COMMENT The intricate nexus between the worlds of business and politics has been an age-old tradition in Malaysia.

Crony capitalism, a term to describe the intertwined relationship among business, politicians and the state, where individuals in the private sector benefit by obtaining licences, concessions, government subsidies, other forms of protection from governments and appointments to key state-owned enterprises through their close relationship with politicians and bureaucrats.

The main questions to ask in the event of a regime change are: Will it really ever be possible to extricate one from the other, given the context where this is an assumed norm? Second, how would a new government go about making these drastic changes?