A real unity government

What PAS and Umno never explained

What is clear is that Umno is open to political strategies for staying in power, while PAS is open to political strategies for coming to power. The problem, then, is not just how these strategies converge, but why and in regards to what.

By Shannon Shah, The Nut Graph

WHEN the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) finally rejected forming any unity government with the Barisan Nasional (BN), it alleged that the idea was "a malicious and desperate attempt to compromise the integrity of the PR." The proponents of the idea from PAS and Umno, however, had earlier defended it as being in the interest of Muslim and Malay unity.

It was virtually impossible, however, to discern from the political rhetoric any analysis or critique of what a unity government actually is and what it is supposed to achieve. So, what exactly are the political parties not telling us?

"A unity government usually comes into being after some sort of national crisis, when for the sake of bringing the country back to its feet, political parties set aside their differences to work together," political scientist Dr Joseph Liow from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University tells The Nut Graph.

Liow also concurs in an e-mail interview that "[n]either Umno nor PAS nor anyone else has really attempted to define what a unity government in Malaysia would look like."

READ MORE HERE: http://www.thenutgraph.com/