Kuala Lampur, July 28 -- Politics is often driven by electoral expediency. For lack of a better phrase, Malaysia has become accustomed to political promiscuity. Alliances are made, broken, revived and rebranded with remarkable frequency.

With at least ten Malay-based political parties competing for the same electorate, coalition-building has become less a matter of principle than of arithmetic.

Yet once political actors discover an electoral formula that appears to work, they rarely abandon it voluntarily.

Following their cooperation in Johor, Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) are attempting another experiment in Negeri Sembilan. Should it succeed again, the temptation to reproduce the formula in Melaka and eventually i...