“An election that solved nothing?”

THE 15th General Elections (GE15) are over. The results are out. But the drama continues as the nation faces a hung parliament.

With no single coalition in the race having a clear majority, the two major coalitions, namely Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN), will have to negotiate with Barisan Nasional (BN) and the Borneo bloc, which consists of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), to form a unity federal government.

The question is: which party will BN, GPS and GRS want to work with at the federal level?

All three are kingmakers at the moment. All three can make demands to either PH or PN.

While there is a higher probability that GPS and GRS will want to work with PN, then they will also have to accept that PAS will have a very significant say in the coalition.

Historically, the Borneo parties never favoured PAS due to their different takes on religious matters.

On the other hand, the Borneo bloc never really favored PH due to the presence of the DAP and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim himself.

Having said that, let’s now look at BN. They could easily join forces with PH and form the federal government without the help of the two Borneo coalitions.

But will the DAP be willing to be part of them as a government? And what about the mantra of BN, i.e. “no DAP, no Anwar”?

Above that, can the rakyat and PH supporters accept BN, which has been heavily bombarded on corruption issues?

The irony of it all

The irony is that eventually BN is and could be the ultimate kingmaker and decide the fate of both PN and PH.

Nevertheless, at the current moment, there is a higher possibility of BN working with PN as they would also like to do the same to form the state governments of Perak and Pahang. But what will be the trade-off?

It is very unfortunate that both PN and PH are caught between a rock and a hard place. And that is not all.

With such play in place, the next burning question is: will a grand unity federal government last no matter which coalition is formed?

While the anti-hopping law bars an individual MP from jumping political parties, there is nothing to stop for an entire party to switch alliances.

The entire nation could well be walking on a tightrope once again sooner than later.

In a nutshell, this election has not really solved the core problem: instability. Sad to say, but the truth is always bitter. This GE15 has solved nothing actually.

We could all have another round of a fragile federal government waiting to implode on our faces. – Nov 20, 2022

Narinder Pal Singh is the communications chief for Warisan’s Selangor and Kuala Lumpur chapters.