PAS Research Centre director Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad in his The Great Malaysian Paradox very eloquently captures the Malaysian conundrum - the respective fears of the Muslim/non-Muslim (Malay/non-Malay) are a guarantee of continued Umno hegemony for as far into the future as we can see.

Whilst Umno routinely deploys the tried and tested 'divide and rule' tactics, it is nonetheless very careful in projecting itself as the champion of its core constituents, the Malays of Peninsula Malaysia.

Never mind that its elite takes a huge bite of the cake - it throws enough crumbs to its followers to guarantee that enough of the mob can be counted on to display a show of force when necessary. (Whether it was for the Apcet II conference or whether the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall needed to be 'persuaded' to behave in a certain way).

This is 'realpolitik', Umno style. For all its detractors (the opposition, civil society, and now our voluble bloggers), it works for Umno, every time. If anyone has any doubt, just wait for the results of the next general election!

And one of the main reasons why it works every time is that come election time, enough of the non-Malay voters give it a big tick as well. Sure, Umno has done its homework in gerrymandering, but a very significant proportion of non-Malays will invariably give Umno/BN another endorsement.

An outsider would find it difficult to understand. When you (the non-Malays) have been at the losing end of the bumiputera/non-bumiputera tussle for as long as you can remember, why continue to be the loser? Why continue to vote for BN parties who are nothing more than the running dogs whose master, Umno, will always call the shots?

Part of the answer must lie in the idea that the non-Malays, for whatever reasons, do not feel that they can change the status quo, and do not feel they are empowered to do so. That to preserve peace and stability, and to show that they are not seditious or disloyal (Umno's subtle messages to them), they have to vote for BN.

Umno has also over the years demonstrated to the non-Malays the futility of having a DAP MP/assemblyman by turning off the tap for development ringgit.

If only the non-Malays can realise that they can in fact be king-makers. Even with the gerrymandering, and even with an effective block of 20% of the votes, non-Malays are the potential king-makers who seem destined, in the current trajectory, to become disenfranchised citizens.

The 'king-makers' could have dealt a serious blow to Umno in the 1999 elections, but predictably they instead saved Umno from the PAS/opposition threat.

As to how the non-Malays can play a real role, Dzulkifli has already hinted as much - there is no future in the Malaysian zero-sum game of communal rights and privileges.

As the people seriously running the risk of being totally disenfranchised, non-Malays must engage in a dialogue with their Malay fellow citizens. Megaphone diplomacy about a Malaysian Malaysia, about non-Malay rights (a la DAP) without addressing the vital needs and concerns of the Malay body politic will never work.

Non-Malays need to seriously understand that for them to win, they have to first ensure that the Malays also win. If they don't understand this fundamental point, they are not going to be successful. In simple terms, they need to persuade their Malay fellow citizens of a 'win-win' proposition.

In this respect, non-Malays have a fantastic opportunity to not only engage but to use the enormous prestige and influence of Anwar Ibrahim, to reach out to their fellow Malay citizens, including PAS voters, to sketch out an inclusive future for all Malaysians.

The onus is on the non-Malays, because they are the ones risking losing everything in the land of their birth.