COMMENT | Khairy Jamaluddin is not someone I am in the habit of praising. Some might say that he tried to take various short-cuts and started his career by taking the easiest possible path rather than the paths that may have been better suited to his own ideas and principles.

Some evidence of this may be seen in his latest suggestion, that Umno should consider opening itself to all races and religions. The fact that he can say this now, mere days after the election, suggests that he was probably never a super big believer in ultra-Malay ethnocentrism.

This reflects badly on Khairy in that given this fact, he should never have put his weight behind Umno in the first place. All that said, however, I think we must give credit where it’s due: what Khairy is suggesting now regarding opening Umno up to all races and religions may be one of the most important suggestions for the future of Malaysia.

I recently wrote that the shape the new opposition will take will have one of the biggest impacts on the trajectory of our political landscape. Historically, the nature and fault lines of political competition in Malaysia have had long-lasting implications on the social fabric of our nation.

Where race-based parties were the biggest players by far on the stage, every single problem and issue we faced was seen through a racial lens - creating a habit in Malaysians that persists to today.

In the uncertainty post-GE14, we have yet to see what the new fault lines will be. If Umno remains as is, and allies itself with PAS to be the primary opposition in the country, then as mentioned, we will have a disastrous scenario of a multiracial government facing a mono-ethnic and mono-religious opposition.

The likelihood then that Umno and PAS will go even more conservative and make everything a Malay/Muslim issue would increase dramatically, creating an atmosphere that will always be tense with racial and religious issues.

What Khairy is suggesting is the perfect counter-suggestion. Should Umno become multiracial, this will put considerable pressure on Bersatu to follow suit.

I believe the main reason Bersatu eventually chose the mono-ethnic route was primarily to allay fears that removing the similarly mono-ethnic Umno would result in a crippling of Malay status and privileges. With that no longer a primary consideration, I feel there is no significant justification left for Bersatu to remain a Malay-only party.

I believe this end-scenario, devoid of any race-based parties whatsoever, would be the ultimate victory for all Malaysians across the board. If both sides of the divide are led by multiracial movements, then we will have effectively eliminated racism from the centre space it has occupied in Malaysian politics for decades.

The significance of this cannot be understated - it is the first and most important step in healing all the painful, hateful racial divisions we’ve been subject to as a nation for so very long.

Tough, uphill battle

Khairy’s idea - which comes just two days after the anniversary of May 13 - is what I believe Malaysia badly needs, but it obviously remains to be seen whether it will be what Malaysia gets.

We can expect significant resistance from within Umno, especially in the old guard. They can’t be expected to easily reverse everything they’ve been raised to believe, and overturn everything Umno was supposed to stand for.

I have my doubts that Zahid Hamidi will be amicable to this idea, given his age, and character. At this point, especially given Umno’s pending legality, perhaps it might be best simply for Khairy to strike out on his own, and take the best elements of Umno with him.

This would position him to spearhead a new, credible opposition. I generally admire people who stick to their chosen paths and have an element of loyalty. That said, if the chosen path of Umno continues to be race-based, then the higher moral duty is to abandon that path, whatever the cost.

Khairy spoke of the importance of Umno keeping its members together, implying that they must be seen to be a strong voting bloc in Parliament.

I feel that this priority is misguided. In our Parliament, except for the issue of crossovers or realigning political fealties (a morally hazardous region), a minority of a handful is in many ways effectively the same as a minority of a hundred.

I believe what matters more is the potential to be a government in waiting (especially by the next elections), and I believe doing so requires one to be a viable political option across every single constituency throughout the country.

Sticking to the old and tired racism of Umno will eventually put Umno in the position where PAS is today - a niche party, generally restricted to very specific parts of the country, with no real threat of forming an alternative government.

If Khairy wants to make good on all the right things he’s saying, he’s going to face a tough uphill battle. That said, I do believe he actually relishes it. He does seem to have the character of a fighter, and he is one of the few who is likely to thrive as a member of the opposition.

As an aside, we should also laud Gerakan’s Andy Yong who rightly pointed out that the immigration travel bans now in place must have their grounding in correct and legal procedure, and not be simply at the pleasure of the Prime Minister - a fact many of us may have overlooked in our excitement. Already, Yong is playing the part of a healthy opposition.

Many find Khairy’s bravado off-putting, and with good reason. If, however, he is advocating for formulas that will secure the long-term social unity of our country - whatever our political differences - then it is our duty to support him, and others like him, on that quest.

What he is suggesting has essentially not been seriously proposed since the time of Onn Jaafar, and it is high time those ideas were brought back on the table.

The iron is hot, much hotter than it has been for a very long time, so strike - and strike true.

NATHANIEL TAN is eager to serve. He looks forward to Anwar Ibrahim’s release from prison, for the simple reason that not a single Malaysian should go to jail for the reasons he did.

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