IN THE next few days, Malaysia will see its ninth prime minister sworn in. In a few days or maybe even weeks later, a whole new cabinet will be sworn in too. They will have a good "honeymoon" because during this period, the pandemic will subside – it has to, given our world-beating vaccination rate and the number of people already infected.
Then, the new government will do the business as usual of governing the country. Will they prove materially different to past governments? Or will they be substantially just as frustrating for the rakyat? If so, Malaysians will turn to GE15 and hope it will bring us the good government we desperately need. But what are the chances of that, given the electoral system is substantially the same (even with the possible addition of the 18- to 20-year-olds)? What are the chances that we end up roughly back where we are today?