Even the uneasy alliance between their parties, called the Barisan Alternative, to fight the general election of 1999 and its unsurprising end in 2001 did nothing to attenuate the relationship between Lim Guan Eng and Mohamad Sabu, whose inexorable rise within their parties’ hierarchy held the tantalising possibility that they would some day work together in government.

That possibility became real when DAP swept all 19 seats it contested in Penang in the March 2008 general election, catapulting Lim to the chief minister’s seat in Penang.

Although Sabu is a native Penangite - he was born in Tasek Gelugor - his stints in Parliament were served representing Kubang Kerian in Kelantan and Kuala Kedah...