The first important lesson is the negation of what Muhyiddin said that the state elections are the rakyat’s rejection of Anwar Ibrahim and the Unity Government.

Excuse me, Mahiaddin, but PN is basically a one-race party and its supporters are basically of one race only.

So, the rakyat that you mean is simply the Malays who believe in the PN’s racial and religious narrative and not in economic development, better infrastructure and better environment.

PN fed the Malays with the story that if the Malays solely were in power, then the Malays can take care of the Malays better.

All the taxes given by non-Malays will be spent on the Malays whether deserving or not

The second important lesson is how Malaysians of all races have gone out to provide a resounding rejection of the PN’s racial and religious narrative.

If MUDA had not been so arrogant, Selangor would still have its two-thirds majority.

Even though Malaysians had some grouses with the way Anwar runs the government, they were willing to suspend their concerns and went to fight a larger enemy.

I am very proud of all these Malaysians. Of course, there were some who stayed home because they did not believe in giving Anwar a chance, and now they have to reflect that many other Malaysians have saved these stay-home Malaysians a fate of becoming another Kedah with an all-Malay government.

The third important lesson is that Anwar’s Madani Islam was no match for Hadi’s extremist Islam.

Extremism is very simple to sell, and once sold difficult to eject from one’s mindset.

Anwar needs more time and help from Malay academics and especially an army of ustazs to help sell a better version of Islam.

Most Malays, educated at universities or barely pass the SPM, believe in the simple narrative that Islam is safer with Malays exclusively and not in an inclusive formula of nation-building.

The Unity Government must now move forward and upward to secure all the developmental and educational agenda that would benefit all Malaysians.

The fourth is the misleading blame on the Zahid factor.

As we can all see ourselves, during the Johor and Melaka state elections, Umno supporters were still loyal to Najib and Zahid and they made a clean sweep of both states.

I remember that Hadi had not raised any strong issue of Islam against the others in these elections.

Now, if the two state elections were to be held, I do not think the same Umno supporters would support the party. They will be sold the idea of Unity Government and Umno working with DAP who is the enemy of Islam.

Malays are very gullible when fed with simplistic ideas like these. Even university professors I know support this narrative. Remember Kongres Maruah Melayu by Malay academics?

Well, even if Zahid left, the outcome would have been the same.

The fifth lesson is about the idea that Umno lost because their party was purged by Zahid.

Look at the likes of Annuar Musa and Noh Omar. They went on another party’s platform and turned against their own former party.

Zahid was right to purge these people as they would have been instigators from within by those who had worked and makan habuan from Mahiaddin.

The sixth lesson is about moving ahead.

Firstly, Anwar and the Unity Government have four years to deliver good things for all Malaysians.

It has been shown that mollycoddling the Malays with conservatism, money and infrastructure do not work. I think Anwar should form an elite force of educated and influential people with both academic and religious knowledge to “brainwash” the Malays in universities and civil servants from the “brainwash” of Umno concerning DAP being the enemy of the Malays and Islam.

For me, this new elite force must place a mindset of a Malay with a global perspective to replace the Malay with a tempurung perspective.

Anwar should no longer do town halls and simply monitor the progress of this elite force to change the mindset of the Malays.

Without this mindset change, no amount of TikTok infomercials will change the outcome of GE16 which would see the power of PN over Semenanjung Malaysia.

Once PN secures Semenanjung Malaysia, then they will sell their extremist narrative of “Islam against others” to the Sarawak and Sabahan Muslims.

The Talibanizing of Malaysia under PAS, though once an impossible scenario, is now real and as close as four years from now.

The Unity Government must now move forward and upward to secure all the developmental and educational agenda that would benefit all Malaysians.

If the Malays with PN want to stay in their safe tempurung of Islam and Melayu, let them-lah.

In hiring the Malays to work in government or the private sector, a clear investigation of their social media mapping must be enforced so that these Malays will be rooted out for the moderate ones that can be nurtured as Malaysians and as progressive Muslims.

The kid’s gloves are off. It is time to play hard ball with Malaysia’s future!

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