In Malaysia, the mind and soul of the Malays now solely belong to PAS and Bersatu.

Anwar’s battle for the Malay mind and soul through his Madani Malaysia construct has a long way to go, if it is going anywhere at all.

With due respect to a hard-working prime minister who has the mind and vision for a new or a renewed Malaysia, I suspect that the man is still in the mindset of the 1980s and 90s when the Islamic Reformist ruled the narratives for the Malays.

I propose that 2024 will be the watermark for any shift in the Malay mind and soul. If nothing is done, and we hope only for a Madani Malaysia, I am afraid that we Malaysians will be in for an extremely long haul of conservatism and extremism.

In this article, I wish to propose that the four Malay groups now weak in controlling the Malay and Islamic narrative, join forces to become an extremely potent force of reforming the national narrative.

Umno is severely weakened after GE15. With the party joining the Unity Government, Umno is on its last leg of “make it or break it” in the politics of Malaysia.

Forced to be a centrist party and no longer shouting right wing rhetoric, Umno does not know how to reinvent itself.

Umno is in a survival mode, and only a new vision working with others can perhaps put the spring back in its steps.

Since its birth and growth, Amanah was as irrelevant before as it is now. Without PH or DAP, this party will just tutup kedai.

But this party has the largest number of seasoned politicians well versed in an Islam closest to the civilising or Madani construct that Anwar is proposing.

This is because Amanah was once an Islamic Reformist entity under PAS, which is also supposed to be a centrist Islamist group but for the religious zealots that now control the helm.

Unlike Umno, Amanah has no record of strength, and the party is best described as a parti tumpang sekaki.

I hate myself for being crude and kurang ajar for my statement, but I am truly disappointed with Amanah, its members and leadership for not championing the narrative of a progressive Islam.

ABIM and IKRAM, historically are the two entities that have ushered in a modern Islamic Reformist movement to change the Malays and to reinvent the race into a more matured and civilised race open to universal values of righteousness and a dynamic perspective of modern-day political issues of nation-building and global co-existence.

However, after successfully building many schools for the new generation of Malay Muslims, these two entities slumped into complacency and irrelevance to the Malay minds.

As an analogy, I view that all four groups are in an ICU of complete irrelevance with regards to winning the battle of the Malay mind and soul.

What is the end game or winning scenario of a new Malay mind and a new Malay soul?

The new Malay mind that I meant is one that is truly educated, well read, critical in thought, open in ideas of other systems, organisation and heritage, and able to visualise a better quality and dignity of life for human existence.

What then is the Malay soul? The Malay soul is the one inspired by an Islam that encourages compassion, inclusiveness, tolerance, patience, decorum in criticising, and real respect for other faiths and cultures. In other words, everything that is in the Madani concept proposed by Anwar.

Now, how should we get the Malays to change from an attitude of arrogance, exclusive supremacist, fear and incompetence into a Malay that is confident, educated, open-minded and scientifically well versed?

Firstly, I thought the best way to change the Malays mindset and attitude would be the intelligentsia among the Malay academics.

After 23 years of asking, begging and prodding the Malay intelligentsia, I have given up.

The Malay professors and academics at all universities semua tak boleh pakai when it comes to public discourse on nation-building.

They are experts in a tiny portion of knowledge, and they remain in their own cocoons of their small world of elitist ignorance.

Secondly, I thought muftis should be at the forefront of creating a new and exciting Malay-Muslim narrative of nation-building and global coexistence. But again, I was disappointed when muftis are concerned only on petty issue and not about big ideas of nation-building, regenerating trust among the people, and championing the needy of all races, religions and sexual orientation.

The muftis won’t help in reforming the Malay mind and they keep well within their boundaries of rituals, modesty for women, alcohol consumption and pilgrimages.

They are incapable of taking the Malays and the Muslims into the future because most of the religious officials never left the past within their minds and spirit.

I now call upon Umno, ABIM, IKRAM and Amanah to pool their strengths and resources. None can play the hero because all are now “extras”!

The first act is to put up a working committee comprising of all members and have workshops on agreeing what kind of Melayu does Malaysia need going into the future — our future and the global one, too.

There needs to be a new interpretation of how recent and past history shapes the new narrative and how this narrative now proposes policies to the benefit of all Malaysians.

A series of Kongres Melayu Baru can be held to replace the Kongres Maruah Melayu that was too narrow-minded and self-serving only to one group and one ex-PM.

The committee must also suggest plans for social media content to bombard the Malays with these new values and inclusive narrative.

The Madani model can be part of the new Malay narrative, but it must not be seen solely coming from Anwar.

The idea of the new Malay must have ownership by the four groups that would form the major push against the dangerous politics of PAS and Bersatu.

Let PAS and Bersatu shout pendatang, this haram and that haram, or who is kafir and who is munafik.

Let their shouts and ranting be drowned by the new narrative of a dynamic, confident and worldly Melayu rooted in the progressive idealism of Islam as taught by the Prophet Muhammad, not by Hadi Awang.

I do not see this country moving anywhere positive and with any concrete narrative until these four Malay entities decide to change it.

Even though this country belongs to all Malaysians, ultimately it is still the values, perspectives and narrative of the Malay that will carry the bigger weight.

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