Friendships are mercurial in the political arena. They can be struck up easily, for reasons of convenience and expedience; and they can break off as easily, because of irruptions of differences - ideological or personal - changed allegiances, broken promises or even betrayals.

Only novices and knaves look for friendships to last in the political world. The rest enjoy the bond while it lasts and when it ends, carry on regardless, shrugging off the setback with the equivalent of what the French mean by their famously nonchalant saying, ‘C’est la vie’ (That’s life).  

The friendship between DAP’s Lim Guan Eng, the Penang chief minister, and Mohamad Sabu, the PAS orator, appears the sort that is not prey to the vicissitudes that would normally affect interpersonal relations among politicians.