Those expecting to see a dramatic rematch between Ms.Shahrizat Jalil and Ms.Nurul Izzah will be sorely dissapointed. We predict that Ms.Shahrizat will not again stand in Lembah Pantai, a constituency which she won in 1999 and held in 2004. But lost to first time candidate Ms.Nurul Izzah in the 2008 elections, in a battle where Ms.Shahrizat was Goliath.
Ms.Shahrizat, despite her startling loss, has managed to thrive politically. She defeated the annoying Ms.Rafidah Aziz in the Wanita Umno elections and is now the most powerful female political leader in Barisan Nasional. And she holds ministerial rank.
Ms.Nurul Izzah too, despite her relative youth, has climbed to the top-most rungs of opposition politics. She stood for and won a Vice-President's post in the recent PKR election. She has long moved away from her father's shadow and is an influential politician in her own right. She is articulate, intelligent and principled. And has the kind of tenacious determination and steeliness of character that can only be forged in the awful fires of persecution, suffering and pain.
To many who have met Ms.Nurul Izzah, she seems Prime Ministerial material. Which would be a first for a woman in Malaysian politics. And from what we can gather, she is doing an excellent job of task of managing her constituency. She is no longer what we perceived her to be in 2008; a child cast by circumstance into the ugly, dangerous waters of Malaysian Politics.
Ms.Shahrizat will not risk her political career by standing against the now far stronger and more experienced Ms.Nurul Izzah. She is savvy enough a politician to know that she will inevitably lose. So, she will find herself a safe seat, far from Ms.Nurul Izzah, to get elected.
Who, then, will stand against Ms.Nurul Izzah in Lembah Pantai in the next General Election?
We will have to guess. But it will probably be Raja Nong Chik, the sudden new Federal Territories Minister.
And he will surely be defeated.
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