Malaysians are so used to the ethnic divide that they don't know about the class divide.

What they call 'Karen culture' is the same bourgeois principles that stretch back to the 19th century. Class-conscious middle class households that believe in self-improvement (sometimes forgetting that many of the poor can't uplift themselves without assistance), that call for MPs to listen to their interests because they pay taxes, with a focus on education and professional jobs.

Malaysians (and more specifically malays) are becoming more aware of thus because more malays are becoming legitimately middle class (whether they're t20 or m40 etc). And in a way it's a good thing - I don't think you can have a proper democracy until ethnic politics shift to more conventional class politics.