“The subtle and deadly change of heart that might occur in you would be involved with the realisation that a civilisation is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.”

– James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

COMMENT | The only thing Ong Kian Ming’s two articles – about Umno being in a dilemma and at the same time being a threat to Perikatan Nasional (PN) – managed to do was point out that Umno was still a formidable force in Malaysian politics and the political parties which were in a dilemma were PKR and DAP, not to mention how Bersatu posed an ongoing threat to Harapan.

In fact, Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan's retort to Ong’s pieces is a clear articulation of realpolitik but more importantly, a message to the Umno base of a vision of what a democratically elected Malay uber alles would look like, unlike this backdoor government. That’s the game plan for Umno and PAS and the non-Malay satellite parties which orbit this mainstream Malay power structure.

What is Harapan’s game plan?

It is pointless talking about Umno's dilemma and how it is a threat to PN, when the real dilemma Harapan has is that it cannot even decide who is leading the opposition...