Umno and Barisan Nasional, touted to win easily in GE15 after their sterling performance in Johor and Melaka, are in a complete shambles.

If things stay as is, there is more than an excellent chance that the rakyat will reclaim Malaysia from the Backdoor Government of PN and BN.

With this real possibility, it is important for the rakyat to play its role to ensure the win by practicing two strategies that I am calling as “Strategic Silence” and “Spiritual Dignity.”

I will explain both approaches in this article.

Firstly, however, let me clarify why I feel very euphoric that Malaysia may again belong to decent and hardworking Malaysians as opposed to the bigots, robbers, extremists and racist politicians that have plagued our daily lives for decades.

There are four blunders that BN has done mostly through the “wise” direction of the president of Umno, Zahid Hamidi.

Firstly, in insisting that parliament be dissolved during the uncertainty of storms and floods, BN has incurred the wrath of the rakyat.

Secondly, it is no secret that the dissolution of parliament was to save Zahid from the court cases that may find him guilty in November, thus eliminating his political career by disallowing him to be a candidate in the next general election, if held next year. This is a terribly selfish move.

Thirdly, the biggest blunder of all, Zahid was recorded in a speech at an MIC event declaring that many BN leaders will be charged in court for corruption if BN loses, and insinuating that BN must win in order to prevent such a thing.

Even though he backtracked and said he meant “selective prosecution,” the statement has already caught the ire of the people and that gave much ammunition to the PH, PN and GTA.

The fourth blunder was letting PAS choose PN and not BN, and this will cost both parties in splitting the Malay votes, thus giving PH a possible walk in the park win.

I personally still think that by the time nomination day comes, PAS would make a U-turn.

With all these negative events going against the BN, it is important now that the rakyat must exercise a wise and careful stance in order to smooth sail into voting day.

Zahid himself is destroying BN and let him do so efficiently.

Firstly, the rakyat must practice “Strategic Silence” and this is absolutely crucial to win the election.

There is a possibility the rakyat can once again reclaim Malaysia from the Backdoor Government of PN and BN, but to ensure the win, we must practice the two strategies of “Strategic Silence” and “Spiritual Dignity.”

What is Strategic Silence?

Strategic Silence is the exercise of restraint by the rakyat in responding to any issue of race, religion, education, economic policy and others used as election baits to rally the Malays against non-Malays.

The rakyat must switch off their Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and whatever else they have and remain silent for at least 25 days to the voting day. It is expected that voting will be well before mid-November.

The rakyat should NOT respond at all to any issue about Islam or policies affecting the Malays. Let the BN or PN politicians shout loudly about race and religion till they lose their voices amidst the Strategic Silence of the rakyat.

Of course, I expect the cybertroopers to respond with their own statements to fuel the issues and in that case, the rakyat can trust the various NGOs representing the moderate perspectives of race and religion to deny these insinuations.

And after that, let Silence prevail again. The rakyat must not insult any Malay leaders like Najib, Zahid, Hadi, Muhyiddin, Azmin or who else. Just give these people the Silent Treatment.

What I mean by Spiritual Dignity is the the rakyat’s resoluteness in casting their votes come what may, and in sharing money, transport and help in any and all ways to get as many people to come out to vote and break the 85% mark.

Spiritual Dignity also means the rakyat have the moral high ground of dignity and humility in being patient against the taunting of BN and PN election attacks.

I am also hoping that DAP, especially, would exercise extra caution and wisdom in answering the attacks by PN and BN.

It is bad enough that the enemies will be using the narrative that PH is controlled fully by Chinese DAP. Thus, if the DAP candidates and politicians comment on race and religious issues, that may win them popular votes but will lose the rakyat the whole election.

If PH loses, then DAP can be blamed for selfishly retaining their seats at the expense of the whole future of Malaysia.

Let the race and religious issues be answered by good Malaysians who are Muslims and Malays to place the facts against the baited lies.

The G25, as a Malay group, must play an important game in answering issues of affirmative actions, quota systems and constitutional history.

I hope that ABIM and IKRAM will step up their presence in meeting the issue of Islam in the context of nation-building.

I also hope the church and the other religious institutions would exercise spiritual wisdom in responding or better yet in restraining to respond to the election baiting of PN and BN.

Finally, I wish to remind Malaysians that we are kings once more for at least another 25 days.

Although we have the power to shout and cry loudly, it takes a greater strength and a unique courage to stay our piece until another time for the sake of reclaiming our homeland for our children.

(Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at a local university and his writing reflects his own personal opinion entirely.)