Is everything well with the four-party Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition that governs Sarawak?
There are now only two opposition seats out of 81 in the Sarawak assembly following the recent dissolution of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB).
Its members, including three assemblymen, were quickly absorbed into GPS component party, the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP). GPS, thus, ought to be at the zenith of its power.
But there was some disquiet within GPS when it was initially suggested by PSB and PDP that both parties would merge.
GPS then did not have any official position on either the merger or the absorption of PSB members into PDP.
The three PSB-turned-PDP assemblymen have become sore points within the coalition since they won the seats against GPS-endorsed candidates in the last state election.
GPS, as with other coalitions in the country, has a tried-and-tested formula on which of its partner parties contests which seat at election time.
It is customary for incumbent GPS assembly members to claim their seats as "belonging" to their parties.
The question confronting the coalition now is, who "owns" those three seats won under the PSB banner?
Did GPS leaders not see this dispute coming? Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg previously thought he had the luxury of postponing any discussion till the next election.
But PDP President Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing brought the subject forward when he questioned if there should be such a thing as "traditional" seats claimed by GPS partner parties.
Tiong has good reasons to play the disruptor of consensus coalition politics, since his party has everything to gain if the three seats won by PSB are now considered his party's seats.
His assertion that there should no longer be "traditional" seats belonging to GPS parties was rebutted by Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Hamzah, a senior leader in the dominant Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB).
Karim in effect said it would be "open season" for other GPS parties to contest the PDP seats if Tiong's assertion about no more "traditional" seats was accepted.
The political consensus that holds GPS together will be as good as dead.
There have been varied speculations and theories as to why all this has come to pass.
Why didn't the wise men and women leading GPS nip in the bud such coalition-disruptive antics of Tiong and PDP?
Was Tiong emboldened by subtle winks and nods from PBB whose dominance of GPS means the party's leaders largely call all the important political shots?
This theory would have been buttressed by Abang Johari, at the last state election, letting Tiong, who is Bintulu MP, to contest a state seat in Sibu, which was traditionally allocated to the Sarawak United People's Party.
Whatever the reason may be, this potentially coalition-busting dispute comes at a time when GPS and Sarawak seem to be trying to leverage their political strength in the ongoing devolution negotiations with Putrajaya.
Ironically, it was Karim who had earlier struck a conciliatory tone towards PDP's machinations to absorb PSB, suggesting that the move could strengthen GPS and ought to be welcome.
Meanwhile, Tiong has backpedalled over his "traditional" seats comment and even blamed the hype on the media.
Is it now checkmate for his political ambitions, which have been rising since he became PDP president largely by default and federal minister?
PDP, like its fellow GPS partner, Parti Rakyat Sarawak, are both offshoots from the implosion of the once-mighty Sarawak National Party, which in its heyday produced Sarawak's first chief minister and was the party of choice for aspiring Dayak politicians.
* The writer views developments in the nation, region and wider world from his vantage point in Kuching
