COMMENT | Malaysian politics is a soap opera, but a very boring one. I don’t think people have stopped paying attention to what politicians are doing is not only because they are disillusioned by selfish pursuits of power, but also because they follow the same, boring script.

The tussle between Umno, Bersatu, and PAS now is almost identical to what we had gone through with Pakatan Harapan. The origins, stratagems, responses, methods, and supporting actors follow the same patterns.

The major theme for tussle is power and this is not shocking. But the origin of the struggle is from the fundamental imbalance of power in government.

There is almost a replication in Muhyiddin Yassin’s governing Bersatu with Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s governing Bersatu, where, in both instances, Bersatu takes up the prime minister and senior ministership positions even though they are not the largest party.

This has rarely happened in governments around the world because it offends the natural sense of fairness albeit it may be perfectly legal...