EACH of the component parties within the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government are equals, without any party holding greater power over the others, said DAP strategist Liew Chin Tong.

Liew, who is the former Kluang MP, said there is bound to be differences among the parties but there is no dominant party in the coalition.

“This is a coalition of four parties for now, and most likely Warisan will be considered part of the bigger family.

“So, this is a coalition of at least five parties. There will be some differences and we will have to work out a mechanism,” he said in forum titled “Keeping the Promise of Reform” at Sunway University today. 

He also said the new government would be a “major departure” from a one-party state that the country had been used to, referring to the Umno-dominated Barisan Nasional.

 “This is something which is not necessarily bad for the country. There will be time for adjustment,” he added.

Bersatu’s Wan Saiful Wan Jan said Malaysians needed to adapt to how the new government is structured.

 “Within the Barisan Nasional structure, what you have is one big brother dictating as the supreme overlord of all the other parties, and that doesn’t exist in PH.

“We have a coalition of equals. When you have a coalition of equals, it does not matter how many seats you have, you are treated and expected to be treated as equals,” he said.

Also present as a panel member for the first session was Simpang Renggam MP, Dr Maszlee Malik.

BN who had been ruling the country for 61 years, managed to win only 79 Parliamentary seats while PH got 122 seats in the 14th general election. – May 14, 2018.