COMMENT | Many Malaysians fear the upcoming hung Parliament because, since 1959, we have had 14 single coalition simple majority governments. It is simply the fear of the unknown. 

However, if the rules of the game are sorted out, hung Parliament may offer what Malaysia need – the way out from ethnoreligious politics and patronage politics. 

How so? Once political elites come to accept hung Parliament as a given, and post-election coalition governments become the new norm, serious political parties may be forced to master and balance two calculations in their game:...