Six years after Anwar Ibrahim was transformed from deputy prime minister to prisoner, his wife-turned-politician Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is waging a lonely battle to keep his cause alive.

The soft-spoken Wan Azizah, 51, was thrust into the political limelight when the charismatic Anwar was sacked by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 and sentenced to 15 years in jail for corruption and sodomy.

Thousands took to the streets to demonstrate their support for Anwar after he was fired, and Wan Azizah's newly-established Keadilan party took five parliamentary seats in the1999 election.

But Anwar's insistence that he was framed to prevent a political challenge to Mahathir has faded into the background ahead of the new election on March 21, with Mahathir having retired last October after 22 years in power.

Tough fight

Keadilan - which has since merged with another party to become Parti Keadilan Rakyat - is seen as facing a "do-or-die" battle in the polls against new Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Wan Azizah herself faces a tough fight with the ruling party fielding a former imam of the national mosque against her in Anwar's home state of Penang. But the mother-of-six is unfazed and clings firmly to her belief that the electorate has not forgotten Anwar.

"The mainstream media has done a pretty good job of painting the new PM in a good light. Things have appeared to change, but underneath the policies are still the same. Many say the Anwar issue is over but it keeps popping up again and again," she told AFP in an interview.

"He is still very much in the people's hearts and minds. They look at me as Anwar's wife, not as Wan Azizah."

Wan Azizah said she felt "honored" that the ruling party viewed her as enough of a rival to pit an imam against her, adding she was confident that years of being a politician's wife would give her the edge with grassroots voters.

"It's tough, it's not a level playing field. The imam has gone on primetime news to campaign and reach out to so many voters and I am still struggling on the ground.

"But I have been an apprentice before with Anwar all those years. It gives me an edge with the people and this is what I am banking on."

Although it was not by choice, Wan Azizah said she has no regrets about entering politics.

"I do it because I believe in what I am doing and also as a voice for my husband who has been unjustly incarcerated. So far in the past five years, the people have responded to me warmly. God willing I can make it," she said.

Not apologetic

Although Keadilan is criticised for only championing Anwar's cause and ignoring other issues, she said she was "not apologetic" about it because her husband had become a symbol for reform.

"The issues here are injustices and cruelty but we also speak of the economy and the empowerment of the people. Their representation should mean something, not just 'government knows what's best for you'," she said.

"We expect to get more seats. Being an underdog, we realise it's tough for us but the Barisan Nasional government is already authoritarian in some ways and we must strengthen the opposition."

Wan Azizah said she had initially wanted her eldest daughter, Nurul Izzah, to contest the elections but dropped the idea after the 23-year-old was warned by a state-owned university that she would be expelled even if she campaigned for her mother.

Malaysian laws bar students from being involved in politics and she did not want to put the future of her daughter, who will face final-year examinations a week after the polls, at stake.

"She is still young. With the father in jail and me having to do my rounds, she takes over in caring for my other children," Wan Azizah said.