Question Over Forming New Malaysian Government, Dominates Social Media

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- The development in Malaysia's political situation continues to be the focus of netizens with many speculating about the formation of a new federal government to govern the country. The chats of those who follow the matter closely, especially on social media, led to the conundrum of coalitions among political parties that will rule the country for the next five years. Today's social media platforms are flooded with the keywords 'PH-BN', 'Anwar', 'Zahid', 'DSAI' and 'Seri Pacific' which are trending on Twitter following the meeting of several leaders of Pakatan Harapan (PH or Alliance of Hope) and Barisan Nasional (BN or National Front) here Monday. Some netizens also started suggesting new coalition names for the two coalitions, including 'Pakatan Nasional' and 'Harapan National', as well as creating a new flag for the coalition. Malaysian King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah had ordered all leaders of political parties and coalitions of political parties that won a large number of seats in the 15th general election (GE15), to inform Istana Negara about party coalition, and name the agreed prime minister candidate to form a new government, before 2 pm Tuesday. GE15, the most intense general election in the country ended in a hung parliament with no party obtaining a simple majority to form a new federal government. In GE15 on Saturday, PH won 82 seats, Perikatan Nasional (73), BN (30), and other parties namely Gabungan Parti Sarawak (22), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (six), Parti Warisan (three) and one seat each from Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) and Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) apart from two independent candidates who won. -- BERNAMA