“When all are guilty, no one is; confessions of collective guilt are the best possible safeguard against the discovery of culprits, and the very magnitude of the crime the best excuse for doing nothing.”

– Hannah Arendt, On Violence

COMMENT | Malaysiakini recently ran a couple of pieces on the '3R surge', which basically means Malaysians have been talking about the sacred cows of Malaysian politics – race, religion and the rulers – more after the Pakatan Harapan win.

Political operatives have been blaming one another for this, but the reality is that as long as Malaysians support race-based parties, either individually or in coalitions, there will always be talk of the 3Rs.

As long as there is no alternative that forms the basis of a strictly secular and egalitarian government, this propaganda of a 'Bangsa Malaysia' will eventually be the ruination of whatever is in opposition of the far right of this country.

While Umno and PAS continue to frame the narrative of mainstream Malay politics in this country, non-Malays have to be content with their supine power structures that rely on a base which allows them plenty of leeway.

The fear of losing federal power does not reflect the reality that non-Malays, by rejecting the paradigm of BN, created in a shift of power at the state level, and a new dynamic which eventually brought down the Najib Abdul Razak regime...