As expected, peace talks between Iran and the United States have broken down and conflict has once again escalated in the Middle East.
America has attacked southern Iran, while Iran has reportedly launched attacks against at least 18 American military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain. The Strait of Hormuz has once again been closed, and judging by the Iranian military's declaration that it is prepared to confront the enemy "until the last breath", we should not expect the Strait to reopen anytime soon.
At this point, I am quite confident that peace negotiations between the United States and Iran, much like unity talks between PAS and Umno, will remain exactly that — talks that ultimately amount to nothing.
Just as PAS and Umno periodically discuss the possibility of cooperation for the sake of race and religion, the United States and Iran will also periodically discuss the possibility of peace for the sake of global stability.
For a brief period, PAS and Umno might even unite, just as Iran and the United States might one day arrive at a peace agreement. But such moments would be exceptions rather than the norm, and they would almost certainly not last.
They would not last because, just like PAS and Umno, the United States and Iran have no intention of minding their own business and leaving each other alone.
When conflicting parties are generally content with minding their own affairs, they are usually willing to leave others alone as well. Even when conflict emerges because both sides desire the same resource, the dispute can usually be resolved. At some point, their conflict will reach a stage where it will be more profitable for them to share the resources, rather than absorb the losses due to the conflict. Once they reach that point, they will come to an agreement, share the resources and return to their own side to mind their own business and leave the other party alone.
The problem with US and Iran, as well as Pas and Umno, is that neither of them truly want to mind their own business and leave each other alone. Both of them actually want to perpetually engage with each other by minding each other's business.
The resource they are fighting over is not territory, votes, wealth, or oil.
It is identity.
What America and Iran want from their conflict , is for their opponents to not be who they are. Instead, they want their opponents to be what they want them to be.
America wants Iran to stop acting like the regional power it believes itself to be. Iran wants America to stop acting like the superpower it believes itself to be.
Their conflict is therefore not primarily a resource conflict but an identity conflict — one in which each side seeks to reshape the identity of the other through pressure and coercion.
Identity conflict is also the best way to understand the relationship between PAS and Umno.
While PAS and Umno speak about cooperation, what they truly seek is conversion and domination respectively.
PAS does not simply want Umno's cooperation. It wants Umno to become more PAS-like.
Likewise, Umno is not genuinely interested in becoming PAS' equal partner. Instead, it wants PAS to know its place. It wants PAS to accept a subordinate role within a broader Umno-led political order. In return, Umno would likely be willing to grant PAS control over its traditional strongholds in the northern and eastern states of Peninsular Malaysia.
The problem is that PAS is currently stronger than Umno. As a result, PAS is more inclined demand that Umno adopts PAS's values before it is willing to submit to Umno's domination.
In theory, one might argue that this should not even be a conflict.
PAS wants Umno to become more PAS-like before it will accept Umno's leadership, while Umno is willing to become more PAS-like provided PAS accepts Umno's dominance.
Neither of them are going to get what they want unless the other is no longer who they are, although the both of them are willing to give each other what they want, as long as they are no longer who they are .
That is the essence of an identity conflict.
And identity conflicts rarely end through compromise. They end only when one side, or both sides, cease to be who they are.
PAS and Umno have recently resumed discussions about reviving some form of political cooperation.
Although Umno president Zahid Hamidi has poured cold water on the idea by noting that the name "Muafakat Nasional" has already been registered as an NGO by a third party, Umno Youth chief Akmal Saleh remains hopeful that PAS-Umno cooperation will eventually materialize.
According to Akmal, the name itself is not important. If the name "Muafakat Nasional" cannot be used, the coalition can simply be called something else.
What matters, in his view, is that the cooperation happens.
Akmal, I suppose, is much like ordinary citizens around the world who continue to hope that peace between Iran and the United States will eventually materialize, and allow life to return to normal rather than march steadily towards the next great world war.
Just like the rest of the world, Akmal too will likely spend the rest of his life hoping for something that will likely never materialize in real life.
It won't, because on the surface, it might look that both parties are willing to give the other side what they want, but when you look deeper, you will realise that they are only willing to give the other party what it wants, when the other party is no longer who it is.
And that is why the PAS -Umno cooperation, while always remaining a possibility in theory, will never happen in reality.
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