COMMENT | Headlines over the past weeks have projected that change for the better will happen – and happen soon - despite emerging uncertainties in a coalition of former rivals.

That reminds me of former US president Barack Obama’s yes-we-can agenda. He began his presidency as a healer of a divided nation. He ended with an uncertain legacy. Today, race relations in the US are as depressing as they were 20 years ago.

As Obama wrote in ‘The Promised Land’, he often had to make painful compromises to appease every member of Congress. His vision for change was blocked at every turn. Making strategic compromises became routine.

Will Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, likewise, over-compromise to appease a coalition that...