KUALA LUMPUR, June 6 — Like the rest of his colleagues in the ruling government, Fahmi Fadzil has had to hit the ground running.

Still, it feels kind of surreal to him that he is now PKR’s Lembah Pantai MP — a seat he won running in his first general election — and that Pakatan Harapan is no longer an Opposition coalition.

The PKR communications director said the party which had always pushed for "reformasi” (reformation) is now getting to grips with being part of the ruling government.

"Unlike Selangor and Penang, where we have had stints as a ruling government, for me personally, attending a lot of these formal events is still quite new and strange… a little bit ‘kekok’ (awkward).

"But I think we are slowly getting into the groove as being part of the ruling party,” he told Malay Mail.

Fahmi spoke about a recent event at the Pusat Perubatan Universiti Malaya (PPUM) to hand over a mock cheque.

"That was so weird. Who would have thought I would be handing over mock cheques?

"It has been quite interesting and exciting… there have been a lot of changes just in terms of our access to government services as well and the agencies have been co-operative,” he said.

Fahmi said he is looking forward to attending Parliament as an MP, as well as to see parliamentary reforms, such as more select committees that can engage with the public, stakeholders, and experts on issues at hand.

He said such discussions can bring about broad and deeper conversations and enable a more democratic process for legislations.

"Going to Parliament this time as an MP will be very exciting. I know a lot of the parliament staff were previously partly praying, partly joking ‘oh nanti datang balik dah jadi YB’ (oh, next time you will be coming back as an MP),” he said.

Fahmi said he hopes to see a strong representation from the Opposition, the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

He said it important for the former ruling party to embrace their position as the Opposition.

"I would like to see the Opposition leader not only be respected by the members of the House, but to also play a prominent role in Parliament,” he said.

"We have offered before the role of Opposition leaders in Selangor and Penang, but I don’t think at that time the state Opposition were prepared to carry that burden… now I think they have no choice,” he said.

Fahmi said the next five years will be the most exciting adventure in Malaysia’s democracy adding that Pakatan Harapan has only one shot to get it right.

On his busy schedule, Fahmi joked, "I don’t think my hair greyed that much more, but it will get more grey after this.”