COMMENT In the last few days, the public has had the clearest indicators yet that the Najib Razak administration is in dire need of a new electoral mandate. Otherwise it would continue its slide into incoherence.

A stutter was perceptible virtually from the start of the administration, now nearly two years old, when, as the prime minister shaped to liberalise a sector, his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin, would enter caveats, aimed at restraining the liberal thrust of the PM's moves.

Of course, the spin from both parties was that there were no deep divergences on policy; only minor differences in emphasis and nuance...