“We want a Malay leader who is strong, clean and honest and an intellectual, like (PKR president) Anwar Ibrahim, so that Malaysia is respected (in the eyes of the world),” he told a ceramah in Gombak last night.

Loke told the 5,000-strong crowd that Anwar could bring the nation forward.

Among the Pakatan Harapan leaders present were Anwar, Gobind Singh Deo and Gombak candidate Amiruddin Saari, as well as Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

Loke said even though Anwar was 73 years old, he had shown tremendous stamina in travelling across the country to campaign despite the fact that he faced a tough battle to win the Tambun seat in Perak.

“In the last two weeks, he has been campaigning in about 10 constituencies daily for about 13 to 14 hours a day. This includes rural seats in Sabah and Sarawak.

“In comparison, the leaders from rival parties have been focussing more on their own seats out of fear,” he said.

Loke said PH’s rivals, especially PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, have not stopped playing the race and religion card in attacking DAP, including alleging that it was a communist party.

“This is absolute racism. If DAP is a communist party, why did Hadi work with it in the past and hugged its leaders like Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng? His claims are aimed at inciting racial hatred towards DAP,” he said.

He said Malaysians have had enough of the racism and bigotry, and urged all parties to move away from racial politics.