No such thing as kingmakers anymore

Looks like PAS overplayed its hands in Perak.

When two big parties have almost an equal number of seats, the small party with just a handful of seats can play the role of kingmaker. Both big parties will court the small party to join forces in order to get a simple majority. This allows that small kingmaker party to demand all kinds of concessions.

This is exactly what PAS and Jeffrey Kitinggan of STAR tried to do in Perak and Sabah respectively.

In Perak, BN had 27 seats while Pakatan had 29. PAS had only three -- but enough to make it a potential kingmaker. If it were to join hands with BN, that coalition's number goes up to 30 which gives it a simple majority. But of course it could join Pakatan too and allow that coalition to have the simple majority. Which way would it go?

At first PAS laid out its conditions, chief of which was that it would not abandon its pursuit of hudud law. There's no way Pakatan could accept that. UMNO, in its desperation, might do so though. After all, what can MCA, MIC and Gerakan do to object, right?

Then Hadi Awang mooted an unusual solution which is a unity government involving all state reps, meaning there would be no opposition. But there would be conditions attached. Such a unity government must be led by a Muslim and the cabinet must have a Muslim majority.

As it turns out, it looks like PAS overplayed its hands. Apparently, Pakatan will be able to form the state government without PAS as two BN lawmakers have jumped ship. We'll find out if this is indeed true by tonight.

In Sabah, with BN and the Warisan-lead coalition (aligned to Pakatan) having 29 seats each, Jeffrey Kitingan's Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) looked to be the kingmaker. Indeed, he was appointed Deputy Chief Minister after he threw his lot with BN. Smart move, right?

Not so fast. Apparently six BN lawmakers have switched sides, giving Warisan 35 seats. If all goes smoothly, Warisan's President Shafie Apdal will be sworn in as the new chief minister tonight.

The era of kingmakers is over in Malaysia. In a situation where Pakatan has so much momentum going for it, it is not difficult for it to get reps from the other side to jump ship. Nobody wants to be left behind in a sinking ship. Everyone wants to be with the winner. The situation in Perak and Sabah shows just how true that is.