PAKATAN Harapan’s real test will come after the honeymoon period, with most of the challenges requiring wide-ranging reforms that may test the integrity of a loosely bound coalition, said an economist. 

Detractors will also try to exploit their differences and play up sensitivities, said Jayant Menon, lead economist at the Asian Development Bank office for regional economic integration.

“To be effective, PH needs to demonstrate the required leadership,” he told the forum Challenges for the Next Phase of Malaysia’s Development, at Sunway University in Subang Jaya, today. 

“But to be realistic, this coalition and (the components’) co-existence is based on convenience.The main bond is is that they opposed Barisan Nasional for various reasons. The experience in other countries is that the real test occurs after the so-called honeymoon period.” 

Jayant said early signs of conflict were the inter-component disgruntlement over the cabinet line-up.

“But that was resolved quickly. However, vested interests and detractors will try and exploit differences and play up sensitivities,” he said.

Jayant quoted former Umno MP Tawfik Ismail calling the purge of government link companies (GLCs) chiefs as the PH government going  “one step too far”, and said that using Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng as the “hatchet man” was turning the cull into a racial issue. 

Jayant said although Malays were clearly the majority, the dismantling of the affirmative action programme could paradoxically see them beneficiaries in the long run. 

“These gains to the majority will take place mainly at the expense of a small minority of political patrons and cronies – of all races.”  

Ultimately, how effective a leadership PH was boiled down to how it resolved differences across party platforms, he said.

“In the Sri Lanka 2015 election, the ruling government toppled unexpectedly as well. However the coalition with so much promise looks they will now lose the election because of the difficulties in running the government.

“And the Arab Spring, governments were replaced often with coalitions that made for strange bedfellows. Look at them now. Look at the Middle East today. 

“We have to be realistic about the challenges and not think that changing the government is the solution to all our problems. It’s just the start of the challenge,” he said. – July 11, 2018.