The
election, where a fractured Malay voting polity would be so divided that
non-Malay electoral power would be needed to form the government ā in
the worst-case scenario - or that an unstable Malay coalition would
disrupt the gravy train, which jeopardises the feudalistic foundation of
political power in this country.
This, of course, has changed.
This election will determine if Umno can ever get back to that sweet
spot where they were in charge of everything, or if will they have to
make alliances with other corrupt leaders to maintain racial supremacy
or horror of horrors, make nice with the "opposition", especially the
DAP.
At least in the peninsular, who cooperates with Umno
determines the kind of hodgepodge government we get. Do we get an
unstable multiracial coalition or do we get an unstable Malay uber alles
coalition?
Thereās a reason why PKR political operatives are busy
going around telling everyone that there are no secret deals with Umno
for a post-election hook-up, and the reason is that Anwar Ibrahim has
made it credible that such a proposition could be a reality because of
his previous ill-fated political plays.
Meanwhile, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said anything is possible in this political landscape and Anwar slightly differed from him but this idea is already out there and who knows what could happen.
Umno,
of course, used this to demonstrate how politically masculine the DAP
realised Umno is, and PAS, of course, went into religious and racial
conniptions.
This idea has always been fodder for Umno political
operatives, some of whom claimed in 2021 that Loke met up with Umno
leaders for a pow-wow. A charge Loke denies in a very queer way.
Pressed if Umno Ketereh MP Annuar Musa had lied about the allegation, the Seremban MP declined to comment further. āI have never said anything to Umno leaders,ā he repeated.
Look, the Malay uber alles government and political parties have demonstrated that they cannot run the show.
I am sure it gives ketuanan
types a warm fuzzy feeling that the Malays will always be the centre of
attention in this country but, if you cannot run this country it means
bupkis.
Umno has degenerated to a point where a competent minister
like Khairy Jamaluddin cannot balance out the horse manure coming out
from every other minister in the government.
Even a loose cannon like former tourism and de facto
law minister Nazri Abdul Aziz had moments of lucidity but even he has
opted out of the game, which should tell us something about the dynamic
of Umno.
Remember in 2018 when the ever-entertaining Nazri, who was then tourism and culture minister, got MCA and Gerakanās knickers in a twist?
This
was when he took his shots at both after bad-mouthing billionaire and
philanthropist Robert Kuok and claimed that DAP represented the Chinese
community and not these two parties, which just goes to show you that
even Umno admits to being drawn to political masculinity.
Cooperation after election
The
geriatric cartels within Umno want young blood if only to sustain the
system in place, which is vital for the bureaucratic structures that
Umno took decades to subvert and corrupt.
This is why all these
old geezers making noises about fresh faces are needed to entice voters
but they always fall back on old faces to remind people who they are.
Right
now, young political activists, who are non-partisan in the sense that
they rationally collate and analyse information, are busy sending me
various configurations and permutations of possible models of
post-election political unity.
They are gaming the hell out of this election and I understand their motivations.
Any
sort of cooperation, of course, would have to happen after the dust
settles in the next general election - contentious as it may be - as
many strategists in Umno and the DAP have said in their various vague
statements.
And,
of course, any form of cooperation would be defined by how PKR
positions itself as the only viable contender for the crown of
Putrajaya.
There are many in Harapan who believe that any sort of
cooperation with Umno is untenable and what they wish to see is Umno
continuing to implode and Harapan achieving some sort of landslide in
the upcoming GE, which could mean that the coalition (with its allies)
are in a position to dictate terms or secure enough seats to reject any
cooperation with Umno.
If this happens great because who wants to hook up with PAS?
But
really who can tell with Malaysian politics? Before the Sheraton Move,
Harapan political operatives were gaslighting voters that everything was
going swell in Harapan.
In fact, a reporter who wrote otherwise was vilified on social media, to the extent of getting rape threats.
If you look closely at the rhetoric coming from Harapan, the main objection is working with kleptocrats.
I
know, it is a strange assertion to make, since, for decades, the
opposition has demonised Umno as being totally corrupt and supporters of
Umno as endorsing corruption, but there you go.
Part of this is
because as PSM chairperson Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj says, there is
no nuance in the political discourse in this country.
Social media of course defines the discourse with political operatives defining context and there is no nuance there.
I
welcome the aftermath of the next GE especially if there is no clear
winner because it would force disparate political power groups to
attempt to form a government and nobody will be secure in their
positions.
The Sheraton Move was an attempt to define what a Malay
uber alles government could do, and what they have proved is that unity
based on race and religion is not feasible, especially when it comes to
the urban/rural dichotomy.
Keep in mind folks, the mother of all parties only begins after the last vote is counted.
