Leaning on the politics of fear

Issa Rae as President of Barbieland, surrounded by other Barbies, in a scene from 'Barbie' the movie. The columnist sees a similar dissonance between what we say and what we mean, and what people think we mean, in the movie and the recent state elections in Malaysia. — Warner Bros Pictures/Tribune News Service

The first couple of weeks in August 2023 saw some interesting conversations in my WhatsApp neighbourhood group, ahead of the elections in six Peninsular Malaysian states on Aug 12.

The incumbent representative of my state, despite having won five years ago with nearly 90% of the vote, was being questioned by residents. They believed we needed to show him that we could change our vote.