Kuala Lampur, Aug. 14 -- The growing tensions involving PAS, Bersatu and Wawasan should not be regarded merely as another episode of coalition disagreement.

They expose a potentially deeper weakness in Malaysian democracy: the possibility that political competition under a First-Past-the-Post electoral system can increasingly be displaced by lawfare.

Lawfare, properly understood, is not simply litigation. Political parties and their members have every right to seek judicial remedies when constitutions, agreements or laws are allegedly violated. Courts remain indispensable guardians of legality.

The problem begins when legal action becomes an extension of political competition itself.

This is precisely why the increasingly complicated ...