“PR needs to formalise its coalition”

By Shanon Shah (The Nut Graph)

PETALING JAYA, 25 June 2009: Pakatan Rakyat needs to, among others, form a shadow cabinet in order for Malaysia to start having a two-party system, a political scientist said.

Monash University Sunway Campus's Prof Dr James Chin said Pakatan Rakyat (PR) had to first formalise itself as a coalition before talk about Malaysia having a two-party system could be realised.

"In addition to this, a two-party or two-coalition system requires two equal, competing coalitions which are roughly of the same setup," he said in a phone interview.

Chin noted that as a coalition, the PR was not yet of equal strength to Barisan Nasional (BN) and questioned whether the opposition could even be regarded as a coalition at this juncture.

"They are more like three people driving in the same car, and are unclear even about who the driver is," he said, adding that conversely, the BN was a coalition with a very clear driver in Umno.

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