COMMENT | The last time someone tried to 'spook' the Malays about Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) was when Abdul Khalid Ibrahim was PKR’s big cheese in Selangor, and the ensuring ruckus necessitated that the then opposition party assume the predictable supine position when confronted with 'Malay rights'.

Just why was such a suggestion made to open up UiTM to non-bumiputera participation? According to Khalid, the menteri besar at the time, "The state government proposed this because we want to increase our competency in higher education."

"But wait," you may ask, "why is this Malay politician rocking the opposition boat? Isn't Malay thinking is monolithic?" Before assuming the supine position, these words escaped Khalid’s mouth: "...it was a sincere suggestion by someone who has the best interests of the Malays and Malaysian community at heart (and) at times it is good for us to accept advice because it will help in global development."

Or how about this. The G25 recently said that Islamic Strategic Research Malaysia (Iksim) should be abolished “...as we are not sure what they are doing, but maligning other Muslims as apostates and liberals.” Or this. Former Umno MP Tawfik Ismail calling for Iksim’s abolishment, but urging the government to dissolve Jakim immediately. "If the constitution is followed by politicians, Jakim is unnecessary,” he told The Star.

So effective is the brainwashing that these Malays are only ever needed when they point to how bad the old administration was, but when they want real reforms that would truly save Malaysia, Pakatan Harapan political operatives are silent.

Sure, they get to appear before the Harapan-designed Insti­tu­tional Reforms Committee, but what they really need is the support of politicians who ultimately make these decisions. There’s a difference between appearing to do something and actually doing it.

Meanwhile, the then-Umno prime minister Najib Abdul Razak warned that Khalid had no power to compel the university to change its intake policy. You could say that perhaps now when someone suggests that the Harapan regime can influence this 'intake' decision, they could do something about it. But they won’t, and most of the Harapan faithful would agree that this is not the time to 'spook' the Malays.

You think this idea of not spooking the Malays is new? It was drummed into the heads of the older generation – and maybe the younger generation too – to never spook the Malays. While Anwar Ibrahim’s message was delivered in dulcet tones, the reality is that this message has always been used to remind the non-Malays of their place. Now, of course, because of regime change, the non-Malays must be even more concerned of spooking the Malays. This is the new paradigm – or at least the old one refurbished anew for a new regime.

This time though, Harapan has an edge. A sort of guaranteed complicity, because its base won this election with Bersatu which made it very clear that it was there to defend Malays rights. It was there because there was a need to convince Malays – the rural Malays – that their rights would be defended by Harapan because of Bersatu. Non-Malay power structures would not usurp Malay rights and would be subordinate to those rights. The fact that Harapan did not overwhelmingly command the popular vote makes the situation even more precarious.

By silence or by rhetoric

So the Harapan base and those who voted this time for Harapan did so because nobody wanted the kleptocrat to rule, but this does not mean they wanted to change the system. Of course, the people who actually wanted to change the system were never really advised that there would never be a good time to spook the Malays.

Even Najib, the deposed grand poobah attempted to reform the system. The always insightful James Chin writing for the New York Times, said: “When Najib came to power in 2009, he convened a group of economists to devise a new economic plan. "The panel recommended replacing the existing racial preferences with need-based policies that would help any Malaysian, regardless of ethnicity, at the bottom 40 percent of the population in terms of household income. "After encountering strong opposition from within Umno, Najib dropped the idea and instead established yet another agency, Teraju, to encourage bumiputera participation in the economy.”

Proponents of ketuanan Melayu – or is it 'tiang seri' now – always like to be vague when it comes to Malay rights or special privileges or whatever toxic form of the ideology they are defending. Keeping it vague means that opponents of such claptrap have to venture into territory which they are warned could get them into trouble with the former Umno state. These days, of course, it is different. Opponents of such toxic ideologies will have to contend with the Harapan base who would tell them that there are bigger issues that this country faces as though dismantling racist policies was not a big issue.

As if those 'bigger issues' were separate from a system that encourages a sense of privilege amongst the political elite and concern by the folks from the Malay heartland that they would be servants in their own land. Which is why Anwar says something like this: "...a strong confidence that we will defend the rights of all people without sacrificing bumiputera interests as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.”

This is a political shell game. First off, the Malays have been told their 'rights' are always under attack. The reality is that in an egalitarian society, everyone has the same rights. You cannot defend one people’s special rights while also defending another communities rights because those rights will always clash.

What you can do is create a narrative that non-Malays have rights to their religion and language and such. but those rights will never compromise the vague ketuanan ideology that Malay politicians claim is needed for the Malay vote. It is also a false narrative, as we can see how the rights of non-Muslims have been trampled on through the long Umno watch. By the way, how are the efforts to stop unilateral conversion coming along with Harapan?

The same people who were claiming that we were living in an apartheid state now have no problem with the systemic discrimination that is being ignored – or worse sustained – by Harapan either by silence or by rhetoric. After all, the country is being saved from financial ruin and god knows how long this will play out, right? Those Malays who want an egalitarian system will no doubt be mocked or vilified for expressing such sentiments and accused of rocking the Harapan boat. Encouraging the perception that the Malay vote is monolithic and unchanging is the foundation of Ketuanan politics.

The former Umno state used to vilify Malays who demanded a society where secular, egalitarian laws applied to all Malaysians. The problem was that the former Umno state was a kleptocracy and this new Harapan state can rely on the excesses of the former state to divert attention from the system that brought us to where we are today.