Anwar received with fanfare in Tambun, but victory not certain

Pakatan Harapan (PH) president Anwar Ibrahim's procession to the Tambun nomination centre on Saturday was accompanied by a motley crew of percussionists.

- Lok Jian Wen

Playing Sikh dhols, Malay kompangs and the Chinese tanggu, the mix of musicians represented the opposition coalition's multiracial brand of politics.

So far, his campaigning formula of championing a multiracial Malaysia and promising to minimise corruption appears well-received by the communities in semi-urban Tambun, including in the eastern Perak constituency's Malay-majority neighbourhoods.

"We have been under a government that is corrupt for so long. We pay taxes, and they misuse it. We support Anwar because he is clean," Mr Roszalee Aliff, 57, said after attending a rally in Taman Perpaduan.

For some, Datuk Seri Anwar's gravitas has already had its effect.

"It is like a nobleman is coming, the first time someone important is coming to Tambun," Madam Tan Siew Chin, 75, said at her fruit and vegetable stall in Tambun Market.

Mr Anwar is an old hand at charming the crowd at PH rallies. At a fund-raising dinner at Sam Sean Temple in Chinese town Kuala Kuang, diners from 120 tables took turns to dodge his security detail to take photos with him.

But not all have been so welcoming.