“Bulls**t is the glue that binds us as a nation.”

― George Carlin

COMMENT | I cannot recall where exactly I read this but in one those surveys that ask people how far they self-identify with certain concepts, Indians by far identified as “Malaysians”. I have no idea if the Indians taking that survey were fooling the survey takers or fooling themselves. Then again, I know next to nothing about what it means to be “Malaysian”.

So the survey that the Oriental Daily carried out asking Chinese respondents a whole bunch of questions struck me as rather funny. I mean if the majority valued good governance over the economy and equality than why would the issue of the treatment of non-Malays as second-class citizens be a major issue – as evidenced by the rhetoric of opposition politicians and their followers – in the current political landscape?

Anyway, all this is not important anyway. The only relevance the non-Malay community – and by this I mean the Chinese community – is to provide some semblance of an oppositional block in this country. The Indian community (as a voting block) is irrelevant and is merely window dressing to show some form of inclusiveness for mainstream political power structures or in some rare instances as “kingmakers” in close seats.

I have written previously – “What Umno is worried about when it comes to its election chances are internal sabotage, the manoeuvrings of PAS, the ‘situation’ (as one Umno spin master told me) in Sabah and Sarawak, and of course, the tanking economy.”

I would argue and have done so many times, that the only reason why Umno continues to make overtures to the non-Malay community is that it needs them as a fig leaf in its charade as a multiracial/multireligious coalition and maybe to hedge its bets against the possibility of a sizable Malay revolt. Not to mention that the plum urban seats are the trough from which its cronies feed from.

By rejecting BN (read: Umno), a majority in the Chinese community have propped up the DAP, which is the only alternative to Malay hegemony in this country. Most days you cannot really tell if this proposition is true and certainly the DAP would do everything in their power to dissuade people from this notion because they are constantly under attack by Umno but it is mostly true, I guess.

Perilous times

Hooking up with Bersatu and Amanah and attempting a going back to Malaysia’s roots of old alliance politics plays well with the urban crowd, but the reality is that ultimately the non-Malays do not have a role to play in this country’s future except maybe propping up a destabilised Umno economically because of a fractured Malay polity.

These are perilous times for opposition Malaysian politicians because they are not running on any ideology or common platform beyond the ‘PM Najib Razak must go’ agenda. Opposition politicians rely on racial bases to get by, with opposition Malay politicians running in places with a sizable non-Malay polity, relying on their votes and whatever they can get from the Malay community to remain relevant.

Meanwhile, non-Malay politicians stick to secure areas with sizeable non-Malay demographics because these are safe bets, especially if you are a Chinese opposition political operative. If you are Indian opposition politician you are constantly reminded – check the comments on social media – that you have to rely on Chinese votes to stay in the game.

In some ways, BN non-Malay politicians have an easier time because they are given a seat and the majority Malay demographic will know how to vote if they support the establishment. Sabah and Sarawak are foreign lands and long-term comrades from the establishment and opposition tell me, there are games played over there that could have a profound impact on this country.

What this means I have no idea but I am not concerned because ultimately, I am one of those people who think that the Peninsular should stay out of Sabah and Sarawak and not because I hope that this region could destabilise Umno but because I have no interest in continuing to be a colonial power.

End of oppositional politics

I sincerely hope that Bersatu and Amanah make headways in this upcoming election and become viable Malay power structures in their own right because if they do not and the DAP remains the last political party standing in this election, this would be the end of oppositional politics in this country.

Some would argue that this is not necessarily a bad thing. The opposition, if you really think about it, is composed of Bersatu, who are Najib refuseniks, Amanah who are Abdul Hadi Awang refuseniks, and the DAP, which has not managed shed its race-based image even though they have had decades to establish themselves as a truly multi-racial alternative to the current racial mainstream politics.

Some would argue that having Malay-based oppositional power structures whose raison d’être is dethroning Najib while playing the same racial and religious game does more harm to this country but it is better than nothing I suppose, or at the very least a lone Chinese-dominated voting block.

If you thought that the Chinese community was getting it bad from Umno now, you would be witness to the community getting it worse if Bersatu and Amanah are wiped out by PAS and Umno. Indeed, all PAS has to do is hold on to Kelantan and maintain the status quo in Terengganu and this would be a victory, even if they lose in Selangor.

However, the great irony is that Umno sincerely wants its component parties to win over the non-Malays not only because of the reasons I mentioned, but because if Umno is the last Malay political party standing and PAS remains relevant, they will have to deal with the Malay community in a way they have never dealt with before.

An emboldened PAS would mean more concessions to Islamic imperatives and this pantomime of a tolerant Islam would be in jeopardy with only the royalty (maybe) to keep up an appearance of moderation.

We are already witnesses to the Islamic games a weakened Umno plays with PAS but consider what would happen if a strong Umno is held accountable by the Islamists and a sizeable Malay population indoctrinated by years of racial and religious supremacy unburdened by alternative (perhaps more moderate) Malay power structures?

I figure non-Malay “irrelevancy” will someday soon be this country’s undoing.

Happy Deepavali.

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