“And how easy it is to recognise the revenant shapes that the old unchanging enemies - racism, leader worship, superstition - assume when they reappear amongst us (often bodyguarded by their new apologists.)”

- Christopher Hitchens, ‘Arguably: Selected Essays’

I realise that I am in the minority when I write on subjects like this, but I guess that is just the nature of oppositional politics in this country. I am in total disagreement with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on the issue of non-Muslims/Malay never wanting to be prime minister. While I have no idea of the accuracy of various polls - complete voodoo, if you ask me - I realise that many Malays will never accept a non-Malay prime minister.

But if you accept this premise, then you have to accept the premise that non-Malays will never truly be citizens in this country. You have to accept that what we will have are non-Malay powerbrokers working with Malay potentates having some control of the direction of this country, but this will always be a weapon that will be used against non-Malays when the hegemonic interests of Malay power structures are under threat. This applies to not only BN but also Pakatan Harapan, or whatever it is called.

If you accept this premise, you may also believe that whatever change happens, it will probably be better than what Umno offers and may even “save” this country. This kind of thinking is in itself a kind of self-imposed apartheid and I suppose is a pragmatic strategy when dealing with a racist hegemon, but is ultimately morally and intellectually untenable.

It is also a self-fulfilling prophesy so long as non-Malays are not treated as equal citizens -

1) When we do not have opposition parties demanding equal treatment.

2) When we do not have Malays standing in support of non-Malays with regard to egalitarianism, the paradigm will not shift and the best we could hope for is that things will not get worse, and the reality that we are second-class citizens - and will always be second-class citizens - trumps any kind of paradigm-shifting principles.

“Equality” is unfortunately an all or nothing proposition and while there will always be systemic unbalances that needs to be addressed, there should always be equality before the law and a constitution that recognises such imperatives.

I realise that many opposition supporters do not subscribe to my views on this subject, but ultimately when we pick through the wreckage of this country, historians will realise that we never really had a chance because we never really had a committed civil rights movement to stem the tide of racial and religious supremacy.

I asked emeritus professor Shad Saleem Faruqi what he thought of PAS’ proposal and this is his reply - “I don’t support the PAS proposal even though it is known that some countries like Lebanon prescribe that the president shall belong to one religious community and the PM to another. My objection is based on the following grounds: ...