Azizah in crowd of supporters

Azizah:  I wouldn't think I would be a politician, because my role was the wife,

00.00.00

Azizah

bringing in the tea, you know, taking after the children, bye-bye, so to speak, wave, gentle wave, Queen Elizabeth type, you know, but of course I had potential. I always thought I had potential.

00.09

Crowd of supporters

Lester:  She's a political wife whose ordeal has a familiar ring to it. Like Hillary Clinton, she's withstood the indignity of the most damaging sexual allegations against her husband, and emerged stronger.

00.30

Like Megawati Sukarno Putri in neighbouring Indonesia, she's an emerging leader, pushed towards politics by family.

00.44

It's not a role Wan Azizah wanted, expected, or had time to train for. But this wife and mother has been recruited as a leader for the most profound reform push in Malaysia's history.

00.52

Azizah interview

Azizah:  My political judgement is almost zero.

01.06

Lester:  Well you're in an extraordinary position if that's the case, aren't you?

01.10

Azizah:  Yes, I think so too.

01.13

Map Malaysia

Lester with Azizah look at photos

Lester:  Wan Azizah Wan Ismail's graduation book from the Dublin Medical School where she trained as an eye specialist, casts her as the good Muslim girl.

01.18

Lester:  It begins by saying...

Azizah:  Don't touch me, it's against my religion.

01.29

Lester:  It was another photo of Wan Azizah that caught the attention of a talented young political activist in Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim.

01.32

Azizah:  Well this is the first time he laid eyes on me, this photograph.

01.39

Anwar saw this and he decided he liked it.

01.45

Lester:  He investigated further?

01.49

Azizah:  Oh yeah.

01.51

Lester:  They married, Azizah remaining the hidden partner as Anwar found favour with Prime Minister Mahathir, and climbed all the way to the Deputy Prime Ministership.

01.52

Interior plane

Charming, intellectual and next in line to lead Malaysia, his career stalled when supporters began talking of a challenge against the Prime Minster. Anwar says Dr. Mahathir told him he could go quietly or to prison, under a barrage of corruption, treason and sex charges. Anwar told his family and lawyers to get ready for a fight.

02.03

Sulaiman

Super:

HAJI SULAIMAN

Defence Counsel

Sulaiman:  Right from the beginning Anwar has always said that we have to prepare for the worst. And the family and his supporters and his lawyers have been preparing for the worst. So anything after that is a bonus.

02.25

Anwar file footage

Date super:

September 1998

Anwar:  I have no regrets. I have said to Azizah and the children, Papa is prepared for the worst.

02.40

Lester:  I first met Wan Azizah in the heady days of last September, as we drove to a rally near Melaka, she was just beginning to consider leadership.

02.49

Azizah:  I think I will have to, but whoever is around that also believe in this cause, will be my networking people.

02.58

Lester:  She knew the reform campaign her husband had started after his sacking was about to force his arrest.

03.09

Leaving her alone as a parent and forcing her forward as a leader for tens of thousands of Malaysians demanding change.

03.18

FX:  Crowd

03.25

Lester:  Officials padlocked the Melaka hall and cut the power that night, but the reformers refused to be sabotaged. Twenty thousand stayed as Anwar began easing his wife into the limelight.

03.32

Azizah:  I'm new in this game.

03.53

Azizah

Most of the time I have to rely on my own instincts.

03.54

Lester:  Would they arrest you?

03.58

Azizah:  Not in their favour at the moment.

04.01

Moon/kids have breakfast

Lester:  Six forty-five a.m. in the well to do Kuala Lumpur suburb Damansara.

04.16

It's another day in the corruption trial of her husband, and for five of her six children, another day of school.

04.26

For an hour at least, Wan Azizah the mother has priority over Wan Azizah reform leader and public figure.

04.35

Azizah:  I'm basically what maybe the Australians call laid back, you know.

04.47

That's how I think of myself. That's - but if I have to do it, I have to do it well. That's also part of me.

04.53

Lester:  Eight fifteen, with the younger children in school Azizah and her eldest daughter are on their way to Kuala Lumpur's High Court. She's careful about the evidence she discusses, but can't resist a gentle dig at the institution trying her husband.

05.09

Azizah, Izzah and Lester in car

Azizah:  You're supposed to show decorum and respect of the court of law.

05.23

Lester:  How many days have you been to court?

05.29

Azizah:  We just missed two days.

05.30

Lester:  Out of 54?

05.35

Azizah:  Yeah.

05.36

Lester:  And she still goes. In the face of a prosecution attack unusually humiliating for her family.

05.37

Music

05.43

Newspapers

Lester:  She's read the newspapers that trumpeted claims her husband had heterosexual and homosexual affairs. Listened as those making the claims repeated them under oath.

05.48

Court house

Watched as the stained mattress prosecutors claimed he used in his sexual encounters, was carted in an out of court day after day. And then saw the judge rule out all sex related evidence before her husband could defend himself.

06.00

Judge and lawyers

Azizah:  You're right, I was a bit angry at the mattress.

06.16

Azizah

Lester:  A bit angry.

06.19

Azizah:  Tell you what Tim, because there are certain things that maybe if I let loose the shield, it's difficult for me to handle them. So I have to have this shield. All right. So you, this wall that I have built has to be strong.

06.21

Lester:  And this wall prevents you from worrying about the mattress and everything else that was said.

06.39

Azizah:  Yes. For me, after a while I'm not going to bother with this crap. After all, it's expunged, see. That's what they wanted me to do. I'm not going to give them the satisfaction of breaking me.

06.44

Izzah

Super: 

NURUL IZZAH ANWAR

Eldest daughter

Izzah:  I can't believe it's happening to us, you know, because - I just can't believe it's happening to us.

06.57

Lester:  She's Reformasi's fresh face, 18 year old Izzah has put a chemical engineering degree on hold... to travel with her mother and help make those picture opportunities.

07.05

Like the ones where several hundred reformers gather a safe distance from the court to cheer the two women of reform.

07.18

FX:  Cheering

07.25

Izzah with Estrada

Lester:  When the family needed international support, it was Izzah the envoy who coaxed Philippines President Estrada into speaking out on the cause.

07.36

On the night masked gunman - the law in Malaysia - bashed in the door and took away her father, Izzah's memories are of Azizah and her mother's absolute composure.

07.47

Izzah

Izzah:  I broke down. I couldn't take it. But my mum, she was, she kept her cool, you know, told us to calm down.

07.59

Azizah:  The day that he was detained was, was - I was terrified actually, and I didn't want to show it because my kids were all crying...

08.08

Lester:  Two of the children, Nuha and son Ihsan, have since told how police repeatedly jabbed them with sub-machine guns.

08.18

Anwar's arrest/Nuha

Nuha:  They pointed a gun, I mean gun at my back - and Ihsan. It was really painful. I mean I still have, and that night I had bruises, and I don't tell my mum.

08.26

Azizah:  I pleaded with them. I said please allow us to pray first before we go. I took his stuff. They gave us time to pack.

08.37

Izzah

Izzah:  She was very remarkably strong, because she didn't shed a tear, you know, she held herself upright and she just told us to calm down.

08.46

Anwar at court

Lester:  Strong too, in court, when she saw her husband eight days later, bruised and blackened from a bashing in police custody. Her daughters wept; she calmly examined his eye.

08.57

Super:

SHAMSIDAR TAHARIN

Wife of Anwar's secretary

Shamsidar:  I'm proud of Azizah, really, really proud of her. For being able to carry out, you know, the movement, and fighting for justice for the husband, and handling the kids which is not easy.

09.09

Shamsidar visits Azizah

Lester:  Shamsidar Taharin, mother of four, named by another family member as Anwar Ibrahim's mistress. Yet Shamsidar often visits Azizah.

09.28

For all the suspicion those allegations of an affair might have stirred, Azizah meets her as a friend, not a rival. Shamsidar insists the rumours  are wrong, and hurtful. She says she cried as police took blood from her youngest daughter for DNA tests that ultimately showed Anwar had not fathered the child.

09.39

Shamsidar:  Yeah, it's very unfair.

10.00

Shamsidar

Lester:  And untrue?

10.01

Shamsidar:  Yeah. I'm sad, you know, especially if it involved my daughter  all that, you know. It's very sad.

10.03

Lester:  That was a lie about your daughter?

10.15

Shamsidar:  Yeah, of course.

10.17

Lester:  And about you.

10.20

Shamsidar:  Yeah.

10.21

Shamsidar with Azizah

Shamsidar:  When was the last time you see him? Yesterday?

10.22

Azizah:  Yesterday at the court. He did very well.

10.25

Shamsidar:  I know, they say he did extremely well.

10.28

Azizah

Azizah:  I know that there's nothing in relationship, so, you saw me with her. Just like my sister.

10.28

Lester:  And you trust her, and him absolutely?

10.40

Azizah:  Don't trust anybody absolutely.

10.45

Women singing

Lester:  She'll tell you her husband has been hard done by. Framed by political conspirators, denied the shot he deserved at the Prime Ministership. Anwar has pleaded not guilty, but he judge ruled no one can comment on Anwar's guilt or innocence. So what can Azizah say about all those claims, from selling state secrets, to keeping sex slaves?

10..50

Azizah

Azizah:  If those allegations were true, yes, of course I'd be furious, but no.

11.11

Lester:  But they're not true.

11.15

Azizah:  To me they're not.

11.17

Lester:  You don't - you say to you they're not. Are you sure they're not?

11.19

Azizah:  Yes, the sodomy charges and the charges - they're not.

11.25

Lester:  They're all false.

11.34

Sulaiman

Sulaiman:  She has been thrust into a role that she was very little prepared for. But I'm simply amazed at how she has come through it.

11.37

Lester:  If Haji Sulaiman is right, Azizah had better get used to new role. He's one of Anwar's nine defence lawyers; all have been frustrated by a succession of rulings from Judge Augustine Paul, restricting the evidence they can use the jailed former Deputy Prime Minister.

11.46

Sulaiman:  The sense that there is fair play available, that each person can have a fair go, that sense has been very grievously affected in this country.

12.03

Azizah

Azizah:  It was to be expected, because he has been dismissed. So, so the sentence has been done, has been passed. So the process is just to go through.

12.12

Lester:  The court is a rubber stamp? That's what it sounds like. I mean that's what it sounds like you're saying.

12.24

Azizah:  I can't say it out loud. It's up for you to infer.

12.33

Music

12.37

Lester:  Disillusioned with a justice system he once had pride in, Haji Sulaiman now says the judge will almost certainly convict his client on at least some of the charges.

Sulaiman:  He goes to gaol for a few years, yes.

12.42

Sulaiman

He's ready for that. He's strong enough to face that. I think he's prepared his family.

12.55

Izzah

Izzah:  We have to look at other alternatives than for him to be free of prison.

13.02

Lester:  You don't think he's coming home soon?

13.09

Izzah:  No, not really.

13.11

Sungai Buloh Prison

Lester:  Anwar's enemies, who'd expected his stint here in Kuala Lumpur's Sungai Buloh Prison, to bring his reform push to a sudden stop. They didn't count on Azizah.

13.15

Music

13.25

Azizah travelling in car

Lester:  Once again, she's heading into country Malaysia, as she did during her husband's final few weeks of freedom last September. Once again, government directed officials play tricks to undermine the reformers, sometimes canceling her permit to speak.

13.28

And once again, thousands turn up, some committed to change, many curious, most at least challenged to consider whether long held assumptions in Malaysian politics still hold.

13.43

Now this most reluctant candidate is readying herself for the toughest political challenge possible. In her speeches, she strongly hints she's about to stand against Dr. Mahathir himself, in an effort to finish the 18 year rule of the man who sacked her husband.

13.57

Azizah addresses supporters

Azizah:  What's a little rain today - when we look forward to a bigger fight in our future?

14.15

Azizah

Azizah:  I get a lot of applause when somebody mentions the fact that I may be contesting, and more applause then they say I may be contesting in Kubang Pasu.

14.23

Lester:  Against the Prime Minister?

14.38

Azizah:  That is what at the present moment, he is member of Parliament of Kubang Pasu, yes.

14.39

Lester:  Would you win?

14.49

Azizah:  Most probably, but I'm not the incumbent. Incumbents usually have an edge. And he is, after all, the Prime Minister.

14.51

He has control of all the machinery, the institutions of governance.

15.00

Sulaiman

Sulaiman: After what he has done to the husband he can't expect the wife to be, to give him any quarter.

15.07

Lester:  An election is due next year, but likely sooner. And Azizah is working on issues - attacking of all things, the Mahathir economic miracle.

15.13

Claiming Kuala Lumpur's glass towers are a façade, that Dr. M's management has meant prosperity for the privileged, and poverty for many more.

15.24

Azizah

Azizah:  I mean of course we have development. We have all these high rise buildings, great facilities, infrastructure. But it must come back to you, the trickling must come back to us, the people of the country.

15.35

Azizah in office

Lester:  When talking policies, she generalises. For now at least, the detail of reform rests with established opposition parties, already forging alliances and capitalising on the demand for change.

15.49

If she stands for election, public skepticism about her husband's trial, and the mood for change she's now tapping, seem likely to make her a dangerous competitor for the Prime Minister.

16.04

No doubt knowing she needs their support, Wan Azizah will do nothing to offend Malaysia's Muslim majority.

16.17

Azizah

Azizah:  You want me to take younger photograph, but I didn't have my scarf on; better not, it'd be controversial.

16.23

Lester:  You wouldn't show us a photo of you without your scarf?

16.31

Azizah:  No.

16.33

Lester:  Seriously?

16.34

Azizah:  Seriously. I was quite pretty then.

16.35

Lester:  Which is probably all the more reason to show us, isn't it?

16.38

Azizah:  No.

16.40

Azizah praying

Sulaiman:  Dr Mahathir has created another very important national leader. This is an opponent who is capable of beating him.

16.43

Lester:  But perhaps it's not Azizah that threatens Dr Mahathir as much as the man he sacked.

16.52

Who's really running this reform push? Day to day, she pushes the buttons. After all, political necessity has recruited her to a central role.

17.06

But the campaign's settings, the key decisions, are coming from the prisons supposed to isolate Anwar Ibrahim's political skills.

17.17

Sulaiman

Sulaiman:  She refers back to Anwar. In that sense Anwar's the real leader. He might be behind bars, but he's still making decisions.

17.27

Lester:  Those around her still see him as the leader.

17.38

Shamsidar

Shamsidar:  I believe he'd be a great Prime Minister. Is this controversial?

17.42

Lester:  No, no, it's not controversial.

17.49

Shamsidar:  And because of all the things he fights for I want him to be, because he bring Malaysia to greater heights.

17.53

Azizah on phone

Lester:  She once prayed in peace. Now, as Anwar's proxy, there are calls to take. It's more putting decisions into effect than making them, but Azizah doesn't demand much of a role she took out of duty, not enthusiasm.

18.03

Izzah

Izzah:  She always gives answers on, are you going to become the Prime Minister? No, I'm just warming the seat, you know, for a while. So yeah, I think probably a bit reluctant. But in a way she's happy.

18.17

Azizah

Azizah:  Asian society, you know, is mainly patriarchal.

18.31

Lester:  Rightly so?

18.36

Azizah:  You must have a structure, yes, and he's around, so he takes the lead.

18.39

Lester:  She's more at ease in her new role than just a few months ago, but her job is not as a leader in her own right as much as it is to keep alive her husband's power base in Malaysian politics; his link to the reform push other opposition groups have already embraced as their own and Dr Mahathir is working hard to limit.

18.46

But if a convicted and jailed Anwar wants revenge over his old boss at the ballot box, it's the stoic Azizah, a reluctant but increasingly popular leader, who'll have to win the votes.

19.06

Man:  We will never, we will never surrender, ah.

19.19

END