There is a new term that has entered the political lexicon after the conclusion of the 2022 General Election, and that term is the “green wave”.
What this term refers to is an intention or a move by the Malay Muslim majority in the country to overturn the election of the currently serving unity government, because they see it as a non-Muslim non-Malay government.
There are several reasons as to why I believe that the Green Wave is a myth.
The first reason is because the current unity government is not seen as a non-Malay non-Muslim government by the Malay-Muslims. The 2018 Pakatan Harapan government was seen as a non-Malay non-Muslim government, or more specifically, a DAP controlled government, but the current unity government is chiefly seen by the Malay-Muslims as an Anwar Ibrahim government. Just because there are a significant number of non-Malays and non-Muslims who see the unity government as “their government”, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the Malay- Muslims must react by labelling the unity government as “not their government”. Although racial politics is a reality in Malaysia, there is more nuance to the racial politics that we engage in than that.
Anwar Ibrahim, regardless of his overtures to the non-Malays and non-Muslims, is also not seen as a turn-coat Malay leader by the Malay-Muslims. Mahathir, who was the 2018 Pakatan Harapan leader, might have been seen in that light, but Anwar doesn’t suffer from the same image. Whatever one may say about Anwar Ibrahim, the fact is that he is seen by the Malay-Muslims electorate as a Malay-Muslim leader with as much weight and right to rule as any other top Malay-Muslim leader.
The second reason why the green wave is likely a myth is because its existence is conflated with the intrinsic weakness of the unity government. The unity government came about from a narrow victory in the 2022 election. It is made up of various parties who neither share the same vision nor are well disposed to each other. They govern over a very trying time for the country. Top leaders in the unity government, like Zahid Hamidi, have multiple court cases levied against them. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim still hasn’t convinced the country that he knows where he is going. The above are the reasons why the unity government is still at risk of collapsing. The supporters of the unity government are instinctively aware that their internal weaknesses make them vulnerable to collapse, but because they are not allowed to or are not able to express their views consciously, they are conjuring up a spectre of the green wave, to justify to themselves as to why they are perpetually worried about a risk of a collapse.
The third reason why the green wave is likely a myth is that the belief that the Malay-Muslim electorate simply cannot abide not being at the top is one that is lacking in insight. The belief that the Malay-Muslims must be at the top is a residue of the “Ketuanan Melayu” ideology, which might have been a driving force for the Malay-Muslims in the 60s, but not today. The Malay-Muslim today, unlike the Malay-Muslims in the 60s, are used to victory and power. The Malay-Muslims today actually have been at the top of the political scene for decades and generations. When you are used to something, you get tired of it, not yearn for it. You cannot underestimate how much the Malay Muslim electorate might simply be tired of winning - victory has actually caused them to split into many different parts - and might like to take a break from being at top so that they can heal and put themselves back together. It is we, the non-Malay and non-Muslims who yearn for power and victory. We yearn it because we have never had it. Just because we yearn for something, it doesn't mean that everybody else yearn for it as much as we do.
Last but not least, the reason why the green wave is likely a myth is because it is likely something that only those with a disturbed psychological state see. Racial undertones are something that underlines almost every aspect of the Malaysian experience. When these racial undertones intensify, they become a source of racial tension, which then causes various negative side effects to manifest in our reality. Amongst these side effects is a disturbed psychological state, which causes us to have a skewed view of ourselves and our reality.
The reality is that the Malay-Muslims, just like us, are more interested in themselves and their own affairs than in anyone else's. Just like how we don’t wake up every day plotting to bring someone down, they don’t wake up every day to plot to bring us down either. In the same way that we spend wake up and spend the entire day thinking about our self interest, the Malay muslims wake up and spend the day thinking about their self interest too. There is no reason for us to believe why the Malay Muslims will actively try to bring the current government down when there is no reason to believe that their interest is served by bringing the current government down. In the same way that the non-Muslims and non-Malays abided by the rule of Malay Muslims for decades before coming to a point where they felt that enough is enough, the Malay Muslims will likely abide by the rule of the unity government, which is not even non-Malay or non-Muslim to begin with, for years or decades before they might come to point where they will say enough is enough.
It is the nature of the masses to resign themselves to their condition and be slow to agitate. People can tolerate a lot of unfairness and injustice, as long as we are able to take care of our own affairs. Unless the unity government has some major plans to interfere in the affairs of the Malay Muslims or become an obstacle to the Malay Muslims wish to take care of their own affairs, it is unlikely that the Malay Muslim electorate will be that eager to topple the unity government.
It is no coincidence that the only people who are interested in signing the Malay proclamation recently are old and side-lined politicians like Mahathir Muhammad and Ibrahim Ali. These politicians are trying to use the spectre of a green wave to their advantage because it is in their interest to do so but what is in their interest is not necessarily where the Malay-Muslim electorates see their interest lies.
The only real risk that the green wave poses to the unity government is that it might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the non-Malays and non-Muslim supporters of the unity government keep harping on the spectre of a Green Wave, a Green Wave might indeed come alive.
Otherwise, I would reckon that it is probably better for this unity government to focus on fixing its intrinsic weaknesses, because if it collapses, it will likely be due to its own internal faults, then it is due to an external offensive by an imaginary Green Wave.
TheRealNehruism is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.
