IT IS well and good for PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar to attend yesterday’s (July 14) Malaysian Bar rally in Putrajaya to call for an independent judiciary.
She justified her attendance on the grounds that she too wants an independent judiciary and that she had attended other rallies in the past when she was in the opposition.
But the question foremost in my mind – and in the minds of fellow Malaysians – is not about her attendance at opposition rallies in the past but why did she attend the rally when her father Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the Prime Minister (PM) of the day.
Even if she does not hold any government position, she is the No. 2 in PKR after having defeated incumbent Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli in the recent PKR central leadership polls.
If everything goes well, she is most likely to succeed her father as the PM of the country.
Rather than trying to influence her father to do what is necessary for the maintenance of an independent and responsible judiciary, she chose instead to participate in a rally that is in stark opposition to the government in general and Anwar in particular.
Sincerity of intention
Is she telling the public that she opposes Anwar’s interference in the judiciary? If this is the case, then she should resign from her present position as the deputy president of PKR as well as from any other position she might hold in the government.
It serves no purpose to take part in a rally that directly opposes the actions of Anwar who is being targeted as both the PM and the individual responsible for the weakening of judicial independence – something which is rather unprecedented in Malaysia’s constitutional history.
Alternatively, perhaps Nurul Izzah wants the best of both worlds – being part of the opposition and part of the government.
There is a strong sense that her appearance at the rally was not so much in support of judicial independence but more to soften the blow against her father, the PM.
She understands that the current movement for judicial independence – backed by political parties and civil society – is largely aimed at unseating her father from the PM-ship.
Perhaps, as a dutiful daughter, she wants to subtly correct the public’s perception of her father and the government.
But if Nurul Izzah truly believes that the judiciary must be saved, then perhaps the most honest course of action is to ask Anwar to tender his resignation – before the situation grows more serious and unmanageable. – July 15, 2025
Former DAP stalwart and Penang chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is chairman of the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
