KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the best leader to unite the country currently divided by communal politics, Khairy Jamaluddin asserted.

The former youth and sports minister said this at the Regional Outlook Forum in Singapore, according to the South China Morning Post.

"Anwar speaks the language of modernity and he speaks the language of tradition, especially when it comes to Islam, and also the Malay identity,” Khairy was quoted as saying.

"As long as identity politics remain an important marker in Malaysian politics … I think possibly Anwar in Pakatan Harapan is the only person who can manage to navigate around identity politics and prevent it from becoming something that is uglier than it potentially could be.”

Anwar is the anointed successor to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The transition was agreed by Pakatan Harapan that won the general election last year.

Khairy also said Dr Mahathir’s age of 93 made it important to plan for succession as this will affect the country’s stability.

Dr Mahathir has repeatedly stressed that he will honour the agreement to hand power to Anwar when the time comes.