LETTER | In every five years, there is bound to be a season of “election fever” where every anecdote and narrative becomes exaggerated just to win the lottery ticket to Parliament.

Where pragmatism kicks in that its machinery put a stop to all ongoing and soon-to-be ideas that could have imposed a fundamental impact on the nation. One of them is the importance of developing a new Malaysian philosophy.

For a country like Malaysia that obtained independence from expedient compromises, the outcome of peace must not be taken as something perfectly “good”.

Combined with centuries of being conquered, this combo made its people interpret “national strength” in three predominant strands. Radical when left unchecked, it developed into what we call the Three Corners that produce these strands known as chauvinism, fanaticism and fatalism.

These Three Corners stem from different geopolitical spheres of influence around Malaysia. What made it influential in this country are either geographical, racial, religious or cultural accounts. These are all unavoidable outcomes.

The problem arrives when these influences were not dealt with by a political system, hence creating a fragmented country.

The three predominant spheres of influence are the Islamic, the Confucian and the developing. With no exception to one another, these spheres essentially turned into corners when no one seeks to consolidate them.

Today’s political order was not designed to be united, but actually a segmented system. The 1957 arrangement fails to disrupt our racial legacy inherited from the ancient thalassocracies up till the colonizers.

This paper hence explains how today’s political order created what we call corners. From its origins, its nature, and how every Malaysian segment of life is influenced by these corners.

One must thus understand that a corner without restraint creates a mediocre multicultural country as its people only reserve themselves to their own race and cultural corners while giving up a common rope that all Malaysians resonate with.

A corner without restraint, its people pour their virtues of hard work into one narrow corner thinking that it will suffice for the attainment of national strength. It will not.

To associate fault with politicians is a naive way of analysing problems. As flawed as it is, our democracy allows the story of rags to riches to happen, unlike the Middle East or the Indian caste system.

The people that are now called “politicians” were once the rakyat as common to us. Born under the same society and political system as us, what renders them to be racist and mediocre bigots that bring no strength to the nation as they are today, is their willingness to stay in these corners.

Of the Three Corners, is to enlighten its people to see through the toxic fibres embedded in our society. Every material matter one sees is manifested by them.

The Confucian corner exports the vernacular school, ethnocultural and clan associations that produce chauvinistic racism; the Islamic corner institutionalises the religious schools, universities, and institutions that generate fanatical hypocrisy; while the developing corner manifests the international schools and linguistic institutions that encourage self-disdain to his own nation.

Today’s chauvinism, fanaticism and fatalism from the politicians is not a standalone matter nor a 100 percent fault from them, but rather an inevitable fact expected from them.

But to assume that the rakyat bears no fault is also wrong, for it is them that accept these Islamic, Confucian and fatalist politicians as their representatives.

It is them that voted for the self-masturbating confirmation biases and prejudice from the politicians, so they too weaken the nation. But at the same time, the rakyat is not fully to blame for it is Order 1957 that imposes the inevitable reality of fragmentation.

In summary, the Three Corners made Malaysia into one country, one state, but three nations. No amount of election campaigns hold sufficient calibre to resolve it.

Only a new political philosophy is needed to rid them all with force.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.