The futility of the non-Malay vote
S Thayaparan
Published: Nov 4, 2024 12:01 PM
“The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
COMMENT | One of the reasons I enjoy most of what political scientist Wong Chin Huat says and writes is because he gets it.
That question he asked - “How many times will PAS come to (Prime Minister) Anwar (Ibrahim) and Madani’s rescue?” - defines Madani in its outreach to voters and governmental policies both overt and sub rosa using PAS as foil to its toxic agendas.
From a non-Malay perspective, there are two ways of looking at the “Green Wave”.
The first is how former DAP lawmaker Ong Kian Ming defines the “Green Wave” as a lazy shorthand.
“This kind of sentiment is particularly unhelpful, especially when it comes to understanding the different demands of the increasingly diverse Malay community in Malaysia,” he said.
The second is by a losing Perikatan Nasional candidate in Sekinchan during last year’s Selangor state election, Goh Gaik Meng, who said: “I actually want to tell the people of Selangor... the Chinese cannot stop this Malay tsunami.
“A so-called tsunami within the Malay community has been set off.
“As a minority ethnic group with only 20-30 percent (of the population) in this country, we cannot stop this so-called Malay tsunami.”
Whichever way one chooses to look at the “Green Wave”, what we are observing is the diminishing political power of non-Malays in this country.
Keep in mind that when I say political power, I do not mean power over policy but rather power that constrains the excesses of the religious and racial state.
Protecting rights of non-Malays
Increasingly when non-Malays vote, they vote because they want their communities to be left alone.
The first principle of democracy is merely a crude framework in which citizens govern and interact with each other in a mostly fair and egalitarian manner.
The purpose of a maturing democracy is to build on that. This is the exact opposite of what a theocratic state is.
Every time a non-Malay votes, it is in the expectation that who they vote for would constrain the religious and racial excesses of mainstream Malay politics.
This involves issues from closing down non-Muslim businesses to unilateral conversions.
We are really not talking about deep policy issues but merely baseline democratic issues of self-preservation.
This is probably why non-Malays latch onto any Muslim personality who makes the right noises to issues they consider sacred.
This is why the non-Malay vote is considered secure in the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
Non-Malay power structures do not deal with their Malay counterparts as equals. DAP, for instance, had to eat barrels of manure to ensure that whatever they said or did was not used by PN as evidence they were controlling the unity government.
Former attorney-general Tommy Thomas said at the launch of Joe Samad’s book - “The obsession with race and religion is a huge deleterious obstacle to unifying Malaysia as a united people.”
This is unintentionally misleading because Malay and non-Malay power brokers both use race and religion as a means to galvanise support from their respective communities, all the while gaslighting minorities that the meaningless social contract is a legitimate political compromise.
It is difficult to make the argument that Malaysia is anything but an ethnocracy like Israel when race-based political parties determine policy and the supposedly moderate centre-based parties cater to these racial political parties.
Just a figurehead
If you thought it was bad when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in power, it is even worse now that Anwar has decided that whatever forms of political alchemy he can create with any Malay uber alles parties or personalities is worth the derision of his non-Malay base.
Published: Nov 4, 2024 12:01 PM
“The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
- Thomas Jefferson
COMMENT | One of the reasons I enjoy most of what political scientist Wong Chin Huat says and writes is because he gets it.
That question he asked - “How many times will PAS come to (Prime Minister) Anwar (Ibrahim) and Madani’s rescue?” - defines Madani in its outreach to voters and governmental policies both overt and sub rosa using PAS as foil to its toxic agendas.
From a non-Malay perspective, there are two ways of looking at the “Green Wave”.
The first is how former DAP lawmaker Ong Kian Ming defines the “Green Wave” as a lazy shorthand.
“This kind of sentiment is particularly unhelpful, especially when it comes to understanding the different demands of the increasingly diverse Malay community in Malaysia,” he said.
The second is by a losing Perikatan Nasional candidate in Sekinchan during last year’s Selangor state election, Goh Gaik Meng, who said: “I actually want to tell the people of Selangor... the Chinese cannot stop this Malay tsunami.
“A so-called tsunami within the Malay community has been set off.
“As a minority ethnic group with only 20-30 percent (of the population) in this country, we cannot stop this so-called Malay tsunami.”
Whichever way one chooses to look at the “Green Wave”, what we are observing is the diminishing political power of non-Malays in this country.
Keep in mind that when I say political power, I do not mean power over policy but rather power that constrains the excesses of the religious and racial state.
Protecting rights of non-Malays
Increasingly when non-Malays vote, they vote because they want their communities to be left alone.
The first principle of democracy is merely a crude framework in which citizens govern and interact with each other in a mostly fair and egalitarian manner.
The purpose of a maturing democracy is to build on that. This is the exact opposite of what a theocratic state is.
Every time a non-Malay votes, it is in the expectation that who they vote for would constrain the religious and racial excesses of mainstream Malay politics.
This involves issues from closing down non-Muslim businesses to unilateral conversions.
We are really not talking about deep policy issues but merely baseline democratic issues of self-preservation.
This is probably why non-Malays latch onto any Muslim personality who makes the right noises to issues they consider sacred.
This is why the non-Malay vote is considered secure in the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
Non-Malay power structures do not deal with their Malay counterparts as equals. DAP, for instance, had to eat barrels of manure to ensure that whatever they said or did was not used by PN as evidence they were controlling the unity government.
Former attorney-general Tommy Thomas said at the launch of Joe Samad’s book - “The obsession with race and religion is a huge deleterious obstacle to unifying Malaysia as a united people.”
This is unintentionally misleading because Malay and non-Malay power brokers both use race and religion as a means to galvanise support from their respective communities, all the while gaslighting minorities that the meaningless social contract is a legitimate political compromise.
It is difficult to make the argument that Malaysia is anything but an ethnocracy like Israel when race-based political parties determine policy and the supposedly moderate centre-based parties cater to these racial political parties.
Just a figurehead
If you thought it was bad when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in power, it is even worse now that Anwar has decided that whatever forms of political alchemy he can create with any Malay uber alles parties or personalities is worth the derision of his non-Malay base.
PM Anwar Ibrahim
Take the whole DAP vice-chairperson Teresa Kok and Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh issue over halal certification.
And there was not one word of condemnation from the prime minister of the way a sitting minister - Nga Kor Ming - was verbally abused by a member of his coalition and harassed by the state security apparatus for merely speaking up on behalf of everyone.
The theocratic state-in-waiting understands they have no need for prime ministers in the sense of someone leading the country. All they need is a figurehead.
Who is unity govt serving?
This unity government, because of political compromise, has become the realisation of theocratic dreams of fellow Islamic travellers within the bureaucracy.
They do not care about democracy, they do not care about the royal institution, and they are as obsessed about controlling the non-Muslims in this country as they are controlling the majority Malay polity.
For Malay-Muslim power brokers, hooking up with this unity government serves both personal and racial agendas and if this unity government falls, it is business as usual with PN.
But of course, what they fail to realise is they will not be part of a right-wing government but rather a theocracy, which eventually consumes them. This is what non-Muslims need to remember when it comes to Malay-Muslim solidarity. This is why this unity government is a dangerous concept for Malaysian politics.
It is a testing ground for racial and religious policies, even though this government is technically one without a majority mandate.
When PAS, for instance, gains federal power, PAS will lead the effort to disenfranchise the non-Malay vote even more and perhaps make the non-Malay vote meaningless. This is the plan and PAS has been very open about it.
Just three years ago, before the general election, then-PAS central committee member Khairuddin Aman Razali said: “There are long-term (needs) that require us to win the next general election with a two-thirds majority.
“(Upon achieving this) the electoral boundaries need to be changed to benefit Muslims.
“We also need to increase the number of parliamentary seats in Malay-majority areas.”
Becoming ‘pak turut’
By making the non-Malay vote irrelevant, what they are doing is making non-Malay political power inconsequential - this is the very definition of “pak turut” (yes man).
This is why PN is enjoying the antics of someone like Akmal. He is a constant reminder to non-Malays that their political power is meaningless. Their role within this unity government is to be the “pak turut”.
And best of all, we have a reformist prime minister who will not say or do anything to curb the excess of Umno but, more importantly, attempts to introduce religious and racial policies which aid the PN folk more than it does the Harapan base.
So, what are non-Malays left with? Either they vote to feebly stop the inevitable, or they do not vote and embrace it.
Take the whole DAP vice-chairperson Teresa Kok and Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh issue over halal certification.
And there was not one word of condemnation from the prime minister of the way a sitting minister - Nga Kor Ming - was verbally abused by a member of his coalition and harassed by the state security apparatus for merely speaking up on behalf of everyone.
The theocratic state-in-waiting understands they have no need for prime ministers in the sense of someone leading the country. All they need is a figurehead.
Who is unity govt serving?
This unity government, because of political compromise, has become the realisation of theocratic dreams of fellow Islamic travellers within the bureaucracy.
They do not care about democracy, they do not care about the royal institution, and they are as obsessed about controlling the non-Muslims in this country as they are controlling the majority Malay polity.
For Malay-Muslim power brokers, hooking up with this unity government serves both personal and racial agendas and if this unity government falls, it is business as usual with PN.
But of course, what they fail to realise is they will not be part of a right-wing government but rather a theocracy, which eventually consumes them. This is what non-Muslims need to remember when it comes to Malay-Muslim solidarity. This is why this unity government is a dangerous concept for Malaysian politics.
It is a testing ground for racial and religious policies, even though this government is technically one without a majority mandate.
When PAS, for instance, gains federal power, PAS will lead the effort to disenfranchise the non-Malay vote even more and perhaps make the non-Malay vote meaningless. This is the plan and PAS has been very open about it.
Just three years ago, before the general election, then-PAS central committee member Khairuddin Aman Razali said: “There are long-term (needs) that require us to win the next general election with a two-thirds majority.
“(Upon achieving this) the electoral boundaries need to be changed to benefit Muslims.
“We also need to increase the number of parliamentary seats in Malay-majority areas.”
Becoming ‘pak turut’
By making the non-Malay vote irrelevant, what they are doing is making non-Malay political power inconsequential - this is the very definition of “pak turut” (yes man).
This is why PN is enjoying the antics of someone like Akmal. He is a constant reminder to non-Malays that their political power is meaningless. Their role within this unity government is to be the “pak turut”.
And best of all, we have a reformist prime minister who will not say or do anything to curb the excess of Umno but, more importantly, attempts to introduce religious and racial policies which aid the PN folk more than it does the Harapan base.
So, what are non-Malays left with? Either they vote to feebly stop the inevitable, or they do not vote and embrace it.
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
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