GE13 WATCH As the 13th general election draws near, opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat faces its toughest challenge yet: can it truly cement its makeshift alliance into a unified pact, or fall to pieces like the wings of Icarus of the Greek legend, as egos and self-interest tear at its seams?

Icarus was the son of Athenian craftsman Daedalus, both of whom were imprisoned by King Minos on Crete, to keep safe the secrets of his Labyrinth that Daedalus built.

However, wily Daedalus constructed two pairs of artificial wings so that he and his son could fly to freedom.

However, giddy with his first experience of flight, Icarus fell to his death when his makeshift wings, made of wooden sinews, plucked feathers and sticky wax, fell apart as he soared too close to the hot sun. The solar heat melted the wax that held the contraption together.

Similarly, Pakatan's sudden flight in Malaysian politics may yet see itself dashed unto the ground, if better judgement is not exercised and fundamental differences among the coalition members not wisely addressed...