Many of these operatives conceded that they knew the propaganda was not working.

After decades of demonising Umno and Umno, in turn, demonising the DAP, the idea of these two groups working together was just something that many Malays could not get behind.

Furthermore, they believed they were in a quagmire because many progressives believed that this way was not about religion and merely about economics.

They could not understand how PN was getting support by dissing Malay scared cows while Harapan was doing their utmost to sustain these institutions but Harapan was not gaining any traction with this base.

Using religion in politics

Nobody is saying that a political party cannot use religion. The question is how do you use religion?

And I’m not talking about feel-good rhetoric about how religions are equal and everyone’s the same but rather policies that actually help rural communities instead of restricting them transmitted by a reformed religious bureaucracy.

I am talking about using religion as a means to transmit ideas of good governance by building better schools which in turn equips young people to deal with the vagaries of changing geopolitical and environmental landscapes.

And not using religion to restrict women - rural women suffer the most from this kind of religious agenda even though the brunt of family welfare is borne by them - and using religion to stifle free speech.

It never once occurred to them that those supposedly sacred institutions were losing their grip on the Malay polity. PN is using religion to reinforce certain communal ideas to supplant the system.

What Harapan should be doing is offering an alternative and defunding and reforming institutions that reinforces PN’s toxic ideas.

Instead what Harapan has been doing is supplying ammo through various tributaries of the religious bureaucracy which is firmly on the side of PN.

After all this time, after the failed attempt at sucking up to the Malay political establishment and the failed stratagems of Anwar, Harapan still assumes it can play the race game as PN and somehow still cling to its reformasi aspirations.

It also places non-Malay political operatives in an uncomfortable position. If they remain silent – which they do a lot – it makes them complicit in the narrative, and if they voice their objections on egalitarian grounds, it conforms to the propaganda that PN promulgates of how non-Malays are an impediment to Malay economic security.

What alternative Harapan brings?

Former two-time prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has demonised PKR as being unacceptable to the Malay community because of its multi-racial component. Every time PKR plays the race card – and badly – they give life to this propaganda.

Back in the day, someone like Rafizi Ramli understood this. This is why it is important for the Malay polity to have an alternative but also the reality that without a clear alternative, highlighting failed strategies is useless.

He said: “So if they (Malays) were to choose, they would rather choose someone they can trust. If we were to change from one product to another, we want to be sure the substitute of the product can bring better value to you.”

Ultimately, Anwar and Harapan have to decide how they might lose.

Will they lose as reformers who attempted to change the system but failed in changing the mindset of the majority?

Or will they lose while attempting to ape the racial and religious strategies of their theocratic opponents?

This is the state of play at the moment.