Nurul Izzah says would like to defend Permatang Pauh in GE15 but final decision with party leadership

Malaysia

Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar speaks to Malay Mail during an interview at her office in Kuala Lumpur April 9, 2022. u00e2u20acu2022 Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

By SHAHRIN AIZAT NOORSHAHRIZAM

Sunday, 10 Apr 2022 7:08 AM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar is all set to defend her seat in Permatang Pauh at the upcoming general election.

The PKR lawmaker told Malay Mail that despite her wish to stay for another five years and complete all the pilot projects in her constituency, the decision lies in the hands of the party’s leadership.

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"Permatang Pauh will be wonderful since we have all the pilots ongoing, but at the end of the day I’m just a soldier so we have to leave it to the party’s leadership.

"No matter how painful some decisions will be…,” she said at an interview in her office at Bukit Damansara.

One of her pilot projects is an initiative to rehabilitate drug addicts and reintegrate them back into society through a program called Spiritually Enhanced Drug Addiction Rehabilitation (SEDAR).

She said that the program is self-funded and currently they are working on securing methadone supply and training select mosque committee members to start the harm reduction as well as related awareness program.

"Medication assisted treatment uses anti-craving medicine such as methadone to address issues of opioid drug dependence.

"This treatment is offered alongside psycho-socio-spiritual assistance to ensure patients receive the social support and guidance they require on their rehabilitation journey,” she added.

Another project already in the pipeline is free tuition for students aged seven till 17 in Penang. Dubbed Penang Pintar, it is for families in the bottom 40 per cent (B40) income classification.

She said that the program is a collaboration between her office and Penggerak Komuniti Muda Pulau Pinang (PEKA) and currently 100 students are benefitting from the education initiative.

Nurul Izzah is the daughter of PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who is also Pandan MP.

She won her first federal election in 2008 after defeating then Barisan Nasional (Umno) minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil with a 2,895 majority in Lembah Pantai and stayed for another term after winning in 2013.

In the previous general election (GE14), she contested in Permatang Pauh which has been a PKR seat since 1999.

Nurul Izzah has served as PKR vice-president and Penang state chairman before resigning both positions in December 2018.

*A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.

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