Salute to a brave woman

Older generations of the Chinese working-class people don't simply praise other people because they have become a bit cynical about public figures after experiencing and witnessing many episodes in the evolution of the nation since the Pacific War. However, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the wife of Anwar Ibrahim, became a rare exception to some of them.

During those dark years, whenever I visited my hometown Ipoh and the villages around southern Kinta, I was repeatedly asked by many working-class Chinese men and women, especially Auntie Miow Ying, to convey their solidarity with Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for the very simple reason that they truly admired her calm courage in the face of the vicious persecution of her husband. My own dear mother was - and still is - one of her admirers.