LETTER | Now that the elections in the six states are over, public attention has shifted to Umno, which performed dismally, winning only 19 of the 108 seats the party stood in.

Much of the debate is on how Umno can rise again and play its role in the Anwar Ibrahim administration leading up to the 16th general election (GE16).

But the laser-like focus on Umno should not distract us from a more pressing concern: reforms within the unity government, particularly Pakatan Harapan to regain lost ground.

The reality is that Perikatan Nasional has made much headway.

Based on last Saturday's election results, not only did the Anwar-led coalition fail to capture the imagination of the Malay electorate, there's widespread, if latent, discontent among Malaysians.

The poor voter turnout rate corroborates this sense of disillusionment and disappointment, including among Chinese voters.

In other words, beyond reflecting on a future with a hobbled Umno, the unity government must also be honest about its shortcomings, including within Harapan.

Start with the voter disillusionment engendered by the low poll turnout. The current government can't keep winning elections by playing the "lesser of the two evils" role.

Reforms

It needs to pick up the pace on the reforms it has promised. But for now, all voters see is more of the same.

Whatever happened to the "no political appointment in GLCs and statutory bodies"? What is the roadmap to move away from race-based policies? Where is the blueprint for overhauling the education system?

Also, how does the government justify using draconian laws such as the Sedition Act and the Printing Presses and Publication Act to silence dissent?

How can the MCMC become a political pawn to quiet critics, including little-known political activists such as Salim Iskandar?

How can a minister threaten to send a police patrol vehicle to the homes of TikTok trolls?

We expected this from BN leaders, not Harapan.

For non-Muslims, the one advantage of the unity government over the PAS-dominated PN is that the former is more moderate.

But events in the past few months have started to chip away at Anwar's moderate image, culminating in the government's recent decision to ban Swatch timepieces that carry the LGBTQ theme as it is "prejudicial to morality".

Systemic changes

This is the senseless rhetoric one can expect to hear from PAS leaders, not leaders from a more moderate political bloc.

And Anwar empowering Jakim?

At this rate, Harapan-BN will out-Islamise PAS before the next general election.

Had the BN government done this in the past, DAP leaders would have taken to the streets and asked for the prime minister’s political head.

But the DAP is now reduced to MCA 2.0 as the party becomes more pliant to the whims and fancy of the subtle and overt Islamisation being rolled out in the Madani administration.

Anwar and the DAP are now confident that the non-Malays will continue to support the unity government as they paint PAS and PN leaders as Taliban wannabes.

But this is not sustainable in the long run. We need systemic changes in the country and Anwar must show the courage to institute reforms that will benefit the country in the long run.

We do not need hypocrites performing tricks using smoke and mirrors.

We need genuine democrats and reformists if the Anwar administration wants to win a second term.

Otherwise, it will not just be Umno which risks being wiped out. The entire unity government may be given the boot come GE16 or earlier.

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