Opposition leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said she no longer has any hard feelings against former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for sacking her husband Anwar Ibrahim as the deputy prime minister back in 1998.

"Of course I was hurt (by what had happened to Anwar), but we cannot hold on to such feelings (although) I am also human," she said, as reported by Sinar Harian today.

She realised all human beings make mistakes, she said.

Her children also do not harbour any ill will for what happened to their father, she said, though as young children, they were saddened when he was put in jail.

"If someone has done something against you, and you don't hold it against them, insya'allah one day it will prove beneficial to us.

"It's not as beautiful and simple as what I've made it out to be, but I must overcome these feelings with the right intentions," she was reported saying.

Anwar was arrested on Sept 20, 1998 and sentenced to jail for nine years in 1999 for his first sodomy charge.

He was released in 2004 after the Federal Court overturned the verdict, although in 2008, he was once again arrested on a new sodomy charge brought against him by his then personal aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

In February last year, Anwar was sentenced to a five-year jail term in Sungai Buloh prison.

Wan Azizah recounted the moment when Anwar was first arrested in 1998, saying she was initially in the van with Anwar when he was first taken away at their residence.

"Along the way, in an isolated location, Anwar was moved to another van and we didn't know where he was being brought to.

"He was handcuffed in that van and when I saw the van, he managed to say, 'See you later, Zah," she recalled.

On his sacking from the cabinet, she said he told her then that he had a choice of either being fired or resigning.

"I told him, if you resign, people will have 50 (allegations against him), so he said okay (he won't).

"Then of course, Mahathir sacked him from the position," she said.

Fadzil Noor and Siti Hasmah helped

After Anwar was imprisoned, she said she had to learn all about politics from their friends to take over as PKR president.

When Anwar first became active in politics, she said he had told her not to get involved in the scene.

"I had nothing to do with any of his programmes because it was just he who was involved.

"Because of that, after Anwar went to jail, former PAS president Fadzil Mohd Noor was the one who helped me a lot, along with many others," she said.

Wan Azizah also recalled her friendship with Mahathir's wife, Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, saying that the latter always provided advice to her when both their husbands were in the government.

However, she said, their friendship came to an end after Anwar was sacked from the cabinet by Mahathir.

"That was the end... when Mahathir was like that and Anwar was like this.

"Back then Hasmah said, 'It's okay Azizah, you do your work first'.

"When I had to work as a doctor for 10 years because of a scholarship bond... she (Siti Hasmah) helped me out a lot," she said.

During that time, she added, they also used to play badminton together quite often.

"When I played (badminton) with her, I was quite tired because I had to run here, run there.

"I'm a bit nervous when playing," she joked.

Now, she said, their friendship has rekindled and is the same as it was.

"Alhamdullilah, now there is nothing stopping me if I want to meet up with her," she said.

Anwar and Mahathir made headlines last month when the latter showed up in court to show solidarity with his arch enemy on the latter's legal challenge to the National Security Council Act 2016 (NSC Act).