The deputy prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, wants the Umno-PAS youth chiefs' debate on Malay unity to be called off. He fears that issues raised in that could disorient the tripartite meeting among the presidents of Umno, PAS and Keadilan. He could not have made that call.

Umno, more than the other two parties, wants Malay unity talks, if only to reassert itself as the cultural leader of the Malays. But Abdullah's call suggests Umno and he are still unclear what all this Malay unity is all about. Malay unity is not what its leaders think it should be.

He is wrong in wanting the Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein to call off his debate with the PAS counterpart, Mahfuz Omar. His reasoning - that the debate would spawn issues that might hamper the meeting of the presidents - more so.

This cultural unity cannot be got without debate and discussion. It cannot not be, as now, in a highly charged political atmosphere. The more groups meet, not just the Malays, but the Chinese and Indians as well, to discuss it, the more likely a consensus would emerge that all could accept.

Malay unity is no more purely a Malay issue. PAS sees this clearer than the other parties. Keadilan is caught in coming to terms with its multiracial image and its imprisoned eminence grise's role in shifting Malay loyalties. And Umno cannot accept it forced the Malay cultural ground to move away from it.

Umno fears open debate

It is certainly not one which can be discussed over tea amongst leaders of the three parties. The prime minister, as head of government and as Umno president, does not see or meet them as often as he should. Now he wants their help to remain in power. This meeting, when it takes place, would therefore not be fruitful, even if broad agreement is reached.

But that is not enough. It should be thoroughly discussed, not in the context of Umno or Malay dominance but how it would mesh in with a multiracial society. Not just by politicians but by interested parties and discussed in the context of a multiracial Malaysia. It can be. It should be. The broad agreement must be fleshed out, and that can only come with open debate and discussion.

But Umno fears debate and open discussion. It would not discuss the Anwar Ibrahim imbroglio as it should with its members, as the government would not with the country. It decides it is the only true version, and all others with different views kafir who ought to be destroyed. But Malay unity transcends politics. However much the three leaders may discuss it, it cannot be enforced if the Malay ground does not accept it.

For it to accept it, a few hurdles must first be cleared: (a) the Anwar affair; (b) the federal governmentreneging on petroleum royalties to Terengganu; (c) the judiciary must cease to be the instrument of government to put down its enemies or critics; (d) the police high-handedness must stop. They are interlinked.

Umno's frustrations double with every move the Barisan Nasional government takes to remove the former deputy prime minister, Anwar, from Malaysian politics. If the prime minister had just sacked him and left it that, he would not be in the parlous political situation he is now in.

Instead, he went out of his way to have him charged with sodomy and corruption. With all the investigative agencies at his comment, the prime minister could not find a more serious charge he could pin on his former deputy than what made the Attorney-General's chambers and the judiciary look stupid as he went on to jail.

Umno's angst about Malay unity springs from this. The Malay ground is horrified he behaves not as a Malay feudal leader, forgetting the old Malay belief that he whom he wants destroyed should not be humiliated. In other words, the present crisis of Malay unity is not political but cultural, one that cannot be resolved with three Malay political leaders over a cup of tea.

Manufactured crisis

The Suqiu affair is a red herring, a manufactured crisis, like the regular threat before general elections of another May 13. It did not work this time, because the Malay ground had already shifted from the government.

The pact between the Umno Youth and the Suqiu group underlined not a resolution of the crisis but of sidelining the MCA even further from Chinese affairs. This cannot but cause more problems, especially within the Chinese community, farther on. It became a convenient peg on which to hang on perceived non-Malay threats to Malay unity.

Indeed, I would argue that the meeting is premature. They should meet to discuss what Malay and Malaysian groups and intellectuals think and feel, one that can only come about with open discussion. Otherwise, this meeting is as important as a sandiwara , yet another rootless exercise that heaps more items under the proverbial carpet.