THE ouster of the Barisan Nasional coalition government in Malaysia was not only unexpected, it was also amazing. Even the winners could hardly believe that they had won, while the losers took an ungraciously long time to accept defeat. With probably the worst gerrymandering in history, the incumbents technically required only 16.5% of the vote to win, but still lost.
The new Pakatan Harapan coalition government faces many challenges but arguably the biggest is actually governing as a coalition. None of the constituent parties have ever been part of the federal government, although various members have, not least the returned prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.