LETTER | What is the future of Malay-Muslim politics in 2020 and beyond?
| As we embark into the new decade, we should simultaneously look at the elephant in the room.
But for some Malays, especially in the"deep Malay belt" like rural Pahang, Perak, and Johor for example - Malaysia has not changed a bit. It is still Tanah Melayu or Tanah Jawi, even if the Malays there live amongst other races and conduct their daily affairs with a dependency on one another. I once attended a conference organised by a"left-wing" NGO in Kuala Lumpur, and one of the participants declared openly that her enemy is the"right-wing Islamists", despite knowing that the majority of the country’s population are prone to identify themselves as such.Melayu Islam Bersatu
Many might assume that these kinds of communicative channels or online communities are racist or bigoted because they are not inclusive and cater only to a certain group of people with the same in-group bias most of the time. But it is just an expression of their identity and their political paradigm in a virtual, often non-regulated sphere.
Therefore, race-based politics will remain as long as we identify ourselves along those lines. Who knows, one day if one community decides thatis their biggest self-identifier, they might as well form a political party and run for elections based on that alone.
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