What Johor really exposed were assumptions Harapan had been carrying for years without stopping to ask whether they were still true.
One of them was the belief that its traditional support base would stay put. For years, Harapan invested enormous political energy in the B40, civil servants, and national policy debates. There was nothing wrong with that.
The problem started when the coalition appeared to assume everyone else would simply wait. Middle-income families, professionals, younger progressive voters, entrepreneurs, and business owners increasingly felt they were expected to remain loyal while their own concerns drifted further down the list.
Most were not asking for handouts. They wanted...