Has Perikatan hoisted the MATGA flag? — Phar Kim Beng
AUGUST 19 — There is no political organisation in Malaysia officially known as MATGA. Nor has Perikatan Nasional (...
On August 19, a writer raised an uncomfortable question regarding the direction of Malay-Muslim unity in Malaysia. While Malay political cooperation is not inherently objectionable, the discourse has begun to shift towards what can be described as MATGA – Malays All Together Against All. This shift occurs when Malay unity no longer means cooperation among Malays and instead requires the identification of an adversary.
The danger arises when Malay-Muslim political unity is built on perceived enemies, rather than focusing on inclusive nation-building across Malaysia's diverse federation.
The writer questions Perikatan Nasional (PN) and PAS, such as Hadi Awang-led PAS, about their portrayal of DAP as its antithesis and the portrayal of political cooperation with multiracial parties as compromising Malay interests. Malaysia's constitutional structure, including the position of Islam, Malay rulers, Malay language, and the special position of Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, makes it difficult to sustain extreme versions of this argument.
The emerging cooperation among PN, PAS, and Barisan Negara (BN) contains another contradiction, as Malay unity can sound impressive when electoral numbers are aggregated, but it is not political cohesion or a nation-building program.
As Malay-Muslim unity becomes more brittle due to seat negotiations, leadership, candidacies, state executive positions, and the premiership become crucial elements to consider. The slogan "Make America Great Again" bears a similar resemblance to MATGA, both being political slogans that can become empty without a serious programme of nation-building.
Without nation-building elements, what exactly is being "made great"? In the case of Malaysia, winning Malay-majority constituencies across parts of Peninsular Malaysia is not synonymous with governing Malaysia successfully. Instead, the focus should be on improving investment, creating high-quality employment, public transport, water security, housing pressures, modernising state administration, and providing young Malaysians compelling reasons to build their futures at home.
Written by urgent.news from Malay Mail's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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