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OPINION | The Non-Malays Won GE15 — And It Turned Out To Be The Worst Victory The World Has Ever Seen
3 Jun 2026 • 3:00 PM MYT
Image credit: CNN
Everyone in this country — Malays and non-Malays alike — came away from GE15 believing that it was the non-Malays who had won the election.
Why?
Because it was the non-Malays who stood almost en masse behind Pakatan Harapan.
After a nail-biting election, PH emerged as the largest coalition and eventually formed the government. Naturally, non-Malays assumed that they were the victors of GE15.
It was not only the non-Malays who thought so. The Malays believed it too.
It was precisely because many Malays believed that the non-Malays had “won” GE15 that the Malays formed the “green wave” after GE 15, to turn things around.
So naturally, after GE15, non-Malays assumed that the government formed by the coalition they overwhelmingly backed would be more favourable towards them.
After all, that is what victory means, isn't it?
If you win, you expect that you will be better off after your victory than before your victory.
But boy were the non-Malays wrong.
Four years after their supposed “victory”, many non-Malays have come to a shocking realization: they have come to realise their victory in GE 15 was so catastrophic, that if they win again in GE 16 , they will surely be doomed.
Why?
Because under the government they helped bring to power, many non-Malays now feel they are worse off than they were under previous governments backed by the Malays.
Why?
Because no prime minister under the previous Malay-backed government ever publicly referred to Indians using the K-word.
Under the previous government, Hindu temples were not facing the kinds of threats they are facing today.
Old Chinese uncles did not have to fear arrest for accidentally flying the Jalur Gemilang upside down for a few minutes under the previous government.
Yes, the previous government would probably never have recognised the UEC either — but at least it did not make Bahasa Malaysia and History compulsory subjects in vernacular schools either.
The previous government also did not shut down pig farming in Selangor.
It also did not attempt to prevent non-Islamic houses of worship from being built in commercial areas.
And under the previous government, buyers of GLC and GLIC properties worth RM20 million and above only needed 30 percent Bumiputera equity participation — not 50 percent.
The previous government might might have been formed primarily by the Malays, but they were better to the non-Malays than the PH goverment that the non-Malays themselves had primarily formed after GE 15.
If the PH goverment that was formed after GE 15 is a friend to the non-Malays, then with a friend like the PH goverment, who needs enemies ?
It is hard to know what exactly the non-Malays did to anger the gods.
But anger the gods they must have — because they have been cursed with a victory that is worse than a defeat.
And considering how badly this “victory” has turned out for non-Malays, it is difficult to see how PH can go back to non-Malays in GE16 and ask for the same level of support again.
Because if PH tells the non-Malays, “Help us win again,” many non-Malays may very well respond:
“Are you kidding?
We are already half dead because we helped you win in GE15.
If we help you win again in GE16, we will be completely finished.”
Why?
Because it was the non-Malays who stood almost en masse behind Pakatan Harapan.
After a nail-biting election, PH emerged as the largest coalition and eventually formed the government. Naturally, non-Malays assumed that they were the victors of GE15.
It was not only the non-Malays who thought so. The Malays believed it too.
It was precisely because many Malays believed that the non-Malays had “won” GE15 that the Malays formed the “green wave” after GE 15, to turn things around.
So naturally, after GE15, non-Malays assumed that the government formed by the coalition they overwhelmingly backed would be more favourable towards them.
After all, that is what victory means, isn't it?
If you win, you expect that you will be better off after your victory than before your victory.
But boy were the non-Malays wrong.
Four years after their supposed “victory”, many non-Malays have come to a shocking realization: they have come to realise their victory in GE 15 was so catastrophic, that if they win again in GE 16 , they will surely be doomed.
Why?
Because under the government they helped bring to power, many non-Malays now feel they are worse off than they were under previous governments backed by the Malays.
Why?
Because no prime minister under the previous Malay-backed government ever publicly referred to Indians using the K-word.
Under the previous government, Hindu temples were not facing the kinds of threats they are facing today.
Old Chinese uncles did not have to fear arrest for accidentally flying the Jalur Gemilang upside down for a few minutes under the previous government.
Yes, the previous government would probably never have recognised the UEC either — but at least it did not make Bahasa Malaysia and History compulsory subjects in vernacular schools either.
The previous government also did not shut down pig farming in Selangor.
It also did not attempt to prevent non-Islamic houses of worship from being built in commercial areas.
And under the previous government, buyers of GLC and GLIC properties worth RM20 million and above only needed 30 percent Bumiputera equity participation — not 50 percent.
The previous government might might have been formed primarily by the Malays, but they were better to the non-Malays than the PH goverment that the non-Malays themselves had primarily formed after GE 15.
If the PH goverment that was formed after GE 15 is a friend to the non-Malays, then with a friend like the PH goverment, who needs enemies ?
It is hard to know what exactly the non-Malays did to anger the gods.
But anger the gods they must have — because they have been cursed with a victory that is worse than a defeat.
And considering how badly this “victory” has turned out for non-Malays, it is difficult to see how PH can go back to non-Malays in GE16 and ask for the same level of support again.
Because if PH tells the non-Malays, “Help us win again,” many non-Malays may very well respond:
“Are you kidding?
We are already half dead because we helped you win in GE15.
If we help you win again in GE16, we will be completely finished.”
