“True goal of totalitarian propaganda is not persuasion, but organisation of the polity. ... What convinces masses are not facts, and not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the system of which they are presumably part.”

– Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

COMMENT | I have no idea how effective Bersatu will be when it formally joins the Muafakat Nasional coalition because getting entangled in a spider's web does not seem like an effective political stratagem. Umno Youth, which has traditionally been the attack dog for the hegemon, has cited five compelling reasons why Bersatu’s entry would cause unease in the grassroots.

Take what Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki (above) said was one of the reasons why the grassroots were upset with Bersatu joining the coalition – "... the demeaning statements made by Bersatu leaders in the past when still part of the Harapan government.”

Asyraf used the example of the current prime minister bad-mouthing Umno, but what is really important is that Bersatu leaders had openly admitted to using the DAP as a punching bag like what Bersatu member, and now Pejuang...