“You are growing into consciousness, and my wish for you is that you feel no need to constrict yourself to make other people comfortable.”

- Ta-Nehisi Coates, ‘Between the World and Me’

I do not know who “we” are but I am assuming there are some of us, Malaysians who understand that Barisan National and Pakatan Harapan are playing the race game and that ultimately the Malaysian polity will end up as some sort of cautionary tale in world geopolitics. This is not to say that the race game as an exercise in pragmatism will ultimately lead to our downfall but rather that both coalitions are playing the game abysmally.

William Leong’s piece on the seeds of defeat being sown in Pakatan Harapan was an interesting read because of its earnestness in delivering a political agenda and the hard truths wrapped in the “canggih” rhetoric of so-called centrist political factions the world over.

Here is the deal. Our colonial masters and political elites sowed the seed of defeat a long time ago. A pragmatic but more often apathetic electorate nourished the seeds. What were these seeds of defeat? The social contract, Article 153 and the numerous other social and legal arcana that academics point to but were ignored for reasons of economic gain and rapid development.

Malaysia ceased being a homeland for a certain section of the Malaysian polity and instead we were constantly reminded that we were foreigners, whose gratitude translated to sustaining another section of the polity. The dominant demographic. A demographic that was subject to social engineering and damaging propaganda...