THE dominant Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) in Sarawak's ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition seems to be going from strength to strength.
Its position in GPS is unassailable. In fact, it is a coalition only in name, as PBB could even govern Sarawak alone if it so chooses.
The other three GPS parties — Sarawak United People's Party, Parti Rakyat Sarawak and Progressive Democratic Party — give GPS an overwhelming super-majority in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly.
But even the combined strength of the three parties cannot deny PBB a simple majority.
So although the three lesser parties provide PBB with a veneer of political inclusivity, they are not indispensable to PBB's grip on Sarawak's politics.
Still, keeping GPS together can be challenging, especially come election time and when seat allocations become contentious.
But with GPS roughly midway through its five-year term, squabbles over seats have not boiled over. And in any case, PBB calls the shots, and all the other parties will have to accept the decision.
Real trouble can come only from within PBB, and the reason for the party's exceedingly good run thus far is its remarkable internal cohesion over the five decades of its existence, since 1973.
How the party manages leadership transitions is a good barometer of its cohesiveness and PBB has executed this with finesse.
The only threat came in 1981 when the late Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud took over the PBB presidency from his late uncle, Tun Abdul Rahman Ya'kub.
It led to a split in the party serious enough that it nearly lost its ruling majority in a state election triggered by the dissension.
PBB learned from that serious internal threat, and when Taib ended his leadership of the party after more than three decades, his control was such that all the contenders pledged to abide by his decision as to who would succeed him.
Taib was to continue playing a possibly decisive behind-the-scenes role in deciding who took over when his anointed successor, Tan Sri Adenan Satem, died in 2017.
The next big test will come for PBB when Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg, who took over from Adenan, decides to call it a day.
PBB elections will be held early next year and it is almost a given that Abang Johari will be endorsed for another term unchallenged.
Already, deputy president Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas has announced that the party branch he heads will propose that Abang Johari be retained for president.
Uggah also commended the smooth leadership transition in his branch as reflecting "PBB's tradition of ensuring seamless power transitions".
Abang Johari will thus most likely lead his party and GPS into the next state election.
But given that he is 74, will he step down after the next state polls to allow his successor time to lead before seeking his own electoral mandate?
The jockeying for party positions below the presidency and deputy presidencies next year may give an indication of who Abang Johari's successor will be.
As Uggah has said, anything less than a highly choreographed positioning next year may be interpreted as not reflecting "party traditions".
PBB's real test, as always, will come from within and not through state elections, the results of which are foregone so long as its internal cohesion holds.
The writer views developments in the nation, region and the wider world from his vantage point in Kuching