OCTOBER 17 — It used to be so easy. Male Malay graduates with a fascination for power only had two options, Umno or PAS. That was 30 years ago though.
Like Coke or Pepsi. One or the other, obviously Umno is Coke. For the ambitious with less objections to a secular Malaysia, Umno was the path.
A pause.
Some might wonder, why only males?
Malay supremacist parties prioritise males over females to lead. Is that tribal, primitive and divisive? Of course, but the very nature of any Malay-only party is to persist with tribalism, upholding primitive values and celebrate divisiveness.
Back to Umno.
What a beast! Built on consistency however misguided. Their leaders at all levels repeat randomly and continuously what gives them the leg up on the Islamists, they are the only and true defenders of all things Malay. Real and imagined.
According to them, only Umno does it, eternally.
Umno monopolised Malay supremacy like Google dominates Internet search engines today. And then the 1998 Anwar Ibrahim sacking occurred and Umno imploded.
The next 25 years spawned rebel groups — including Anwar’s mob — declaring themselves to be the apex defenders of Malays.
How do they stack up?
PKR gravitates between Malay-first or a multicultural identity, depending on which time of the day it is. Bersatu showed up 18 years later with heavyweight leaders to form the government twice only to splinter. Its splinter, Pejuang, keeps itself a best kept secret, even to its own members. Muafakat Nasional petered out as quickly as it turned up to squeeze into the action. Mimicking Perkasa’s unspecific method to be a game-changer, without a game-plan.
A crowded room of pretenders inadvertently confuses the new generation of Malay males with degrees. While school and community remind them of their debt to Umno, now as grown-ups they are confronted by four parties with Umno faces in them — Umno, PKR, Bersatu and Pejuang — courting their affection.
Who is the truest defender of Malays — “only defender” is not applicable anymore?
Duly unscientific examination of the parties
Luckily, this column feels for the typical male Malay graduate not equipped with a device to measure race love. Until science catches up, rely only on this single litmus test.
The parties’ level of conviction Malaysians who are not Malay are trying to supplant Malays. In government, in business, on top of coconut trees. Forms the basis for the phrase “Malays are under attack.”
How convinced are they?
Pejuang would be top dog in this category except Mahathir Mohamad who founded it, left it. He is the chief cheerleader to remind Malays the existential threat of the others since the 1960s.
Unfortunately, he has been struck by a bout of changing teams unexpectedly for the last 10 years. Depriving Pejuang of his immaculate bigotry.
Which then hands the win to Bersatu. President Muhyiddin Yassin has been crystal clear about two things, one he opposes alleged corrupt acts by Umno leaders and to champions Malays unapologetically.
This is a contradiction in Umno as DAP is stuck to them. For Umno to accuse DAP of leading the attack on Malays for five decades and then change the chorus dramatically with pictures of party president Zahid Hamidi with DAP Secretary-general Anthony Loke corrodes the party’s image badly.
Examine the prospects
Are you suitable for a Malay-exclusive party? One thing if the party is suitably racist, but is the applicant racist enough for the party? Indeed!
Here are some signs which indicate a person is better served as a member of such parties.
Nods his head when someone mentions there are too many ministers who are not Malays. Not interested to weigh their performances as a better means to judge them.
Nods even harder when a meme appears to remind all that Malaysia is always for Malays first. Isn’t interested about how it makes others feel.
Gets livid when suggestions are made to open up UITM campuses to all Malaysians. Quietly glad, the Borneo students in those campuses allow Malay culture to dominate.
Immediately opposed to mixed ethnic-housing in campuses. After all, you have never invited a person from another race to stay over in your family home before. Let’s keep them separated.
Looks forward to the day the Malay population exceeds 80 per cent of the country without rueing the loss of our diversity.
Not interested to know about local council elections because the big cities might end up having a minority as mayor.
Choose not to choose race parties
Are the questions discomforting? Of course they are.
I find Malay nationalism an anachronism for a 60 plus year old multicultural country seeking to have a single patriotic vision.
Yet, Malay-only parties are hard to ignore. They have survived much longer than Malaysia, and who truly knows how much longer backward dogma of race love collects votes in elections?
And the numerical rise of the Malay electorate is going to be offset by the competition among Malay parties. Critics claim unseen hands are causing disunity among Malays, therefore forcing Malay parties to multiply and by doing so neutralise the worth of Malay votes.
The sensible answer is that people by nature will find ways to differentiate themselves even when their absolute numbers grow. Because before they are Malays, they are individuals.
The positive way forward is to talk about the value of race-based parties without the histrionics of Malays drowning.
But as it stands, it appears wishful.
The battle among the Malay-only parties has to reach its logical conclusion — with the new Malay male graduate recruits in the parties of their choosing — and only when impasses dot the election trail continuously will the parties themselves choose to sell something other than race.
