Which, funnily enough, is exactly the kind of thinking of Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) senior fellow Oh Ei Sun, who said: “I think he (Anwar) is just doing the best he could to try to stop a bit of the much-anticipated green-wave electoral onslaught.

“I think he is only putting up some semblance of a political fight.

“He knows very well that nobody could really stop the green wave. They (PAS) are not only politically but also religiously invincible.”

What a party pooper. Look, I understand that Singapore is doing its utmost to pivot to the eastern states and emissaries from the island state are busy making trips to Kelantan and Terengganu.

There is really no need to carry this much water for PAS. To claim that PAS is politically and religiously invisible, is well, horse manure. If PAS was politically and religiously invisible, it would not be so spooked by everything. 

Malay heartland

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, for instance, understands that the only way he can get and hold on to federal power is if he and his Malay uber alles allies gerrymander the system even more until the non-Malay and urban vote is meaningless.

He said this on various campaign stumps during the last general election, which is why he was hopping mad at Umno for betraying him.

Hadi understands that the reason why PAS is in this position is because of the unfair weightage of votes in the Malay heartland which favours them.

Remember Dr Mahathir Mohamad even acknowledged this unfair weightage to justify his inclusion and leadership of Harapan, when Harapan came into power the first time.

As long as Putrajaya or anyone who runs it is afraid for whatever reason to come into PAS’s territory, PAS is safe. In fact, Anwar should be making more overtures to these opposition states.

While he should not take the urban strongholds for granted, he should be spending more time demonstrating to folks in the Malay heartland that they have not been forgotten.

PAS is merely using the old Umno trick of making sure their rural vote base remains ignorant and suspicious of federal power. Umno did this - but it also ensured that the gravy train stopped at strategic points to grease the rural grassroots.

Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has denied asking teenage students for their support for him but is this what passes as a communal religious event for PAS?

Why such a desperate plea for attention for the menteri besar of Kedah? Well because he knows, PN knows and PAS certainly knows that all these corruption charges against PN members - far from being viewed as machinations by the Anwar state - are gaining traction with the base.

Anwar is popping in to see them demonstrate that he and his government have nothing to hide.

Now do not get optimistic that these visits somehow weaken PAS and its allies. It most probably doesn’t but what it does is normalise relationships between Putrajaya and the Malay heartlands that Umno and race-based parties like PAS have always attempted to sour.

As long as people in the heartlands think that Putrajaya is not bothered about them, this leaves them vulnerable to the kind of toxic politics that Umno and PN engage in.

Hopefully, these types of initiatives by the unity government and economic policies aimed at breaking the cycle of ignorance, poverty and apathy that PN wishes to enable will spread through the Malay heartlands.

The most important thing here is perception. If you want to do something like this, you had better make sure that people turn up.

If not, this unity government will just hand PN a fantastic public relations win.