PAKATAN Harapan’s (PH) deputy prime minister candidate Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today denied she had been given the post to “keep the seat warm” for her husband, Anwar Ibrahim, who is in jail.

Such gender discrimination, she said, did not bother her.

“Im not a seat warmer. A seat warmer is like a hot water bottle. I think I’m more than that.

“Discrimination, it doesn’t really bother me that much,” she said during a Facebook Live session with The Malaysian Insight today.

The PKR president said justice for Anwar, on which the party endeavours were centred, was justice for the country.

Anwar is serving a five-year jail sentence for a second sodomy charge,

“Anwar has gone through such an ordeal. Therefore it shows justice for the country,” said Dr Wan Azizah.

Earlier this month, PH announced that its chairman, Dr Mahathir, would be prime minister and Dr Wan Azizah his deputy if it won GE14 and formed the federal government.

On whether the opposition would put many women in Parliament if it won the elections, she sad more female representation would be good.

“We have to be realistic… if women candidates (are) better then we should go with it.”

Academics and activists have warned against treating women in  politics as “seat warmers”.

Lawyer-activist Fadiah Nadwa Fikri said it was important to have women in politics as they represented and practised politics that was inclusive, progressive, radical, and representative of the people, especially the marginalised.

She said this in response to the PH women’s wing’s call for women in decision-making positions, especially in politics, in Malaysia. – January 18, 2018.