COMMENT | Mukhriz Mahathir said that corruption is the "number one enemy" of the Malays, which is somewhat queer for many reasons, the most important of which is that he is wrong. Forget about who is saying this for a minute but the number one enemy of the Malays is religious extremism.

Recall that great photo of the old maverick standing shoulder to shoulder with Zakir Naik. If a picture says a thousand words, that photo probably said millions.

Zakir said that is better for Muslim to vote for corrupt Muslim leaders instead of honest non-Muslim leaders. Now if a preacher who said this – and he has said worse – is embraced by the political establishment, what message does it send the fractured Malay polity especially when it comes to state-sponsored religious dogma?

Malaysians have voted in successive corrupt regimes for decades and the opposition by first breaking the two-thirds majority and winning certain states demonstrated that it had an alternative narrative which resonated especially amongst the urban and semi-urban polities.

Since then, political attitudes for whatever reasons have changed. So this idea of working with kleptocrats is just so noughties.

The fact that Pejuang borne from the treachery of Bersatu can declare the...