“I have to fight my own wars and I have my community and
constituents to serve. I am answerable to them.”

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - When Nurul Izzah Anwar was elected to a senior leadership post in Malaysia’s People’s Justice Party at the age of 30, she became the youngest person ever to hold such a position in the party’s history.

Her success in November’s election came just two years after she was elected to Parliament, but her public image has been more than a decade in the making and is inextricably tied to one of Malaysia’s most recognizable politicians.

Ms. Nurul Izzah is the eldest daughter of Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister, who more than a decade ago was jailed on what he called politically inspired charges of sodomy and abuse of power. In a Muslim country with conservative attitudes toward matters of sex, the sodomy charges were scandalous. The verdict was overturned in 2004, and Mr. Anwar emerged from prison as the leader of Malaysia’s opposition.

The episode triggered a political awakening in Ms. Nurul Izzah, who was just 18 at the time of her father’s arrest. She got her start in public life with an impassioned plea for his freedom before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

Now, as her father faces a second sodomy trial that he has denounced as similarly trumped up, Ms. Nurul Izzah’s own political star is rising. She has become a key player in the People’s Justice Party, which her father founded and of which her mother, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, is president.

“I don’t think after going through 1998 it would be possible to retreat back to a nonpolitical life,” Ms. Nurul Izzah said, referring to her father’s first arrest.

While some analysts say she is emerging from her father’s shadow, others suspect Mr. Anwar’s family is engaging in dynastic politics.

In an interview, Ms. Nurul Izzah insisted on her independence.

“Of course I love my father dearly, but at the end of the day I am a legislator in my own right,” she said. “I have to fight my own wars and I have my community and constituents to serve. I am answerable to them.”

It was her work with human rights organizations as well as her father’s arrest that gave her an understanding of “the things that matter in Malaysia - the state of our judiciary, the state of our civil and political liberties.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering in Malaysia, Ms. Nurul Izzah completed a master’s degree in international relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, and returned to Malaysia in 2007. S he was asked to run for Parliament in the 2008 election.

The most recent tribulations of Ms. Nurul Izzah’s father give rise to the question of whether she could eventually take his place .

“It’s not about me or what role I would play, but what’s our strategy moving forward,” she said.

Ong Kian Ming, a political analyst and lecturer at UCSI University in Kuala Lumpur, believes that the next step for Ms. Nurul Izzah would probably be the party’s deputy presidency.

“She’s at the forefront of a small group of leaders who can and will replace Anwar eventually,” he said.

James Chin, a professor of political science at Monash University Malaysia, said that Ms. Nurul Izzah had a following among young people. Ms. Nurul Izzah warns that Malaysia is at risk of becoming a “failed state” if it does not address the racial tensions and issues like the brain drain of young talent.

While her rise through the party’s ranks has been rapid, she is emphatic that she is in for the long haul. “In terms of promoting and advocating reform,” she said, “I think it should be a lifelong struggle.”


By LIZ GOOCH