INTERVIEW Day 1 of the run-up to the Kajang by-election was a scorcher of a day but PKR candidate Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was not sweating it.

It has been 16 years since she was first thrust into the political limelight, after her husband Anwar Ibrahim was jailed in 1998.

Yesterday morning Kak Wan - as she is known as in PKR - stepped up to the plate again when Anwar became ineligible to run, after being convicted of sodomy on the government’s appeal last Friday.

Ever demure in baju kurung , Wan Azizah is the president of one of the largest political parties in Malaysia, but thumbing through her little notebook during the interview, she looked a little nervous.

This is compared to her husband, the consummate politician and showstopper that PKR wanted to place in the Selangor state assembly, apparently to fend off ‘political attacks’ on the state government.

Anwar was the heart of PKR's Kajang Move. But with him out of the picture, what is the point of it all and is the Kajang Move still alive?

"Yes, of course. It's not quite the position but the governance of it all... Now (if) I am there (in the state assembly), I am the conduit (between the state and party)," Wan Azizah said.

She said the reasons for triggering the by-election still remain - like "religious fanaticism" and extremist acts done in the name of race and religion, and the BN’s attacks on political foes.

A by-election can somewhat re-set things, so people can be reminded that this is not what Malaysia is all about, she noted.

Another reason is to improve the state administration, through better state-party communications, something she believes a woman can do well.

Just like the hand fan she gracefully unfurled at the nomination centre to deal with the heat, Wan Azizah believes she can cool flaring tempers.

For example, she said, inter-party run-ins over the water services takeover deal was due to "miscommunication".

By entering the state assembly, she would be able to get first-hand information from the state and repair this patchy information line.

"It would be better because... probably I will be able to get ears easier," she quipped.

She said the decision to become the candidate is also "not (a) desperate" move, but a calculated one as she is "the face most recognisable after Anwar".

"This is real time politics. It's the reality on the ground," she said.

'Nudge the state gov't'

So, if the Kajang voters elect her as their representative, things could be better for PKR-Selangor government ties - but what's in it for the people of Kajang?

For this, the soft-spoken woman shows her elbows and her fist.

Her manifesto, which will be launched today, sees her promising better waste management services, job opportunities for the young, greater personal safety and crime reduction.

She also promises to engage traffic experts to review the terrible snarls that forced her to take a "scary" motorcycle ride for the second time in her life yesterday morning, to arrive at the nomination centre on time.

But with Pakatan Rakyat already in charge of the state government, wouldn't these issues be something the state would look at, whether or not Wan Azizah is in the state assembly?

Making an elbowing gesture, she says: "Kasi taruh sikit lah."

Wan Azizah 'can't even think of Anwar in jail'

Interview by Aidila Razak, Kow Kwan Yee, Zulaikha Zulkifli and Radzi Razak.