So, it has started. I expected it to happen but not so soon. The parties in Pakatan Harapan (PH) have already started fighting, even before the Cabinet can be sworn in. And in doing so, they have raised questions about whether they can administer the country properly.

Certainly, there will be differences when a disparate group of parties comes together to form a government. But when these differences spill into the open, and so soon after victory, it is sure to cause some concern, even alarm among those who voted them in.

I suspected something was amiss when I did not see PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail at the press conference called by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to announce the Cabinet line-up. Even PKR vice-president Tian Chua, who has been around at Mahathir’s recent press conferences, was not to be seen. However, Saifuddin Abdullah was there.

This suspicion was compounded by the fact that the press conference which was scheduled to begin at 1pm only got off more than two hours later. Mahathir was supposed to announce 10 ministerial appointments, but he only named three – PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin for Home, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng for Finance, and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu for Defence.

The prime minister said the other Cabinet positions would be announced in a week or, maybe two, as the four parties making up PH – PKR, DAP, PPBM, and Amanah – needed time to arrive at a consensus on the candidates for ministership. He hoped to keep the number of ministers to 25.

Mahathir told newsmen: “We can’t say abracadabra and everything happens. It takes time.”

That’s true.

Every party would want to have as many of its members in the Cabinet as possible. It would be natural for the party with the most parliamentarians – in this case PKR – to seek more representation.

DAP, too, would expect more seats than PPBM and Amanah as it has 42 parliamentarians compared with PPBM’s 13 and Amanah’s 11.

Apart from these parties, Mahathir would also have to give a seat or two to Parti Warisan Sabah, its partner in Sabah, which won eight parliamentary seats.

Given the dynamics of the situation, one has to expect and accept differences, even a little bickering, but when it bursts into public view, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

It was brought into the open by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli when he said, after Mahathir’s announcement, that PKR “assumes that the discussions are still underway and no final decision had been made – all decisions regarding any appointment must be agreed upon by all four parties in the Pakatan Harapan coalition”.

He said the decision was made without PKR’s participation, and that Mahathir had bulldozed it.

I can understand Rafizi’s frustration. His party has the highest number of seats among the component parties and conventional wisdom dictates it gets the most Cabinet positions, even the choice ministries.

Also, Rafizi, who is one of those responsible for the shift in Malay votes to PH in the recent general election, has always been outspoken about what he perceives to be an injustice.

In fact, by coming out openly to criticise Mahathir, he may have jeopardised his chances of being appointed, after he is cleared of his whistleblower case jail sentence, to the Cabinet or some other government post. But I suppose that is Rafizi.

The harm, however, has been done. PAS and the new opposition – Barisan Nasional – will be smiling, and waiting for more such internal conflicts which they can exploit to their advantage.

In fact, former prime minister Najib Razak, on May 7, in talking about the election, warned voters to expect uncertainty if PH won. He said: “There might be a serious divide within the opposition and it won’t be a stable government because they have been enemies with each other for decades.”

While this may be true to an extent, the previous PH governments in Penang and Selangor had shown that despite their differences, they were able to work well together. The fact that the PH was returned with powerful majorities, improving on the number of seats it had won in the 2013 general election in both states, shows the people are happy with the performance of the PH governments.

It is also a fact that unlike the BN, which had ruled for 61 years and, therefore, was able to put in place a system to overcome disputes and had an understanding where the smaller partners went along with dominant partner Umno, the PH is a baby coalition.

They will have problems, especially in the first year. Mahathir had his way when he was prime minister and it may take time for him to adjust to becoming more accommodating; also DAP and PKR – with members like Rafizi – are not going to be docile like MCA and MIC in the BN. This means, we can expect some fireworks now and then.

In fact, more differences may surface once Anwar is released from prison, as he is a powerful personality. This may not be a bad thing, if the differences are over how to better serve the people.

It remains to be seen whether the parties in PH will be able to resolve the current problem over Cabinet posts fast, and how soon they will learn to work together for the long haul.

Those who voted them in will expect them to get their act in order so that they can begin fulfilling their pledges.

A Kathirasen is an executive editor at FMT.

The views of the writer do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.