INTRODUCTION

The watershed 14th general election in Malaysia resulted in the incumbent dominant Barisan Nasional (BN) falling for the first time in the country's history and power being taken over by the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH). Interestingly, the effects of this turn of events on state governments were direct: PH now controlled seven states, up from two states, BN-controlled states fell from ten to two, and PAS retained power in Kelantan and also regained the neighbouring East Coast state of Terengganu.

Although the PH lasted less than two years in power before political events at the end of February 2020 saw the Perikatan Nasional (PN) taking over on 1 March 2020, the short twenty-one-month period is worth studying more closely. This piece focuses on the relationship between the federal and state governments during that period by first examining the historical background, then moving to the commitments made in the PH manifesto, studying the new structures that the PH set up, and finally analysing how development and financial negotiations played out, seen through the lens of federally aligned state governments as well as opposition-led ones.

PH came to power on the back of a 203-page election manifesto. However, the coalition itself was made up of different parties with varying backgrounds and interests. PPBM in particular was an outlier: it was the newest party in the fold, and had no history of coalition governance with its partners. The other three parties, namely, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), had been doing exactly that for a decade in governing Selangor and Penang in the face of resistance from both UMNO and PAS.

The PH administration chose to retain existing institutions. This created duplication of functions and helped it to bypass opposition state governments. At the same time, it responded to the rising wave of devolutionary demands by setting up new institutions and mechanisms, which benefited both PH- and BN-run states. Ultimately, political expedience and power maintenance prevailed—in order to contain BN, and later Muafakat Nasional (MN), as well as to appease internal expectations of rewards through patronage and positions. These collectively left PH with a mixed record in federalism-related reforms, not least in providing equal constituency development funds (CDFs) to all members of parliament (MPs).