THAT honesty and integrity can take a back seat to expedience and political convenience is no longer a surprising fact about the Malaysian political scene. That religious and racial sentiments can be manipulated so readily, quickly and completely to overshadow facts and figures, and the bigger picture of harmony and stability, too, is set to join the mainstay staples of that same landscape.

It should be a no-brainer, though. If facts and figures, “truth” is a painful and slow, even expensive way to gaining political influence, trust, and sometimes… power, and playing on emotions, raising racial tensions and spinning issues into a religious topic is the quicker, easier and cheaper alternative, of course more people would opt for the latter. Yoda was right in that although the “dark side” isn’t more powerful, it is more seductive.

And that is why we now have two parties – Umno and PAS – that have for ages, rejected each other, and went to great lengths to defend and support their non-Muslim allies, eventually become allies themselves, as the power balance shifted to what is perceived, or rather what they can shape that perception to be, a government dominated by non-Malays.

Never mind that a “government” comprises three organs, the other two of which are still very much Malay-Muslim dominated, or that the check and balances – the royal institutions, the constitution, the law, the policies, the people executing those policies and the media monitoring that execution are pretty much, unchanged.

It is amazing how quickly PAS turned their narrative around, and still managed to appear consistent to their followers. When you claim to speak for religion, perhaps that is the direct benefit. No one can question religion, and religion belongs to God.

This amalgamation of two unrelated conjoined issues at hand, can sometimes hinder objectivity.  We see this in issues like the sexual harassment cases in churches, land disputes in temple property, and of course, religious-based politics.

Just a couple of years back, MCA was the enemy. MCA “opposed” Islam, and were the sworn enemies of PAS, despite the limited interaction between the two, usually confined to MCA condemning some form of moral policing or new state policy in Kelantan or Terengganu that PAS backed. Now, MCA is campaigning for PAS openly, and vice versa. The role of enemy of the Islamic state has fallen to DAP, their former ally.

Even MIC, who previously talked about PAS just a bit less than they talked about actual Indian issues, have begun to sing their praises.

Even within PAS, different tones of speeches can be seen between a speech targeting a non-Muslim audience, where they would showcase their supporters’ wing, or in urban areas where litanies are sung about the economic performance of Terengganu, or in their rural stronghold where the speeches are usually simple but firebrand and heavily tinged with both the coastal accent and religious conservatism.

In the era of information and viral videos, it has to choose and stick to one narrative, as its monolithic and top-down structure isn’t equipped to handle diversity of thought or difference in opinion, at least not publicly, or Amanah would not have been born. PAS cannot be the “PAS for all” it was without being inclusive of the needs and wants of communities it does not represent.

Maintaining support for Umno because they are fellow opposition members, while still supporting Dr Mahathir’s leadership does not make much sense. But then again, neither did supporting Najib while opposing 1MDB, or conceding a suit against an article, while maintaining the article is not the truth. – February 22, 2019.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.