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 ulta-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 ...