1. I submit that one of the reasons for the lackluster PRN results is Anwar's non-committal stance towards bumi policies vs meritocracy policies, because the dichotomy today is Malay political supremacy vs multiracialism.
2. Anwar can talk about economic issues, foreign investment, but the myopic (inward looking) nature of Malaysian politics means all of us will only have one question at the back of our heads -- How will we distribute the benefits? To me or to them? Sadly, the underlying message somehow ends up being a zero sum game.
3. The confiscation of rainbow Swatch watches, the cancelling of the Good Vibes Fest upsets the PH voter base. The 3R issues, Kalimah Allah issue upsets the PN voter base. Really it's an arduous task to please everyone. The antagonized PH voter base will not leave for the lack of a better option, and PN voters will not vote for a "watered-down" Malay power.
4. I'm not asking Anwar to pick a side (quite impossible), however, I'm suggesting that what Anwar can do ... is make voters feel more 'safe'. (I leave it to your own interpretation). Fear is a greater motivation in politics than hope.
5. When people feel ‘unsafe’, they will have a tendency to be more conservative, thus enforcing cliques. ALL of us believe that our social and political attitudes are based on good reasons and reflect our important values.
6. I admit language is a barrier, preconceived biases are barriers, but these are not impossible to change, we just have to find a balanced solution.
7. For example, government can encourage multilingualism, while emphasizing on the Malay language. When I travel overseas, I notice that many other countries are monolingual, and some bilingual. However, being multilingual has benefitted our country in more ways than one, in terms of trade, tourism, etc. Did you know that many China students come to Malaysia to study in our local universities? We live in a hyper-connected and globalised world, and multilingualism is our unique strength.
8. Preconceived biases will always be there, it's not practical to ‘get rid of it’, however, what we all need to do as citizens, is to not ‘hit under the belt’. Even if you are not interested to understand other cultures, just be decent and show respect, don't be an idiot.
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