COMMENT | No one will believe in Bersatu's non-Malay pivot

COMMENT | Azmin Ali and his gang of 10 MPs have finally joined Bersatu. At first, it was claimed that they were already part of Bersatu in February 2020. Before that, it was to form an independent bloc; then it was to take over Gerakan.

Azmin's biggest concern was to find a political party that could accommodate a few of his non-Malay MPs. This was not possible at Bersatu, a Malay nationalist party that has "Pribumi" in its name and the founding document.

Eventually, he settled anyway. Of course, at its national congress, Bersatu claimed that this was a new deal for the country; the party would set up a non-Malay wing. The idea was to have a Malay nationalist race-based party that has a multiracial division.

But this was neither novel nor convincing.

Many Malay-based parties have tried to appeal to the non-Malays by pursuing diversity as a by-the-way project. The basic narrative is that they are intent on protecting Malay rights and privileges, and by the way, pledging that other races...