– R Buckminster Fuller

It always goes something like this. An allegation that the DAP (Chinese) have asked for a DPM post (or some other such position) if the coalition of expediencies manage to win in the upcoming elections. Umno (Malay) uses it as a scare tactic to rile up Malay communal fears. The oppositional discourse is dominated by three responses to these provocations.

(1) Claim it is a lie.

This is normally true because –

(a) Umno propaganda organs have no trouble lying and

(b) Every non-Malay politician in this country neither represents a party based on egalitarian principles which official line is that any Malaysian regardless of race, religion or gender is a possible candidate for the highest office in the land nor does this non Malay politician desire to go against the official oppositional strategy of relying on Malay power-brokers to facilitate entry into the highest level of government.

Non-Malay political subservience is based on the possible threat of violence by the Umno Malay establishment. Syed Ali Alhabshee’s notion of “good traditions” and peaceful coexistence that has no basis in the Malaysian constitution is the kind of threat that dominates mainstream Malaysian politics in the guise of the social contract.

However the so-called realist school of thought “of this is just how things are” buttresses these threats and these pusillanimous anonymous charlatans infest social media, contributing to the big lie while trolling discussions of race and political power.

However these denials are also convenient because the Umno lie (of non-Malays wanting to subvert Malay political power) also makes it possible for non-Malay political power structures to abdicate their responsibility of living up to the egalitarian, non-racial principles they claim to have.

Let me put it this way. Can anybody point out where in the ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ agenda does it say that we are all Malaysians regardless of race, culture or religion except when it comes to the highest office in the land?

(2) Wonder why a non-Malay cannot fill the position.

This is rather a rather disingenuous position to take. It is disingenuous not because of any racial policies of Umno but rather there has never been with the exception of Harry Lee (Lee Kuan Yew, will always be Harry to me) an opposition which has advocated a truly Malaysian stand on this issue and consequences be damned.

Let me put it this way. If we had an opposition that actually advocated and put forward candidates for the highest office of the land, then we could ask why a non-Malay is not fit for such a role.

Since we do not have any such an opposition, since we subscribe to stratagems that are politically expedient, since we mock people as idealistic who advocate such an agenda, then we should just shut up and never ask such questions because we would rather hide behind the lie in (1) then actually do the work that would make our question in (2) legitimate.

(3) Wonder why race even matters.

In a country, where ‘race’ is embedded in the constitution. Where opposition parties have to bend over backwards not to appear as though they want to lead the country. Where racial politics dominates both political alliances, this rather absurd question often posed as a race-blind proposition, is in reality just another form of passive/aggressive bull manure.

If race really did not matter and only ‘clean’ competent governance did, then why not insist on political parties dismantling any kind of race-based policies, amending the constitution to remove any mention of race and rejecting communal political concerns of any kind. That is somewhat tough to do, right ?

Which brings me to what Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan said in his defence against accusations of racisms when it came to the whole DAP for DPM fiasco. He argued that how could he be “racist” when he does not want any big name Malay opposition politicians to be DPM either.

Here is Abdul Rahman’s chance

Well here is my answer. Umno already thinks that these (opposition) Malays are traitors to the Malay race for working with the Chinese-based DAP. This in itself is a racist sentiment and which is their main propaganda tool against Malay opposition politicians. Nowhere have I read that Abdul Rahman Dahlan has been in support of any non-Malay to be DPM within the Barisan National coalition.

Well, here is Abdul Rahman Dahlan’s chance. De facto opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad has said that he made a mistake or his words were twisted when he said that the DAP had asked for this particular position when in reality it was the MCA.

Does the minister from the Prime Minister’s Department have any problem with a representative from the MCA ascending to the role of DPM? This is somewhat tough to answer, right?

Except for certain obscure academic discussion, mainstream political pundits have no desire to confront the issue of race in a meaningful way. Part of this is because of the Manichaean nature of identity politics:

“Rationality went out the window a long time ago. Appeals to emotions are the standard rhetoric. Us against them are buried beneath the propaganda of change or stability. Our constitution is compromised but nobody wants to admit to the fact because to do so would invite charges of treason or sedition. Instead, we assure ourselves that our fight for equality is justified.

“PAS had its ‘mahafiraun’ narrative, the DAP, its apartheid rhetoric, and PKR its righteous anger of being expelled from paradise. Nobody is interested in nuance because it gets in the way of the narrative that the Najib Abdul Razak regime must be stopped at all cost.”

More often than not, our public spaces when it comes to the question of race and identity is monopolised by criticisms against the Umno state but the reality is that the history of race relations in our country, the so-called power-sharing formula and of course the so-called social contract, is a record of our failure to create a truly Malaysian identity.

Nobody ever considers the other possibility. What if Pakatan Harapan wins a general election by securing the majority of the Malay vote despite having a platform that includes the principle that any Malaysian is eligible for the highest office in the land? I have a feeling that this scares the Malay political elite more than the average Mat Rakyat.

Someday soon we are all going to pay the price for not putting in the hard work of creating something authentic.

We get the government (maybe even a new one after the coming elections) we deserve.

S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.