From Terence Netto
Nobody should be surprised that talks have started between Barisan Nasional’s (BN) disaffected components MCA and MIC with opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Both BN components have been left out in the cold since the Madani government took control of the federal administration in late November 2022.
With DAP’s strong presence in the government, there is no place for MCA, and with PKR aspiring to be the party that represents Indian interests in the same government, there is no space for the MIC.
Periodic sweet-nothings whispered by supremo Anwar Ibrahim into the ears of disgruntled MCA and MIC leaders, asking them to stay cool and let things settle, have amounted to nothing.
It’s all smoke and no substance.
Naturally, restive elements within both BN components have begun talks with PN, if only to underscore the point they want to impress upon Madani that they are not without options.
The duo would get further if the focus of their talks with PN is on Bersatu rather than on PAS, although word has it that talks between the two and PAS have also begun.
PAS’s ideological rigidity gives very little room for manoeuvre for MCA and MIC.
Realistically, there is no hope for optimism and negotiations between MCA and MIC on one side, and PAS on the other.
Some PAS spokespersons are quoted to being amenable to consensual politics that will accommodate the interests of the non-Malays, but this is so much window dressing.
A party whose reason for existence is the fight for Islamic supremacy will not be moved by a need to accommodate non-Muslim interests.
Realism about fundamental goals of PAS should see both MCA and MIC engage with PAS because it is an important component of PN and on that basis, vital in keeping up appearances.
But beyond that, there are realistically no grounds to feel it is anything other than an effort to paddle in waters that have to be treaded but are inherently unsafe.
Talks between MCA and MIC on the one side with Bersatu on the other, however, can yield results that can be more constructive.
These talks should focus on a retooling of the infamous assertion of Muhyiddin Yassin, the Bersatu president, in 2010 when he was Umno deputy president, that he is “Malay first” before he is anything else.
Though it can be argued that a Malay supremacist is preferable to an Islamist supremacist, it can also be argued that Muhyiddin vented that view in the context that Malay political primacy is a “given” in the overall composition of the Malaysian nation.
It was Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in his first turn of 22 years as Malaysia’s prime minister, who pivoted from primacy towards Malay supremacy.
This was a disastrous pivot that intensified competition between Malay factions for power, spread corruption among them, and reduced non-Malays to insignificance in the overall political configuration.
So, the best endeavours of MCA and MIC, in their talks with Bersatu, should aim at getting Muhyiddin to retool that “I am Malay first” formulation of 15 years ago.
In an attempt to make Bersatu more attractive to non-Malay voters, Muhyiddin in recent times has shown himself to be pliable to persuasion that his “Malay-firster” stance is not granite.
If the talks between MCA and MIC on the one hand and Bersatu leads to this retooling, it will go a long way towards a reordering of the derangement to the Malaysian polity ushered in by Mahathir’s imperial overreach.
That would be a commendable achievement.
Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
