DEFECTING LAWMAKERS ONLY OPPORTUNISTS, SAYS JAKARTA POST By Mohd Nasir Yusoff

JAKARTA, Sept 19 (Bernama) -- Indonesia's The Jakarta Post English daily,
commenting today on the political development in Malaysia, said the (possible)
act of lawmakers defecting from the ruling National Front (Barisan Nasional)
(BN) coalition to the opposition does not make them democracy's soldiers but
political opportunists.

Based on Indonesia's own painful experience, it said, a change of
allegiance at the elite level was not equivalent to a change in fundamental
beliefs toward the primacy of civil society.

Malaysian Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, advisor of People's Justice
Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) (PKR), has been claiming that he has the backing
of a sufficient number of BN defectors to give his People's Alliance (Pakatan
Rakyat) (PR) coalition a simple majority in parliament.

"We fear that what we are seeing in Malaysia is neither revolution nor
evolution, but is instead a potential transition from one power to
another.

"But Pakatan Rakyat too must show it is more than just a vehicle for
Anwar," it said.

The paper said the performance of Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib
Razak as minister of finance, a portfolio he assumed on
Wednesday, would gauge his acceptability as Malaysia's next leader.

Najib and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi exchanged Cabinet
portfolios -- finance and defence -- on Wednesday as part of the plan for
transition of power from Abdullah to Najib in June 2010.

The paper noted that "on the other end of the spectrum, the opposition
coalition of Pakatan Rakyat under Anwar has been big on headlines but lacking in
actual policy proposals".