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At just 25, Nurul Iman Anwar is still new to the world of politics.

Before her father Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s latest jailing for sodomy, the psychology graduate preferred to leave the media spotlight to her oldest sibling Nurul Izzah, PKR’s Lembah Pantai MP, and her mother, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the party’s president.

But now, forced to the fore, Nurul Iman, like the rest of her siblings, has taken up her father’s mantle in a desperate fight to avenge his imprisonment by keeping his legacy alive.

In the campaign for Permatang Pauh, the federal seat Anwar was forced to vacate after he was sentenced to jail for five years, the timid, unassuming Nurul Iman has been tracing her father’s footsteps, urging voters here to remember his good deeds and to honour his suffering by voting for her mother Dr Wan Azizah to take his place.

During a recent walkabout in Penanti, a township within the Permatang Pauh constituency, Nurul Iman was observed starting every conversation with a reminder to residents to cast their votes, and a message from Anwar urging them never to forget him.

“Recently, one of the houses over there, they remembered how Anwar came to the house and they really see how Anwar has been around for so many years and which is a good response and they remembered Kak Wan and she has been here since 1999 and 2004,” she told Malay Mail Online when met on the campaign trail.

Dr Wan Azizah is often referred to by the nickname “Kak Wan.”

“And they’re also sad that my father is behind bars… it affects them as well because he’s done so much for Permatang Pauh,” she added.

 Nurul Iman’s message to Permatang Pauh folk is simple ― “Don’t forget Anwar”.

It is a message she said her father wanted conveyed to his former constituents, after having served them for many years throughout his political career.

“Alhamdulillah, I went to see him two days back, which is in one of the court cases at the Shariah Court and he told me to tell the people don’t forget him,” Nurul Iman recalled.

“Even though he’s not here but his heart, how he feels for Permatang Pauh is always here and he also sends his regards to people in Permatang Pauh,” she added, her voice breaking at the memory of her last conversation with 67-year-old Anwar.

Anwar’s legacy has remained the key anchor of PKR’s campaign for Permatang Pauh, which has largely centered on public frustration with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the alleged scandals and excesses of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

From the posters lining the narrow streets of the federal constituency to the buntings and banners put up both inside and outside PKR’s ceramah tents nightly, almost every campaign material bears Anwar’s image, and that of his wife and by-election candidate Dr Wan Azizah.

In their speeches to voters and conversations with residents, PKR leaders and their other Pakatan Rakyat (PR) allies have made sure to tell of Anwar’s story, from his first incarceration for sodomy more than a decade ago to his second jail term, which will go on this time for five years.

To Nurul Iman, recounting the nightmare daily has been difficult but the thought of her father behind bars has helped fuel her determination to soldier on.

“Stressful, yes,” she said when asked how she’s handling campaigning alongside her mother and dealing with the demanding schedule.  

“But I always have to remember how my father is, he’s in prison now and I’m sure he’s more worried and stressed not having any type of media coming in so when I see him, if I’m tired I’m sure he’s more tired.

“Can’t compare to that, being behind bars, now is the 79th day that he’s behind bars so it’s hard to imagine how he would feel now. Now I’m thinking about him, I’m thinking about my mother, if they can have the strength to do it then why can’t I?” she added.

Anwar first won the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in 1982 on a BN ticket. In 1998, when he was deputy prime minister in the Mahathir administration, Anwar was sacked from government and subsequently jailed on charges of corruption and sodomy.

Her husband’s sudden fall from grace prompted Dr Wan Azizah to lead the formation of Keadilan in 1998. She went on to capture the Permatang Pauh seat in the 1999 national polls, and from there on, established the federal constituency as an opposition stronghold.

Nurul Iman said she still remembers parts of her father’s 1998 imprisonment, although she was just eight-years-old at the time.

“When it happened back in 1998 I was eight years old and my youngest sister was six then, now she is 23. Of course we were confused, we didn’t know why he was in prison,

“But when I see my father, he’s been a good man so why is he going to jail? I ask my mother and several of my family members said ‘He’s good but for some reason he had to go to prison, someone put him there, ‘orang jahat,’ a bad person.’ It was really hard,” she said.

“Back in March (this year), that was really hard for me knowing that was the second time (going to jail), it was the same place, it was really hard. Thinking about it, very hard,” she said, her voice breaking slightly.

Nurul Iman gave up her job as a kindergarten teacher and put on hold her plans to further her studies abroad to campaign alongside her mother in Permatang Pauh. She has also been promoting “March 2 Freedom”, a movement aimed at Anwar’s release.

“It was a bit hard because that was when the court case was going on end of last year, so it was really disruptive.

“So I decided to stop (work) for a while and if everything goes well we were thinking, me and my husband were thinking of going abroad to do our masters but since this happened, we’ve put it on hold and help out as much as we could. With March 2 Freedom, we’re completely focused on it,” she said.

The 71,890 voters in Permatang Pauh will get a choice of PKR’s Wan Azizah, BN’s Suhaimi Sabudin as well as two other independent candidates come polling day on May 7. MALAY MAIL ONLINE