THE fight for political survival has Umno and PAS pandering to one ethnic and religious group, bringing the country closer to the right than ever before.

The increasingly cosy alliance between the parties has pushed the mainstream political discourse towards race and religion, and even the line between the two is blurred. Umno and PAS appear to speak almost exclusively to Malay-Muslim voters in the rural heartland, forgoing not only other voters, but their own members, too – PAS’ supporters’ congress and Umno’s Sabah members, who once made up about 10% of the Barisan Nasional lynchpin’s overall strength.

It is a gamble that both parties appear comfortable with, but at what cost?

Multiculturalism has always been a selling point for Malaysia, and arguably, its strongest. Whether for tourism or business, or even to mediate diplomatic rows, the ability to connect with people of other faiths and cultures continues to be a major plus point on our country’s resume. People come here to see how we live, work and prosper, together. It works well for local politics and power-sharing between ethnic groups, and as a means to disseminate information and distribute wealth.

So, when politicians choose to abandon this time-honoured formula in pursuit of something else, they should trade up. Take increased integration, for example. Moving beyond the narrow politics of race and religion to truly come together. No longer viewing politics through the lens of ethnicity, but those of ideology and ideas. Sadly, the sporadic, if valiant, attempts to push for this ideal have been drowned out by shouts for the preservation of the old way of doing things, entrenching ourselves further in racial politics.

The push to the right affects not only the way we interact with each other – and the world – but it also changes the way we set policies, write laws and live our lives. When religion and race take centre stage, compromises are hard to reach and objectivity may be affected, especially when the government needs to broker a middle ground when conflicts between ethnic or religious groups arise, something that happens quite a lot in a multiracial country like ours.

It also colours our judgment of issues that have nothing to do with race or religion, but have been angled to be. The Seafield temple riots, custodial deaths, enforced disappearances and university placements are Malaysian issues. The victims are Malaysian and the loss is Malaysia’s, and there is no reason to view it any other way, other than to advance the idea of racial injustice.

The move to the right also hinders our freedom to ratify treaties beneficial to all Malaysians, and to agree with general provisions of human rights, which were recently subjected to the “test” of whether they are “appropriate” in a Muslim-majority country. Again, most of these issues – the universal rights of children, protection of workers, inalienable right to live without fear within the bounds of social norms and laws – have little to nothing to do with race or religion. Lately, the emphasis seems to be on enforcing laws, with little regard for the implications to human rights themselves.

This narrative sells due to a few reasons, among them, the liberalisation of the media, and Malaysia’s aversion to “offensive” ideologies, i.e. anything that seems to lean too “left”, which has been unfairly, but successfully, associated with anarchy, atheism and incompatibility with the “Malaysian way”. The main reason this anti-multicultural diatribe has been proliferating over the past few years is, perhaps, the absence of a dominant, sincere, popular national narrative promoting Malaysian values and our common ground, last seen in the 1990s.

Maybe, we need that to have multiculturalism as our mainstream story once more. – July 10, 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.