IT will never be a popular move, but the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is necessary if Malaysia hopes to have a wider tax net to generate more revenue, given the increase in public expenditure.

From healthcare spending to security, the bills have all gone up, but not revenue.

Malaysia is no different from other countries. That’s why more than 170 countries have introduced GST or its equivalent. However, we have the distinction of not only introducing it, but killing it, too.

The irony is those who had opposed the GST by the Barisan Nasional government then are now leading the unity government.

Some Perikatan Nasional leaders, who were Barisan ministers then, had vehemently defended the GST.

Last week, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said the government was not ruling out reintroducing the GST, which was abolished in 2018.

In fact, in 2015, PKR launched an anti-GST signature campaign along with a series of rallies to protest the tax system.

In 2013, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin accused the opposition of using the GST to shore up support, saying “there are almost 160 countries that have the GST, and this includes poorer countries. Only Malaysia has not implemented it and I think it is time that we roll out this system.”

But in 2018, after he was out of the government, Muhyiddin participated in a rally against the GST, which was introduced by then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Now, Rafizi says the Government will first prioritise its strategy to widen the nation’s revenue base, while focusing on redeveloping and rolling out of the Capital Gains Tax, which is slated to be implemented in 2024.

He said the administration favours non-regressive methods rather than the GST when it comes to contributing to the government’s coffers.

He said although the GST was the most efficient and transparent tax system, its reintroduction will hurt poor households.

Unpopular measure: Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli recently said the government was not ruling out reintroducing the GST, which was abolished in 2018. — The Star

Respected former Treasury secretary general Tan Sri Sheriff Kassim said the GST may not be popular but “like antibiotics, when you want to protect your body system, you have no choice but to take the bitter pills.”

The GST is levied on all goods and services and therefore, no one is exempted, rich or poor, which is the government’s concern.

The best tax instrument to raise govt revenue and create local and international confidence in Malaysia as a financially stable country is undoubtedly the GST.

Against the backdrop of the rising cost of living, the timing of GST’s re-introduction could be questioned, but there will never be an ideal time for it to return.

What can and should be done is to compensate the poor in the form of an effective cash support system.

But for now, only a small percentage of Malaysians are shouldering the burden of paying the tax.

It has been reported that Malaysia only has slightly more than 1.3 million individual taxpayers from more than 33.5 million people, representing a mere 4% of the entire population.

“As the private sector is highly influenced by external factors, its growth can be erratic.

“The public sector must therefore play the role of engine driver for the economy. So, it needs the GST to be assured of financial strength to provide the locomotive power for leading the economy, thereby enabling it to pull up the private sector,” said Sheriff.

The truth is, Malaysians will ultimately benefit when government revenue is strong to maintain a high level of spending.

We all know the reasons behind re-introducing the GST, but illogical considerations will take precedence. The unity government may have a strong majority.

Never mind if there’s one short of a two-thirds majority now that Muda president and Muar MP Syed Saddiq Rahman has decided to join the opposition, but the introduction of the GST doesn’t require a two-thirds majority because it doesn’t involve constitutional considerations.

By right, this would be the best time since the unity government has the numbers and is resolutely strong.

But Malaysian minds have been poisoned by the race and religion narrative, where almost every issue is twisted and manipulated. Many social media messages which are clearly venomously fake are given attention, and worst of all, forwarded and shared despite being anonymously written.

So, truth is silent, or has been silenced, while lies have grown louder. Lawmakers know that bold decisions need to be made but prefer to be cautious, or more disturbingly, be populists to fend off criticism.

So, economists can champion the GST’s cause, but the politicians aren’t going to push it through, especially if they had criticised it previously.

IT’S so refreshing to see a Malaysian movie that’s prepared to tackle the issue of our racial and religious differences, since we have a beautifully plural society and nation. The timing of the movie is especially apt ahead of Malaysia Day next week.

The movie, Adoiii Jiwaku, revolves around three colleagues working in a hotel. Ayis, Malesh and Sia are often at loggerheads plagued by cultural differences, or rather, prejudices and ignorance.

Following an incident in which Ayis accuses Sia of siding with his Chinese colleagues, the former decides to stage an office prank, which goes horribly awry.

As a result of electric shocks, Ayis and Sia, a Malay and Chinese, swap bodies. The script is hardly reinventing the wheel, but it’s rarely done in local movies, especially if it involves two races.

Different but same: ‘Adoiii Jiwaku’ revolves around three hotel workers who are often at loggerheads due to their cultural differences. A prank gone wrong leads to a body swap between two of them, a Malay and a Chinese, and all their latent racial prejudices comically come out. — Agencies

The comical delivery proves we Malaysians can laugh at ourselves, especially when Sia – who’s now in a Malay body – makes accusations about Chinese cheats. And at home, the stereotype wick is turned up when he’s served his favourite pork-bone soup, only to spit it out angrily realising he was served the non-halal dish.

But along the way, he learns about Sia’s family, as well as the community through his experience living in a Chinese home. Ayis even ends up being able to speak Chinese (Mandarin)!

Sia, who’s now in a Malay body, ironically accuses Ayis of always being “good at cheating in businesses” as a Chinese.

Offscreen, the actor, Ali Arami, can speak Mandarin, so it came in handy for his role. Steve Yap plays Ayis while other cast members include E. Ramachandran, and guest artistes supermodel Amber Chia and the late Adibah Noor.

Unsurprisingly, plaudits for the movie have come thick and fast, with a friend, Ariff Farhan, offering his two cents by saying, “We get emotionally invested, but we will always make up. We are Malaysians after all.

“Satu jiwa, semua sama. Kalau gaduh, semua gila.” (One spirit, all the same. If we argue, we’re all crazy.)

’Adoiii Jiwaku’ film’s director Steve Yap (middle green) and executive producer Chris Daniel Wong with the cast and production crew during a recent gala night screening at TGV cinema in Pavilion Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.

The movie’s co-producer Chris Daniel Wong singled out the ace up its sleeve; “The film attempts to instil patriotism through comedy, rather than the usual genre of historic drama or war movies because the younger generation in Malaysia today is rarely moved by older patriotic films since they can’t relate to events that happened before they were even born.”

He added that despite our political alliances and cultural differences, Malaysia’s sense of unity has ultimately always prevailed.

The movie was completed in 2021 but its release was put on ice since cinema attendance was still low, with Malaysians still adjusting in the post-Covid period. Cinemas are now packed again, though.

I’m glad that the movie, which marks Yap’s directorial debut, is opportunely being screened now.

As we celebrate our National Day and soon Malaysia Day, most of us would instinctively recall the works of the late iconic Yasmin Ahmad, with her brilliant Merdeka short films as well as her movies which always portray Malaysians coming together.

It’s people like her who have done more for nation building than our politicians who continue to pull us apart.

She certainly left behind an indelible mark with her many commercials during festivals, which depict the struggles of cultural diversity in Malaysia, and as one article said, Yasmin “challenged audiences to tackle humanistic themes of hope, love, and empathy in the face of breaking down social environments.

“She was unafraid of tackling sensitive subjects as she tore down racial, religious and cultural barriers that stood behind her and her vision,” wrote Mark Zumi.

It’s still fresh in the memory how Yasmin carried the colour-blind theme of an advertisement about a Chinese school boy named Tan Hong Ming, who has a crush on Ummi Khazriena, a Malay girl, a storyline many of us can relate to from our childhood days.

Yasmin dared cross cultural, racial and religious lines, which was considered taboo by the conservatives, with her depiction of interracial relationships. She also highlighted subjects many of us would have avoided for wanting to be politically correct.

Yap said he was inspired by her movies, especially Sepet, a 2005 Malay language movie about an interracial teen romance set in Ipoh, Perak, which tells the tale of a love that blooms between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl.

’Sepet’, a 2005 Malay movie about interracial teen romance set in Ipoh, tells the tale of a love that blooms between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl.

Yap said his movie is dedicated to Yasmin, but he used comedy to convey the message of harmony and respect by Malaysians for each other.

The movie addresses the stereotyping of Malaysians where Malays are portrayed as mat rempits, Chinese as cunning and, Indians as drunkards and gangsters.

Yap said he had finetuned the script over the last 10 years, but it was repeatedly rejected, and he was even conned over it.

The message from the movie is, there are no differences between us because we’re just human beings, and the most important point is we’re all Malaysian.

Congratulations, Yap and the cast, and the producers, for making this movie and carrying on from where Yasmin left off.

Selamat Hari Malaysia. This is our country and never let the politicians tell us otherwise. We have more similarities than differences.

IT’S like a leaf taken out of a handbook on creating controversies for some of our politicians.

Whenever an issue crops up, the usual suspects will mouth off to say yea or nay in a way that distinguishes them as champions of their respective communities or faiths.

Strong language is used, often with little reasoning, to exhibit their masculinity, and no surprises, they are male figures.

As Sunday Star columnist Nathaniel Tan rightly wrote recently, in general, a lot of public discourse in Malaysia centres around “jumping”, or more appropriately, reacting to an issue instead of responding reasonably. He said when an announcement is made, if some don’t like it, they immediately begin jumping, issuing angry statements and yelling at each other.

Most times, there is a religious or racial slant to their riposte to emphasise they are the best custodians.

These lawmakers really offer nothing constructive, except to raise the political temperature.

With social media’s ubiquity, where everyone simply has something to say, the toxicity level has spiked.

I’ve been following the controversy surrounding the introduction of the “Imam Al-Nawawi 40 Hadith” module in schools, which the Education Ministry has assured is strictly for Muslim students.

Well, the ministry should have given that guarantee right from the beginning, knowing there was the propensity for controversy from such an announcement.

Not for all: Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek has assured that the ‘Imam Al-Nawawi 40 Hadith’ module is strictly for Muslim students. — Bernama

It would have been helpful if it had explained the salient points of the module. It would also re-assure non-Muslim parents if a proper circular is issued to schools to emphasise that non-Muslim teachers and parents would not be involved.

I doubt many of the politicians or commentators who were busy trading verbal blows, took the initiative to read up on “Imam Al-Nawawi 40 Hadith” to better appreciate the works of this highly respected scholar.

There are plenty of commentaries and discussions on the book by Imam Nawawi, a hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad) expert who wrote extensively on theology and jurisprudence.

He was born in Damascus, Syria, in 1233 AD, and even at a young age, he devoted his time to studying, instead of playing, like all children his age.

Dr Jamal Ahmed Badi wrote in a commentary that Imam Nawawi “had endless thirst for knowledge and used to read twelve lessons a day and wrote commentaries on every lesson.”

His collection of 40 Hadith comprises the essential and fundamental concepts of Islam.

There’s also a more comprehensive commentary on Imam Nawawi’s book by US-based Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo.

I’m neither an expert on Islam, nor a Muslim. I’m merely a student of Islam, as it’s a major religion.

In fact, I signed up for Islamic History when I was in Form Six, and when I began my tertiary education at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) more than 40 years ago, I was required to study the religion.

Non-Muslims who opted to study at UKM understood that Islam was a compulsory subject.

Although the course was on basic Islam, I dare to say it has been helpful to me in work and interaction with Muslims.

From my knowledge, none of us had any issues with what we had signed up for. I had the privilege of attending lectures conducted by the late Datuk Fadzil Noor and Datuk Dr Haron Din, two great Islamic scholars who eventually joined PAS.

When I began working as a reporter in Penang, I also met the late Kassim Ahmad, one of the greatest Malay intellectuals of modern times, who eventually got into much trouble with the authorities for his views on the Hadith, yet my interest continued to grow.

The point is, we must have a thirst for knowledge.

I’m a Christian with a respectable collection of books on Islam, and this has deepened my respect for the many positive values.

No religion teaches us to incite hatred, intolerance and violence against our brothers and sisters of other races and religions.

Unfortunately, there are religious and political figures who invoke God’s name and quote selectively from religious texts for the benefit of their own fiendish schemes.

It’s disappointing that many of us are afraid to learn about religions practised by fellow Malaysians for fear of being converted or compromising our faiths.

I have non-Muslims who come to visit my library and then ask “Why do you have so many books on Islam? Converting ah?” How ignorant.

By reading Imam Nawawi’s book, we would learn about his emphasis on hadith regarding the need to be sincere and truthful, or ikhlas, and avoid those who are insincere.

He also pointed out the seven types of desires, which include seeking glorification, money and portraying ourselves to be wholesome.

At a time when many of us are fearful of the young being instilled with radical and extremist teachings, the module should, by right, be welcomed.

It is important to teach the young that they need to project universal Islamic values in a multiracial and multi-religious Malaysia, and that we are not living in Afghanistan, for example.

Tan rightly wrote that we should resist our hot heads, at least for a day or two, and had this been the case, “non-Muslims might have learned that these 40 hadith were (ironically) chosen precisely because they are focused on moderation and exact types of positive values that are designed to temper extremism and highlight the inclusive nature of Islam.

“Religions frequently counsel patience, reflection, prayer, and meditation,” Tan wrote.

In fact, there are hadith and verses from the Quran which encourage Muslims to do good towards non-Muslims. Al-Nawawi’s compilation also stressed that Muslims should do no harm or reciprocate with harm.

Last week, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek met non-governmental organisations including Aliran, Dong Zong and Pertubuhan Ikram Malaysia, and it is good that those who attended reportedly said they were satisfied with the explanation.

Unfortunately, not many Malaysians are prepared to advocate inter-faith dialogues in Malaysia, which would be a progressive step in educating people about the positive common values of religions.

Those who have attempted to do so with good intentions, ultimately found themselves caught in the chaos of controversy.

So, Godspeed if you’re willing to try.

Even a recent event organised by MIC, where multi-faith prayers were conducted, became an issue. MIC members may be predominantly Hindu, but they obviously have Christians, Muslims and Buddhists among them, too.

I’m sure the intention was sincere and done in good faith as well.

I’ve been lucky enough to have many Muslim friends, colleagues and even family members.

But I fear many of our young Malaysians may not have that kind of opportunity, unlike the older ones among us who grew up having real friends – not acquaintances – from other races and religions.

How many of us are ready and willing to point out the positive traits of other religions, but fear being rebuked and resented by religious and political leaders?

It’s important that we keep an open mind on everything, and as Edward Said wrote in his essay, the clash of ignorance is the result of ignorance being formed, perpetuated and exploited.

We must never let the ignorant determine the depth of tolerance (acceptance) and moderation for Malaysia. No religion teaches us to incite hatred, intolerance and violence against our brothers and sisters of other races and religions.

Populated metropolis: Kuala Lumpur is a major international city, and it needs an able MP who knows KL, or the adjacent Selangor, to helm it. — AZMAN GHANI/The Star

IT’S almost certain that the Prime Minister needs to make some changes to the Cabinet line-up.

The only question is, will Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim merely fill up a vacancy, move ministers around or even replace one or two?

The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister’s position has been vacant for a month now following the demise of the late Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub on July 23.

The position is currently held by Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah, Sarawak Affairs and Special Affairs), but another minister will likely fill that slot.

The names speculated about have included Adly Zahari, Deputy Defence Minister and Alor Gajah Member of Parliament, and former Health Minister and Kuala Selangor MP, Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad, from Amanah.

When Anwar set up his Cabinet, he took great pains to ensure a smaller line-up, but after nine months, it doesn’t look as easy and practical as it initially did.

For example, Natural Resources, Environment, and Climate Change (NRECC) Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad must be the Minister with the heaviest workload. From climate change to floods to Malay reserve land, all of these are on his plate. There’s already talk that the PKR MP for Setiawangsa’s tasks could be divided into two ministries.

This is also because NRECC was previously a combination of the Environment and Water Ministry (KASA) and the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry (KeTSA).

Under the previous administration, KASA was led by Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, while KeTSA was led by Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan, both of whom are also PAS MPs.

There’s also speculation that the Federal Territories Ministry will be revived.

The responsibilities are presently shouldered by Anwar, who’s also in charge of the powerful Finance Ministry.

If the FT Ministry is set up again, it would be fair that an MP from Kuala Lumpur or Selangor be asked to head it since they would be most familiar with the issues at hand.

Kuala Lumpur is a major international city, and it needs an able MP who knows KL, or the adjacent Selangor, to helm it.

The city can’t be left to the Datuk Bandar alone to run because it has grown and is certainly the country’s most populated metropolis.

The PM surely can’t devote much of his attention to KL with his massive responsibilities.

Titiwangsa MP Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani is among those presumed to be appointed to a Cabinet position if the PM proceeds with the changes.

It’s no secret that Johari, a self-made millionaire businessman, would be interested in becoming Finance Minister II. The FT Ministry wouldn’t be palatable for him although he’s from KL.

He’s certainly qualified for the FM II position and would be able to assist the PM in steering the country’s economy.

His only obstacles could well be from within his party, Umno, with fellow party leaders seeing such a promotion as a possible challenge to their hold on the party.

Johari, an Umno vice-president, has plenty of financial resources to back him, as well as being the boss of media platforms such as TV3, New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Free Malaysia Today news portal.

He is accessible to the media and confident. His knowledge of business and finance is also unquestionable.

A big question mark hovers over the position of Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar, who’s still under investigation for alleged corruption relating to the recruitment of migrant workers.

The DAP MP for Batu Gajah has been dogged with various controversies since his appointment. If he’s replaced, the DAP isn’t going to give up the position to another party unless there’s a mutual swap.

Damansara MP Gobind Singh Deo’s name has cropped up, but he had declined a request from Anwar to join the Cabinet line-up because he wants to focus on his job as an MP.

It has also been said that Gobind was not keen to continue as a minister because he faced financial losses when he was the Minister of Communications and Multimedia.

As an experienced and sought-after lawyer, Gobind earns more as a professional.

But facing the current discontentment of the Tamil voters towards the Unity Government, the replacement of a Tamil MP, Sivakumar, with a non-Tamil, would be a burning issue that’s simply too hot to handle.

The Penang DAP is still grappling with the appointment of Jagdeep Singh Deo as the state deputy chief minister II following the dropping of Dr P. Ramasamy as a candidate in the recent state elections.

PKR members, which comprises a big group, would surely be monitoring the appointment since there are apparently no Indian state executive councillors from PKR in Pakatan Harapan controlled states.

It is said that Indians comprises 40% of the membership in PKR and certainly, their representation matters. Many Indian PKR members have been with Anwar even during the Reformasi days.

The geographical representations in the Cabinet have never been an issue in the past but as the election campaigns become more complex, the respective parties in the unity government have started taking greater interest.

The breakdown is as follows – Perak (6 including PM and DPM), Sarawak (5 including DPM 2), Negri Sembilan (2), Selangor (3 including Senator Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz and Senator Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar), Kedah (1) Johor (4), FT (4), Sabah (2) and Penang (1).

Tengku Zafrul is the Investment, Trade and Industry Minister while Na’im is the Minister in charge of religious affairs. PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, a Senator, is the Home Affairs Minister from Kedah.

Tengku Zafrul, who failed to get himself elected in last year’s general election, will complete his term as a Senator in around two years.

It would make strategic sense to strengthen the state’s numbers from PKR in the Cabinet given its current demographic, with Selangor as PKR’s most important state, and especially following the hammering by Perikatan Nasional. It’s only fair that Selangor gets a better deal this time.

On paper, a reshuffle looks simple, but that’s far from it. The lobbying has already begun although no one even knows if there will be one. The PM could just fill up a vacancy and leave everything intact.

Dr Mohammad Tawfik Yaakub, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Administrative Studies and Politics, Faculty of Administrative Science, University Malaya, said a Cabinet reshuffle was necessary for the PM to strengthen his administrative machinery.

Another political analyst, Lee Kuok Tiung of Universiti Malaysia Sabah said a Cabinet reshuffle at this juncture wouldn’t help the PM win over the Malay support lost at the elections in six states.

“In fact, it is likely to cause disharmony among the component parties of the unity government when it comes to who, or which ministry should be replaced,” he was quoted, saying Anwar would then have new problems to tackle.

It doesn’t look like a reshuffle will take place soon but possibly after the Pulai by-election on Sept 9.

The priority now is to retain that parliamentary seat as well as the Simpang Jerai seat, which is said to be challenging for Amanah to retain against a strong PAS challenge for Perikatan.

AROUND this time in 2000, I was seated in a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur with the late Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew.

It was his first visit to Malaysia in 10 years and he was eager to be updated on our country.

The Singapore High Commission had arranged a series of small meetings. I was chosen to meet the legendary founding father of Singapore with five other young newspaper editors.

The lanky statesman looked serious and didn’t act like he was prepared to make small talk to break the ice.

We were aware of his reputation for being intimidating and intellectually strong. We had all heard numerous stories of him expecting members of the media to be well prepared for any interview he granted.

But he was pleasantly relaxed. It was his three aides who looked tense as they took notes.

“Young man, speak your mind. Tell me what you think. I am not a mind reader,” he said, looking at me to start the discussion.

And the off-the-record conversation flowed from there.

Last week, I decided to read an article I had written for The Straits Times in 2015 to recollect what we had discussed.

Changing political stage: A young voter casting her vote during the recent state elections. Most non-Malays simply can’t accept the kind of politics preached by PAS, but a generational transformation is taking place in the Islamist party. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star.

Top of the discussion of issues dividing the two countries included Malaysia’s supply of water to Singapore, the relocation of Customs and Immigration facilities for Malaysian rail passengers on the island and the withdrawal of Malaysian funds from the republic’s pension scheme.

But the topic that struck me the most and remained etched in my memory was Lee’s questions on the position of PAS.

I would say that it appeared to unsettle him. He made no secret of his concern that young Malays were drawn to PAS.

It disturbed him that the Islamist party was becoming a serious player in the political landscape, with only moderate Muslims and non-Muslims keeping it from becoming more influential.

PAS’ growing impact and the controversial issues about race and religion may have been a Malaysian problem by then, but it was also a cause for concern for the predominantly Chinese population of Singapore.

I remember Lee asking me if I thought PAS would come to power at the federal stage, and if memory serves me right, I told him I didn’t believe PAS would ever form the federal government.

He didn’t respond to my theory, as expected. After all, he wouldn’t have wanted to be drawn into any Malaysian domestic issues.

But fast forward to 2023, and if I were to be asked the same question by his son, Lee Hsien Loong, the present PM of Singapore, I believe I would offer a more guarded reply.

PAS’ growing clout isn’t a concern for just non-Malays in Malaysia, but also for our neighbours and even the world.

The spectre of an Islamic state in Malaysia is no longer something to dismiss. It is increasingly becoming real.

It’s now the largest party in Malaysia, with 49 parliamentary seats from the 222, while the DAP has 40. Bersatu, PAS’ ally, has 26 seats.

Pakatan Harapan has 80 seats (PKR 31, DAP 40, Amanah seven and Upko 20. Pakatan is supported by Barisan Nasional, which has 30 seats — Umno 26, MCA two, MIC one and PBRS one).

Gabungan Parti Sarawak has 23 seats (PBB 14, SUPP two, PRS five, PDP two) while Gabungan Rakyat Sabah has six (direct members four, PBS one, Sabah STAR one). The others are made up of Warisan (three), KDM (two), PBM (one) and Muda (one), and independents (one).

As PAS continues to increase its seats at parliament and state levels, it’s likely that the Islamist party will become stronger in the coming years. It already has control of Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan and Perlis. The party has shut down gaming outlets in Kedah and Perlis, while in Terengganu, gender segregation seating has been imposed in cinemas. In Kelantan, the curtains have come down on cinemas.

Last week, PAS Youth ordered a hotel resort to stop promoting the Songkran Water Festival, saying it had religious connotations, with the organisers relenting and apologising – with the word “Songkran” dropped as a compromise. Songkran comes from the Sanskrit word meaning “passing” or “approaching,” and is a water festival in Thailand, which is celebrated in April every year.

Since Perikatan Nasional’s emphatic victory, there has been much debate over whether the swing towards Perikatan resulted from the continuous support for PAS, or more accurately, a Malay display of resentment towards the Pakatan government – unhappiness at the leadership in Umno and the alliance with the DAP.

Sacked Umno leader Khairy Jamaluddin, for example, disagrees with the term “green wave,” which suggests “something that is deeply ideological.” In an interview with The Edge, he said that “the Malay voters just don’t want to give it (their votes) to Pakatan-Barisan” because “they can’t stomach Umno.”

He dismissed the existence of Malay extremism but admitted to a “Malay dissatisfaction with Umno, the Unity Government and economics.”

Khairy echoed what many others have said to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The Prime Minister needs to fix the economy. Not immediately, but yesterday, having been PM for the last nine months.

Yes, he has inherited many structural problems, which can’t be undone overnight, and yes, he has managed to get billions of ringgit from investors, but he has to be seen to put his entire machinery on the economy.

The PM can use effective communications platforms to explain more clearly and in simpler terms, how his Madani concept stands for sustainability, care and compassion, respect, innovation, prosperity, and trust, which is his policy framework and government slogan.

Anwar doesn’t have the benefit of time on his hands. A week may be regarded a long time in politics, so the saying goes, but with four more years to go, that’s a short time.

If the unity government doesn’t move fast and competently enough, it won’t be surprising if Perikatan comes to power one day.

Pakatan should stop taking for granted that the non-Malay votes are fixed deposits. Pakatan was repeatedly warned before the state polls, but the coalition didn’t take it seriously.

In the end, an analysis conducted by political scientist Bridget Welsh reportedly showed a decline of 21%, 19% and 12% in Indian votes respectively for Pakatan in Negri Sembilan, Penang and Selangor.

On the other hand, the Indian votes for Perikatan in Penang, Negri Sembilan and Selangor, increased by 29%, 19% and 14% respectively. In general, there was a 15% drop in Indian votes, according to former DAP Member of Parliament Charles Santiago.

Right now, PMX isn’t a popular person among the Indian voters, following a series of mishaps.

The Chinese remained solidly with Pakatan because they simply can’t accept the kind of politics preached by PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, but a generational change is taking place in the Islamist party.

Anwar will be 80 years old by the next general election while Hadi, who has a history of health issues, would be 79. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would be 103 years old.

The political stage will surely be completely different. Younger PAS leaders with professional backgrounds and even Western training will emerge, and they would want to present a more progressive image.

It is necessary for PAS to start building bridges with the media and non- governmental organisations. The party has shut itself completely off from the media since the state elections following a gag order. PAS is here to stay, make no mistake, and it has to have a relationship with the non-Muslim groups.

But the question here is whether the non-Malays, including the bumiputra from Sabah and Sarawak, trust PAS enough, or if the non-Malays have become so insignificant and marginalised that their votes don’t matter anymore.

Anwar must win over the predominant Malays, but he can’t be perceived to be afraid of giving other Malaysians their rightful place in this country.