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Bridget Welsh is an Associate Professor in Political Science at Singapore Management University. She is committed to engagement, fostering mutual understanding and empowerment. Based in Southeast Asia, she is committed to changing the world one day at a time through her public engagement, teaching and research. (Source: Her Blog)

This morning, I came across her latest article posted in Today AT THIS LINK. True to the title of the post, Welsh maintains a positive outlook to the coalition and chose not to highlight the many issues at stake today. I am posting it just in case some of you might have missed it...

What's keeping Malaysia's Opposition together? Written by Bridget Welsh 

What keeps the Malaysian opposition Pakatan Rakyat (People's Alliance) together? The quick answer often given is the common search of political power.

While power frames the relationships between three disparate political parties - Islamist PAS, secular-committed Democratic Action Party and the umbrella reform-oriented PKR of Mr Anwar Ibrahim - it is not the glue of the opposition alliance. Were this the case, PAS would have left the coalition when UMNO floated the offer of joining the government in 2008 and intense jockeying took place within PAS.

The answer lies in the three parties' shared moral compact. Pakatan Rakyat is an alliance of profoundly different backgrounds, with secularists, theocrats, conservatives and progressives working together. In a world wracked with tensions over religion and misunderstandings, Malaysia's opposition stands out in bucking international trends of difference.

CORRUPTION IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Three common principles bind the Opposition together. The first is deep concern with endemic corruption.


CLICK HERE for the rest of the article.