Imagine if DAP was collaborating with a party like PSM to change the mindset of the working-class Malay polity, instead of spending years attempting to cultivate Malay power brokers so it could hang on to their coattails.

After all, the foundational aspects of the religion of the state are socialist. PSM, which has many potential Malay youth leaders, could have been extremely effective in counteracting the narcotising effects of the religious bureaucracy in the Malay heartland.

The apogee of this kind of appeasement came when Lim Kit Siang once proclaimed that DAP supports Islamisation through the Constitution, and he also claimed that a vote for PAS is a vote for Umno, so go figure.

Lim was attracted to the idea that the religion of the state could be a benign force to foster religious and racial harmony, but how he got this idea is beyond me.

Political operatives never use the Constitution as a means to create equilibrium but rather as a means to justify their political positions.

Demonising DAP

All these lies about DAP are merely the chickens coming home to roost for Umno.

For decades, Umno and MCA demonised DAP. Before the non-Malay community abandoned BN, those lies and propaganda were swallowed hook, line and sinker by the non-Malay voting polity and, of course, the majority polity.

If DAP were anti-Malay and anti-Islam, this would mean that Penang is governed by a political party which is a threat to the Malay community and Islam, but it does so without any sanction from the federal government, which is supposed to safeguard both.

This would also mean that the royal houses in states where DAP enjoys support are complicit in supporting DAP’s anti-Malay and anti-Islam agenda.

Therefore, by claiming DAP is a threat to Islam, Perikatan Nasional is effectively accusing the royal houses of colluding with such a threat, yet PN has not been investigated for undermining the 3Rs (race, religion, royalty).

Keep in mind that the demonisation of DAP was a political strategy of Umno and, to a lesser extent, PAS.

Former Kedah MB Mukhriz Mahathir said so.

"Looking at Umno, when there were big issues which we could not address, we would talk about DAP, Chinese chauvinism and how Lim becoming prime minister would destroy Malaysia, that the Malays would disappear, and the mosques could no longer air the azan.

"I admit that I, too, have said such things in front of a 100 percent Malay audience. Thinking back, I feel guilty and a sense of regret,” he admitted in 2018.

PAS is no better. In 2013, according to Hadi, Pakatan Rakyat states and political leaders were free from corruption. He said this during the opening of a Chinese New Year festival in Kedah.

So basically, when PAS was with DAP, they managed to run states with zero corrupt leaders, and it was Umno who was the big bad wolf.

Having been injected into the mainstream of Malaysian politics on the wings of DAP, they now continue racial and religious narratives that they know are a lie, but which are perfectly acceptable to the kind of religion they preach.

DAP is merely dispensing the kool aid, with its Malaysian Malaysia agenda.

It’s gaslighting the base into thinking that the secular/egalitarian agenda is on the table, when the reality is that coalitions that DAP have been involved in have strengthened the theocratic apparatus of this country.

Far from being a moderating or civilising force for religious extremism, which is what secularism is, DAP has colluded with and enabled various Malay power brokers in an attempt to sustain power.

‘Malaysia is all of us’

I talked about Lim’s rather misguided attempt to find something good about Islamisation. I much prefer his nuanced take on the debate on whether Malaysia is an Islamic or secular state, which demonstrates that Lim, at his best, is a politician with a fearsome intellect.

In a comment piece, Lim wrote: “Malaysia cannot claim that it is a secular nation simply because there are clear indications of religion playing a pivotal role in the governance of the country, such as Islamic schools, Islamic courts and Islamic finance.

“However, Malaysia can neither claim to be Islamic because the spirit and letter of the Federal Constitution go against several core tenets of the Islamic belief system, chief of it is the supremacy of the Constitution and not the Quran.

“Is Malaysia secular or Islamic? Malaysia is neither. Malaysia is both. Malaysia is all of us.”

Isn’t that something?

“Malaysia is all of us” is not something DAP has pursued. Instead, its leaders and cadres have gaslighted urban polities into believing that appeasement will secure non-Malays a place under the Malaysian sun.