COMMENT The past week ended with a bang, though not quite for many of us. Both political coalitions Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional celebrated their respective by-election wins in Rompin and Permatang Pauh.

An unexpected whistleblower opened up a Pandora's Box filled with dramas within the BN.

Well, for one, the by-election results of Rompin in Pahang and Permatang Pauh in Penang were widely expected by analysts. Not much of a surprise for Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s return to the Parliament.

The Rompin and Permatang Pauh by-elections ended without much drama, aside from the 'little' fights during the Permatang Pauh voting process.

Kak Wan’s comeback without much ‘fireworks’

Wan Azizah is finally back in the Parliament, after she last stepped aside as Permatang Pauh MP in 2008 to give way for Anwar's return into politics.

Next up, what will happen next for the future of Pakatan? DAP national adviser Lim Kit Siang has voiced his support for Wan Azizah to lead Pakatan as the Opposition Leader in Parliament.

What about PAS? It's all silence among its leaders.

Pakatan's future looks bleak, with internal bickering among the leaders. Who's taking the lead, after all?

Pieces of the puzzle will only be in place, possibly after the PAS leadership elections next month, to determine the future of Pakatan.

Just like Katy Perry’s hit song, ‘Firework’, Pakatan failed to catch its momentum among its supporters and in turn, BN leaders sat and watched the drama in 'awe, awe, awe'.

Looking ahead, after the by-elections, fellow Pakatan partner, PAS will face its first major task - the party elections.

Who will take the lead in PAS after June: Abdul Hadi Awang ( left ), Ahmad Awang or Husam Musa?

If PAS continues to take a more conservative approach, the Pakatan 'divorce' is likely to take place. Will DAP-PKR forge a new coalition with PasMa, the 'Erdogans' of PAS?

The 'ulama' in the Islamic party are getting stronger and stronger by day. The liberal leaders of PAS may face the risk of losing the ground support of the senior PAS members.

Only time will tell.

Umno's fist fight turns into a 'Wrecking Ball'

Months and months of calls from former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to his one-time protege and current Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to step down as the country's chief executive have fallen to deaf ears.

However, Mahathir continues to appear patient from his impatient pieces of chess game.

In his recent speech during the Malaysia Social Media Week, Mahathir took a swipe at Najib, dropping hints that Najib should step down.

Mahathir said, "Absolute power corrupts power absolutely." Was Mahathir telling that to Najib or was he referring to himself?

His 45-minute-long speech ruptured in thunderous support and cheers, similar to a hero's welcome.

The room was nonetheless filled with some Umno Youth leaders and they did not look too comfortable with Mahathir's sarcastic, open jabbing of their leader.

Troubles started to spew more fire into the woods, what with the Tabung Haji purchase of land from 1Malaysia Development Bhd at a very high rate raising outrage as well.

Things are needed to be done in order to clear the air.

One Umno leader started to speak up, leading to another, and then forcing Najib to come out of his rabbit's den.

Najib finally broke his silence, seen as a move to regain his support from the grassroots, by lambasting at Mahathir's impeccable salvo to pressure him to step down.

But his support continues to falter even further. Will Najib be able to hold firmly onto his golden seat?

Who will stand strongly behind Najib? Did East Malaysian BN leaders really threw their support behind Najib?

With the 1MDB fiasco continuing to plague Najib's opaque future, only he himself will be able to save his political stability from crumbling further.

NORMAN GOH is a member of Team Malaysiakini.