PRU15: the (long) aftermath

Today would be the 4th day since PRU15 and we still don't have a federal govt yet.

Heard an interview with an economist on the radio otw to work yesterday who said that the hung parliament situation is a sign of Malaysian democracy maturing. I'm not sure if our political scientists would agree, but I do.

From my quick checking, hung parliaments oftentimes produce minority governments, which means the ruling party doesn't command more than 50% of the number of seats in parliament. Which given the pickle that we Malaysians are currently in, begs the question, why should we must have a coalition of parties commanding 112 seats?

PH is the single largest party that won the election with 82 seats, compared to PN with 73, BN 30, GPS 23, GRS 8, etc. BN has made it clear they won't join any coalition for now. GPS has so far "left it to HM King's wisdom". Therefore, PH should have the priority to form the government as it currently commands the most number of seats. Which begs another question, why does Istana need to call up all the BN MPs? In fact, why even invite statutory declarations from parties to nominate their choices for PM? Why not call for a dedicated parliament sitting to test the confidence for all the PM candidates? It certainly should have been done.

There are at least 7 countries worldwide that currently have a minority government. Canada, Spain, Sweden, to name a few. The govts are able to conduct business without major issues. We as another adopter of the Westminster system should take note from this. The govt can still present bills in parliament and parlay with the opposition MPs for support. This might be better since Govt will have to ensure the bills are good enough to be accepted by all the people's reps.

At this point, I wonder if the situation is intentionally being dragged out. It does make for a good opportunity for some people to flex their powers and maybe even fit in their own agenda. Sure, it makes sense to take this as an opportunity to prove they remain relevant and influential in the modern times.

But it does not make sense to still not have a federal govt 4 days after the election, while the economy takes the toll from the instability that the election that was supposed to restore stability has caused.