“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.”
– George Orwell, 1984

COMMENT | Dear MCA, tough year, right?

Let me be very clear. What you went through in this election amounted to a keelhauling. DAP made no secret of wanting to destroy you at the polls, and for all intents and purposes, they succeeded.

This does not mean that the MCA is finished, however. You remain the only opposition in town.

When I say “only opposition,” I mean the only mainstream opposition for a secular base, and not the Umno-PAS opposition, which could no doubt be a highly successful combo for the race and religion crowd. It all depends on how Pakatan Harapan deals with the economy.

What does the economy have to do with race and religion? Glad you asked.

As long as Harapan steers the economy in the right direction, issues of race and religion will be muted.

Now, the Umno-PAS pairing would no doubt attempt to push these issues to the forefront, but as long as Harapan carries out economic policies which are a mixture of entitlements, fiscal responsibility, keeping the cost of living at a reasonable level and weathers turbulent international economics vagaries, people will be content and would not fall for populist racial and religious agendas.

Or maybe because of the racial and religious dynamics of the opposition – read that as the Malay to non-Malay ratio – the country could be subjected to sub rosa agendas which citizens would notice or ignore. Could go either way. That and of course the treacherous sea of Malay politics.

At this moment, there is a possibility that Harapan could use the excesses of the former Umno regime to remove players from the chessboard...