Kuala Lampur, Oct. 21 -- The crisis confronting Perikatan Nasional (PN) is no longer merely about the survival of an opposition coalition.

It concerns the credibility of political parties that continue to defend an increasingly untenable political arrangement.

Gerakan, the Malaysian Indian People's Party (MIPP) and the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), although occupying different positions in Malaysia's political landscape, face a common predicament. Why?

The temptation to deny the structural weaknesses of the political alliances they have supported or contemplated.

Five developments expose the magnitude of this predicament.

First, the reported delisting of PN represents a potentially devastating institutional failure.

A coaliti...