In today’s article, I wish to ask one question and one question only. Who speaks for the Malays in Malaysia?

Recently, PAS and Bersatu leaders signed Tun M’s Malay Proclamation.

One side has already declared that it is now the true and only voice of the Malays to fight for that race in the future of Malaysia.

This group now consists of an impressive formation of political parties like PAS, PPBM or Bersatu, and other entities like Pejuang, Perkasa and many others who are semua Melayu.

In the past, just before GE14, Umno was the undisputed speaker for the Malays, but in GE15 it was replaced by PAS with its second wife PPBM as a tag-along entity.

However, with the sweeping wins in GE15, PPBM has a higher standing and can be toe-to-toe with PAS.

Umno has lost its throne of being the new Malay voice.

My question is, how will Umno reclaim this title in the short few weeks before the state elections?

Umno cannot go into the election saying it is playing second fiddle to the powerful PH that has DAP as its strongest member.

So, Umno must come out as a hulubalang Melayu on its own, while standing toe-to-toe with PH and eclipsing the fact that it does not have the political seats in parliament to be the stronger party.

That is why I have written this article to ask Umno to consider working with Amanah, ABIM, IKRAM, G25 and G70 to counter the Malay Proclamation of Tun M, who is making his final bid to be the next PM with the likes of Hadi and Muhyiddin as the next two DPMs.

I need not introduce what Umno stands for as most Malaysians know it too well, for better or for worse.

Many, like me, hope that Umno can be brought back to the center like in the days of Tunku and Tun Abdul Razak, but that party is still in a survival mode now and rumors of 15 defections may not bode well for the lifeline of the party.

Amanah is a party that is Islamist in spirit but progressive and modern in political approach.

Ever since its formation, unfortunately, Amanah has never been able to outclass PAS at all.

The leadership in Amanah has to depend on the influence of PKR and DAP for its political survival.

I wish that the old leaders of Amanah could give way to new young ones, but I don’t even know who the young ones are.

Amanah is weak but it has the credential of Islam with the likes of Mujahid Rawa and Khalid Samad at the forefront. But these two individuals are either hindered by old stalwarts like Mat Sabu and Salehuddin, or they too are leaders who cannot stand in the shadow of the likes of Hadi Awang or even Sanusi of Kedah.

ABIM and IKRAM are two NGO’s which are responsible to bring in the Islamic reformation movement to Malaysia.

Like Amanah, ABIM and IKRAM are filled with non-ustazs but professionals who can spout Islamic history, doctrines, jurisprudence and political ideas extremely well.

ABIM was led by Anwar Ibrahim in the early days and IKRAM by Saari Sungib.

Many in ABIM and IKRAM later joined PAS, PKR and Amanah to move into a political phase after the Reformasi movement was launched two decades ago.

Who are G25 and G70? G25 is a group of former high-ranking Malays in the civil service. It cannot be said to be the voice of the Malays as it fights for a Malaysia that is prior to the Islamic reformation.

G25 is not ABIM-IKRAM in mindset, as the members were never part of that movement.

G25 has made many important marks in the Malaysian political landscape and they are a crucial part of what it means still to be a Melayu and a Malaysian.

Umno defines itself as Melayu first while G25 defines itself as Malaysian first. ABIM-IKRAM and Amanah, I believe, define themselves as Muslim first.

The dark horse in my grouping of an alternative Malay power play is G70.

The G70 Profesor Melayu group was set up hastily a few days before GE15 by a group of retired Malay professors, some serving and some not serving in universities, led by ABIM-IKRAM members and supporters of Anwar Ibrahim.

When it was set up, its goal was simply to pledge support for Anwar Ibrahim as the best Malay, Muslim and Malaysian leader for this country.

This was done because PN was using the dirty tactic of equating Anwar with Jewish and Christian connection as well as a puppet for the Chinese DAP.

Although many academics viewed these professors as being unprofessional in declaring openly their support for a political party, I think they went beyond their comfort zones to help Malaysians of all faiths and races to be managed by a leader who will be fair to all and not to one race and one faith only.

GERAKAN was said to be a political party started by one of our most illustrious Malay academics who understood that knowledge must produce a conscience and that conscience should translate into socio-political action. If not, knowledge only becomes a commercial commodity wielded by academics.

Islam views knowledge as a sacred responsibility of social and spiritual change for society.

The main problem with G70 is its post-GE15 stand.

In the first meeting in Bangi to set the direction of the group, I stood up and clearly asked or begged the group to be a social and political force to change the mindsets of the Malays.

I explained that I became part of the G70 to help the Malays change, not just to support Anwar and the unity government.

The Malays are the key to a Malaysia as imagined by our forefathers. However, many of the professors simply want to form groups of experts and become consultants to the Anwar administration.

The G70, to me, has lost a great and an important opportunity to change the course of this nation because its members fall back to being mere armchair consultants.

After GE15, Tun M’s influence is basically zero. He has lost the faith of all Malaysians and also the Malays. He is now supposedly a memory in our history books.

But true to form, Tun M has arisen from the dead with him being the author of the Malay Proclamation which is now officially signed by the two powerful Malay political parties PAS and PPBM.

At literally the stroke of a pen, Tun M is now at the top. Muhyiddin and Hadi will now play second and third wives to Tun M.

The two are of course not willing to let Tun M become PM but that is something to consider only after GE16 or a political coup after the state elections.

For me, it should not be Anwar who could call for a rallying of Malay voices but Zahid Hamidi, the president of Umno. Zahid could call all these groups of Malays and proclaim a different voice for the Malays.

Once again, the country must depend on Zahid’s leadership. I have warned many Malaysians not to criticize Zahid and Umno too much, not because I think he is a nice guy or Umno a good party, but we Malaysians must have political maturity to know how to play the Malaysian Political Monopoly game.

For me, the game is lost when one group has the loudest and the only voice for the Malays while the other stays in their own silos and comfort zones while Malaysia falls into the hands of bigots, extremists and pencuris of one race.

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