So yeah, if DAP operatives can work with an Umno insider like Nazri, anything is possible in the land of endless possibilities. By making a Faustian bargain and working with Bersatu, DAP demonstrated that working with morally suspect and corruption-tainted politicians was not an impediment to “saving Malaysia”.

Theoretically, when you move beyond the rhetoric of both sides, which is mainly for their respective bases anyway, the idea of working together is not anathema. It is just tricky because both bases have been riled up to demonise the other. 

The problem, of course, is that the DAP has always seemed eager to hook up with any Malay power structure if it means the possibility of federal power. This, of course, leaves their supposedly Malay anchor party (PKR) in a conundrum.

It does not help that Loke (as the head honcho of DAP) brings up old ghosts by putting PKR president Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister issue on the front burners.

“Of course, the position right now is Anwar as the leader of Pakatan Harapan, it’s a natural choice but I think that (the PM candidate) depends very much on the outcome of the next election (GE15),” Loke said.

Really? So if the outcome is not a clear majority and alliances have to be formed, then Anwar’s position as the prime minister candidate is in jeopardy? If this is not a recipe for disaster, I do not know what is.

Keep in mind that recently PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli – who is wrestling his own political tigers – said that PKR was given a word or two to accept Bersatu to save Malaysia and, if not, Harapan could split apart.

Working with Umno

Working with Umno means holding your tongue. Much like MCA was accused of doing, while DAP supporters want action from their representatives, even if it means barking very loudly. And we know how DAP can make compromises when it feels it needs to.

For decades, the running dog narrative was used against the MCA until the realisation of working with Malay power structures hit home when DAP realised that Malay expectations when it came to power-sharing trumped the Bangsa Malaysia kool-aid it was peddling to the base.

Remember that train wreck of an interview that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad gave to Malaysiakini, where he demeaned Lim Guan Eng and claimed that the DAP agreed to policies drafted by so-called Malay intellectuals and gave the Chinese community less compared to the Malays?

“We still have to give them, but what we gave to them was very small (compared to what the Malays got). But we could not say it then because then the Chinese would be angry.

“That’s why we didn’t talk about that. But now we have to because I have to explain this thing,” Mahathir said.

Now, if it was this bad when it came to working with an ally, how would it be when working with Umno, which has made it clear it wants to be the only Malay uber alles game in town?

Forget about the old maverick. The reality is that power needs to be decentralised, institutions need to be reformed, and legacy corruption projects need to be dealt with. Does anyone think that Umno or the DAP would be willing to do this?

What the DAP brings to any kind of coalition is the majority backing of a voting demographic and, hence, they can claim to be the “voice” of the community on secular and egalitarian issues. However, did it play out this way when the DAP was in the federal government?

Harapan’s religious czar Mujahid Yusof Rawa was busy attempting to burnish his and Harapan’s Islamic credentials, and no attempt was made to change the Islamic narrative in this country. And the DAP had to keep quiet lest they spook the Malays.

Maybe, and this is a big maybe, the DAP could work out arrangements like the deal brokered by Tony Pua and Ong Kian Ming with Muhyiddin but was stupidly rejected by Harapan with Umno. These perhaps are more realistic arrangements which could be the start of normalcy between the two parties.

As it stands, DAP and Umno, possibly working together, is much like how Orwell defined doublethink: “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”