appeal overturned his sodomy acquittal, causing Anwar to be unable to run in the by-election.[19]
On 23 March 2014, Wan Azizah was elected as the Selangor state legislative assembly member for Kajang.[20]
See main article: 2015 Permatang Pauh by-election. A by-election was held for the Dewan Rakyat seat of Permatang Pauh on 7 May 2015,[21] after Wan Azizah's husband Anwar Ibrahim was disqualified from holding the seat after being found guilty of sodomy in a controversial trial.[22] [23] Wan Azizah contested the seat against three other candidates,[24] retaining it for PKR with a majority of 8,841 votes.[25]
See main article: 2018 Malaysian general election. On 7 January 2018, the opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan announced Mahathir Mohamad as their candidate for Prime Minister in the 2018 election, with Wan Azizah as Deputy.[26] It was announced as part of a deal for Mahathir to serve as interim if elected, seeking a pardon for Anwar and making way for him to take over.[27] Others have speculated, however, that it would be Wan Azizah who would make way for her husband.[28]
| Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | P044 Permatang Pauh, Penang | (keADILan) | 23,820 | 61.77% | Ibrahim Saad (UMNO) | 14,743 | 38.23% | 39,210 | 9,077 | 78.94% | ||||
| 2004 | (PKR) | 21,737 | 50.69% | Pirdaus Ismail (UMNO) | 21,147 | 49.31% | 43,734 | 590 | 80.93% | |||||
| 2008 | (PKR) | 30,338 | 64.16% | Pirdaus Ismail (UMNO) | 16,950 | 35.84% | 47,442 | 13,388 | 81.17% | |||||
| 2015 | (PKR) | 30,316 | 57.09% | Suhaimi Sabudin (UMNO) | 21,475 | 40.44% | 53,102 | 8,841 | 74.53% | |||||
| 2018 | P100 Pandan, Selangor | (PKR) | 64,733 | 75.47% | Leong Kok Wee (MCA) | 12,190 | 14.21% | 85,774 | 52,543 | 84.66% | ||||
| Mohamed Sukri Omar (PAS) | 8,335 | 9.72% | ||||||||||||
| bgcolor= | Jenice Lee Ying Ha (PRM) | 442 | 0.52% | |||||||||||
| (IND) | 73 | 0.09% | ||||||||||||
| 2022 | P124 Bandar Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur | (PKR) | 43,476 | 46.74% | bgcolor= | Kamarudin Jaffar (BERSATU) | 33,659 | 36.18% | 93,021 | 9,817 | 78.74% | |||
| Chew Yin Keen (MCA) | 15,886 | 17.08% | ||||||||||||
| Constituency | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | N25 Kajang | (PKR) | 16,741 | 59.57% | Chew Mei Fun (MCA) | 11,362 | 40.43% | 28,314 | 5,379 | 72.09% | |||||
Wan Azizah was honoured on the occasion of the official birthday of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri (State Governor) of Penang on 12 July 2008 when she was awarded the Darjah Panglima Pangkuan Negeri (Order of the Defender of the State), a chivalric order of the second rank in the state which carries the title Dato' Seri.
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