.JPG "Nurul Izzah Anwar speaks during a forum on sexual harassment at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysiau00e2u20acu2122s Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur October 30, 2018. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Firdaus Latif")
KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — Condemning the recent sex video as gutter politics, Nurul Izzah Anwar reminded Malaysians of the personal damage involved in such attacks.
Nurul Izzah said that the video alleging the involvement of a PKR leader and Cabinet member was a vile attempt at political assassination.
“My sympathies are with them and family. We must never underestimate nor lose sight of the personal human cost to everyone concerned as a consequence of slander,” she said.
The Permatang Pauh MP said that the video and the ensuing developments’ objective were only to end the career and smear the reputation and character of leaders.
“It’s a sad day for Malaysia as the sordidness of gutter politics rears its ugly head again.
“We certainly deserve better than the ongoing media coverage and frenzy the vile allegations have gained,” she said, describing the exposure of the video as “dirty and scurrilous personal attacks and fitnah”.
She urged Malaysians to be united in condemning the vile act and disassociate from propagating the video.
“Let’s focus instead on issues and things that matter. On making Malaysia better. This vile toxicity isn’t part of our political culture. It must never be,” she said.
Nurul Izzah’s family was a victim of similar circumstances when her father Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was the deputy prime minister, was accused and convicted of sodomy and jailed, first in 1999 and then in 2008. He was acquitted in 2012 but the judgment was later upheld and he was jailed again in 2015.
In 2018, after the Pakatan Harapan took over government, he was released from prison and granted a full pardon by the King.
In 2011, Anwar was also a target of a similar sex video released by former associate Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah, then Perkasa treasurer Datuk Shuib Lazim and former Melaka chief minister Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, collectively known as the “Datuk T” trio. They were convicted for showing an obscene display and fined.
Nurul Izzah and her mother, deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, were thrust into the political limelight when Anwar was first jailed, and both played significant roles in the formation of PKR.
