COMMENT Outgoing PKR deputy president Syed Husin Ali is not the first to rubbish the idea of a 'third force' in Malaysian politics. He won’t be the last either.

Why does it matter how many forces emerge in a democracy? The fact that there are many versions of what a Third Force should constitute is beside the point. In fact, it comes across as a plus point in the need for the democratisation of Malaysia. The trend since independence has been towards over-centralisation and the emergence of a unitary state in Malaysia. This is the very antithesis of a federation.

The argument that the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom took many decades to emerge as a Third Force doesn’t quite hold water. There has been a similar reference to the United States. The implication, self-serving, is that the idea of a Third Force would not work in Malaysia.

Those against the Third Force have so far been drawn mainly from PKR who see it as an assault on the party’s support base across both sides of the South China Sea. For the same reason, the ruling BN has been silent on the issue, seeing it as generally sowing further division in the opposition ranks - PKR in particular - and to its benefit.

The truth, as usual, is somewhere in between...