PAS (Islamic Studies)

Introduction

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), was formed in 1951 when members of the religious bureau of the United Malays National Organization, UMNO, broke away from the main party. Today, it is the second largest political party in Malaysia, where ethnic Malay-Muslims—its main support base—constitute more than 50 percent of the population and where most political parties continue to be organized along ethnic lines. Since its formation, PAS has centered its political struggle on its objective to emphasize Islamic principles and values to governance and politics in Malaysia. Because of its promotion of adherence to Islamic law and strictures, PAS has often been described as a proponent of the Islamic state. Periodic declarations of intent by party leaders to that effect further reinforce such perceptions even though, strictly speaking, the Islamic state is not mentioned in the party constitution. Despite the involvement of party members and former members in acts of political violence on several occasions, PAS itself has eschewed militancy and extremism since its formation, and it has been fully committed to achieving its political objectives through the mainstream electoral process. Prior to 1999 the popularity and influence of PAS was mostly confined to the northern states on the Malaysian Peninsula such as Kelantan, Terengganu, and Kedah, where its agenda of a more Islamic form of governance with an emphasis on Sharia and social welfare resonated with many within these Malay-Muslim majority states. In 1999, however, the party’s complexion changed, as did its fortunes. PAS capitalized on widespread Malay-Muslim unhappiness with the government’s treatment of popular former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and went on to win twenty-seven parliamentary seats, two state legislatures, and 15 percent of the popular vote in its best-ever electoral performance. It did so by downplaying its emphasis on Islamic law and instead campaigned on a platform of democratization, social justice, and welfare policies. At the 2008 election, PAS was part of an opposition coalition that managed to deny the incumbent its hitherto customary two-thirds parliamentary majority. Since that watershed election, PAS has continued working to transform its image from fundamentalist Islamists to that of conservative Muslim democrats as it seeks to further its appeal to Malaysia’s sizeable non-Muslim minority. It has done so by playing down the rhetoric of the Islamic state, supporting minority rights (including non-Muslim rights), and stressing a political agenda based on justice and welfare. Nevertheless, these attempts at transforming the party have not gone unchallenged. Notably, party conservatives have decried the dilution of the Islamist agenda in the quest for a higher national profile and footprint. This has given rise to acrimonious debates within the party over questions of political strategy and tactical objectives.

General Overviews

Growing scholarly interest in political Islam has been reflected in an increasing number of studies on PAS in recent years. The current literature has mostly taken the form of journal articles and book chapters focusing on the evolution of the party’s Islamist character and agenda in general as well as specific aspects of PAS’s engagement in politics in Malaysia, such as its model of local governance. Notwithstanding popular depictions of PAS in the media (especially Western media) as Islamist fundamentalists, the party’s political ideology and engagement strategies have in fact evolved over three broad phases, as mapped out in Noor 2003 and Liow 2004. The first phase of this evolution generally covered the first three decades of the party’s existence, when the party’s political agenda was primarily ethno-nationalist in orientation despite it having declared itself to be an Islamic party on its formation. PAS was officially formed prior to Malaysian independence, on 24 November 1951. Funston 1980 reminds us that PAS was initially a part of UMNO, which was established in 1946 by the traditional Malay nationalist movement in an attempt to unite an erstwhile disparate Malay-Muslim community in preparation for independence. Because of this, Ibrahim 1981 suggests that the party’s initial engagement in Malaysian politics was primarily driven by the objective of defending the interests of the Malay community. This was taking place against the backdrop of racial and ethnic tension, which became the definitive feature of Malaysian politics in the years following independence in 1957. Jaffarm 1980 and Mohamed 1991 note that under the leadership of Dr. Burhanuddin Al-Helmy during the 1960s, PAS had also toyed with socialist ideas, in no small part a result of Burhanuddin’s fascination with developments in Indonesia at the time. The second phase of PAS’s development was the introduction of clerical (ulama) rule in the early 1980s, a phenomenon mapped expertly by Noor 2003 with considerable detail. All studies on PAS have noted in particular the pivotal role that the Iranian Revolution played in this transformation. The introduction of ulama rule also heralded a period of escalating tensions between PAS and its main competitor for Malay-Muslim support, UMNO. As Noor 2003 and Hamid 2007 remind us, this competition spilled over into conflict and rivalry on several occasions in the 1980s, including allegations that PAS members were involved in political violence, the most prominent of which was the Memali incident where former PAS members were involved in a gunfight with government security officers. The third phase roughly accords with the emergence of reformers within PAS who sought to move the party away from its fundamentalist orientation toward a more inclusivist platform that focuses on democracy and social justice. According to Noor 2003 and Noor 2004, this movement was very much inspired by the late Fadzil Noor, himself a member of the ulama cohort that took over leadership of the party in the early 1980s.

Funston, N. J.. Malay Politics in Malaysia: A Study of the United Malays National Organisation and Party Islam. Kuala Lumpur: Heinemann Educational, 1980.
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This somewhat dated book is also not primarily a study on PAS per se. Nevertheless, it provides a highly illuminating account of Malay-Muslim politics that allows readers to locate today’s PAS in the historical context of Malay political activism upon which its identity (as Islamists) was built.
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Hamid, Ahmad Fauzi Abdul. Islam and Violence in Malaysia. RSIS Working Paper 123. Singapore: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 2007.
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A well-written working paper that discusses aspects of violence and militancy of Muslim groups, including groups whose members were also members or former members of PAS, in Malaysia.
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Ibrahim, Shafie. The Islamic Party of Malaysia: Its Formative Stages and Ideology. Kota Bahru, Malaysia: Nuawi bin Ismail, 1981.
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A useful reference book that traces the origins of PAS.
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Jaffarm, Kamarudin. Dr. Burhanuddin Al-Helmy: Politik Melayu dan Islam. Kuala Lumpur: Yayasan Anda, 1980.
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A compilation and study of the thought and speeches of one of the most influential PAS politicians in the party’s history by the former secretary-general of PAS.
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Liow, Joseph Chinyong. “Exigency or Expediency: Contextualising Political Islam and the PAS Challenge in Malaysian Politics.” Third World Quarterly 25.2 (March 2004): 359–372.
DOI: 10.1080/0143659042000174851Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Identifies several distinct periods in the evolution of PAS and argues that more often than not, the Islamist opposition party’s articulation of a religio-political discourse has been a response to their quest to enhance their legitimacy. It also argues that the empirical record shows a distinct correlation between the success of PAS at national polls and the downplaying of its Islamist agenda.
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Mohamed, Alias. Malaysia’s Islamic Opposition: Past, Present, and Future. Kuala Lumpur: Gateway, 1991.
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A useful overview of PAS’s political evolution and involvement in Malaysian politics, including a discussion of the escalation of its Islamist discourse after the advent of clerical rule in the early 1980s.
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Noor, Farish A. “Blood, Sweat, and Jihad: The Radicalization of the Political Discourse of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) from 1982 Onwards.” Contemporary Southeast Asia 25.2 (2003): 200–232.
DOI: 10.1355/CS25-2BSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Details how PAS’s discourse on Islam in Malaysia took a turn toward radicalism in the early and mid-1980s, leading to various confrontations with UMNO. Of specific interest is its analysis of the notorious kafir-mengafir (also known as takfir) exchanges that defined much of PAS-UMNO contestations during this period, where each party accused the other of being a kafir.
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Noor, Farish A. Islam Embedded: The Historical Development of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, PAS: 1951–2003. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Sociological Research Institute, 2004.
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The definitive study of PAS. Based on extensive use of primary resources and interviews, this book provides an in-depth analysis of PAS as it has evolved over five decades.
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Ideology, Strategy, and Objectives

Mutalib 1993 and Mohamed 1994 surmise that the core objective of PAS is the creation of Islamic governing structures and principles in Malaysia by elevating what the party perceives to be the purely symbolic status of Islam in the Malaysian constitution to a more substantive and operational plane. In its formative years, PAS advocated the creation of an Islamic state in only the most general of terms, failing to provide substantive detail to elements such as fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and Islamic law, Islamic economics, and religious education. Adam 1996 notes that in addition to the religious aspects of its agenda, strong emphasis was initially placed on what former PAS president Burhanuddin al-Helmy described as “Malay nationalism with Islamic ambitions.” Notwithstanding its overt Islamist agenda, Ibrahim 1981 and Funston 1980 (both cited under General Overviews) correctly underscore that in its early years, PAS was very much an ethno-nationalist party: Competing with UMNO for the Malay-majority vote, they bank on issues related to Malay rights and privileges. Indeed, it was only with the introduction of clerical leadership in 1982 that the call for an Islamic state intensified. Since then, as Stark 2003 and Liow 2011 point out, the issue of the Islamic state has framed internal debates even as segments of the party pursue a more pluralist and inclusivist social and political agenda. Nevertheless the party leadership has never been able to articulate a coherent, clearly defined agenda for political Islam beyond abstract calls for an Islamic state, nor is there a consensus among them as to what the latter constitutes. For Liow 2011, the party’s inability to resolve these internal differences has proven a considerable obstacle to its progress in Malaysian politics. Several scholars have detailed the events leading up to and immediately after the introduction of clerical rule in PAS, among others Mohamed 1994, Noor 2004 (cited under General Overviews), and Liow 2011. Despite the fact that the Islamic state is not enshrined in the PAS Constitution, the party continues to be identified as proponents of its establishment in Malaysia. This issue has given rise to extensive debate both within PAS and between PAS and various segments of Malaysian society, not least its non-Muslim political allies. In fact, Martinez 2001 notes that debates on the Islamic state have become an immensely controversial issue in Malaysia as a whole. A key concern regarding the implementation of the Islamic state in Malaysia is the introduction of hudud (the Islamic penal code), which is discussed at length in Ismail 2002. Mutalib 1993 provides a useful introduction to how PAS had engaged with the concept of the Islamic state in the first four decades of its existence, while Liew 2007 provides the most detailed exposition and analysis of the differences between two iterations of the Islamic state propounded by PAS.

Adam, Ramlah. Burhanuddin al-Helmy: Suatu Kemelut Politik. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1996.
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Provides an analysis of Burhanuddin al-Helmy’s political philosophy, which underpinned PAS ideology and strategy in the 1960s. Al-Helmy’s ideas remain very much a part of the PAS discourse, particularly among the reformists in the party.
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Ismail, Rose. Hudud in Malaysia: The Issues at Stake. Kuala Lumpur: SIS Forum, 2002.
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Explains the impact of hudud on Malaysian society by exploring legal dimensions of hudud implementation against the backdrop of the Malaysian Constitution. The book also carries in its annex the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (II) Bill 1993, which was formulated by the PAS state government in Kelantan.
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Liew, Chin Tong. “PAS Politics: Defining an Islamic State.” In Politics in Malaysia: The Malay Dimension. Edited by Edmund Terence Gomez, 107–137. London: Routledge, 2007.
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Discusses at length the internal debates within PAS over the party’s vision of Islamic governance in Malaysia, including the tensions over the memorandum and the Islamic state document. It remains the most extensive discussion on recent debates that have taken place within the party over the type of Islamic state leaders envisage for the country if the party comes to power.
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Liow, Joseph Chinyong. “Islamist Ambitions, Political Change, and the Price of Power: Recent Successes and Challenges for the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, PAS.” Journal of Islamic Studies 22.3 (2011): 374–403.
DOI: 10.1093/jis/etr030Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Traces the rise of reformists in PAS, and the recent internal debates and divisions that have spawned from their increased assertiveness in the party.
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Martinez, Patricia. “The Islamic State or the State of Islam in Malaysia.” Contemporary Southeast Asia 23.3 (2001): 474–503.
DOI: 10.1355/CS23-3ESave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Based on survey research and focused interviews, this article discusses popular perceptions and attitudes in Malaysia toward the issue of the Islamic state, which lies at the heart of PAS’s political agenda.
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Mohamed, Alias. PAS’ Platform: Development and Change, 1951–1986. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: Gateway, 1994.
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A useful, concise, and general overview of what PAS is, what it represents, and its goals and popularity among Malaysia’s Malay-Muslim community in the early years of the party’s existence.
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Mutalib, Hussin. Islam in Malaysia: From Revivalism to Islamic State? Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1993.
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Offers a general discussion about the place of Islam in contemporary Malaysia. It concludes with an interesting, albeit speculative, discussion of several scenarios through which an Islamic state might materialize in Malaysia. The book also provides verbatim transcriptions of the views of Malaysian political leaders with regard to the Islamic state issue.
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Stark, Jan. “The Islamic Debate in Malaysia: The Unfinished Project.” South East Asia Research 11.2 (July 2003): 173–201.
DOI: 10.5367/000000003101297188Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Locates the political posturing between UMNO and PAS on the Islamic state issue in the wider context of the role of Islam in Malaysian society, and the discursive tensions that arise out of the use of concepts of “conservative” and “modernist” against these parameters.
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Leadership and Party Structure

The best source on the leadership and party structure of PAS is the party’s constitution itself, as seen in Parti Islam Se-Malaysia 1977. In addition to regular party members, PAS comprises four main sections; namely, the Dewan Ulama (Ulama Council), Dewan Pemuda (Youth Wing), Dewan Muslimat (Women’s Wing), and Dewan Himpunan Penyokong PAS (PAS Supporters’ Congress). The highest decision-making body is the Majlis Shura. A Central Executive Committee comprising thirty-eight members, including the party president and deputy president, exercises oversight of the party. The party also has a spiritual advisor and deputy spiritual advisor. By all accounts, the current spiritual advisor of PAS, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, is arguably the most influential personality in the party today. While the party general assemblies, also known as “muktamar,” are known for spirited and vigorous debate, open contests for the senior leadership positions of party president and deputy president are rare. The most acrimonious case was in 1982, as Noor 2003 and Noor 2004 document. Nevertheless, as discussed in Liow 2003, Liow 2009, and Liow and Pasuni 2011, recent years have witnessed contests for the post of deputy presidency.

Liow, Joseph Chinyong. “The 49th PAS Congress: Politics behind the Rhetoric.” IDSS Commentaries 34 (September 2003).
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This brief commentary discusses the contest for deputy presidency in 2003. The contest, which proceeded despite attempts by senior party leaders to broker a consensus for change, saw the election of a “reformist” cleric into office.
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Liow, Joseph Chinyong. “More Complicated than Clerics versus Professionals.” Straits Times, 8 June 2009.
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An opinion piece that sheds light on the 2009 contest for the deputy presidency of the party. It argues that popular portrayals of the contest as one between clerics and professionals or reformists was a caricature of far more complicated dynamics at play in the posturing of the leadership of PAS.
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Liow, Joseph Chinyong, and Afif Pasuni. “PAS’s Reformist Agenda Gets a Big Boost.” Straits Times, 9 June 2011.
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This opinion piece discusses the politics behind the 2011 election of the first non-ulama to the party’s deputy presidency since the introduction of clerical rule in the early 1980s.
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Noor, Farish A. “The Localization of Islamist Discourse in the Tafsir of Tuan Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat, Murshid’ul Am of PAS.” In Malaysia: Islam, Society, and Politics. Edited by Virginia Hooker and Norani Othman, 195–235. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003.
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Explains Nik Aziz’s popularity by dissecting his discursive strategies, which accounts for his appeal among the rural electorate in Kelantan, his home state. Noor finds that much of this popularity is anchored on Nik Aziz’s ability to tailor political discourses that speak to the immediate needs, concerns, and interests of his local audiences.
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Noor, Farish A. Islam Embedded: The Historical Development of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, PAS: 1951–2003. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Sociological Research Institute, 2004.
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A comprehensive, two-volume study that provides detailed accounts of various leadership transitions, including the watershed and highly acrimonious assembly meeting in 1982 that witnessed the ouster of Asri Muda as president and his eventual replacement with Yusof Rawa, PAS’s first ulama president.
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Parti Islam Se-Malaysia. Perlembagaan Parti Islam SeMalaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Pejabat Agung PAS, 1977.
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The Constitution of PAS.
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Youth and Women’s Wings

Most of the available literature on PAS focuses attention on the main party or on leadership struggles. Considerably less is known about the youth and women’s wings, despite their increasingly instrumental role in mobilizing the party rank and file. Liow 2011 and Mueller 2012 provide insight as to how PAS has also put in place detailed education and mobilization processes geared toward producing committed party cadre. Compared other aspects of PAS’s ideology and politics, the role of women in the party has received significantly less scholarly and analytical treatment. Aside from Mohamad 2002, which provides important insights into the changing role of women in PAS, the best discussions of the impact of women in PAS have been limited to sections and excerpts of articles and book volumes, such as those found in Fealy and Hooker 2006 and Hwang 2010.

Fealy, Greg, and Virginia Hooker, eds. Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia: A Contemporary Sourcebook. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2006.
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An excellent collection of views on Islam’s role in politics, economics, and society in Southeast Asia from Islamic scholars, preachers, public personalities, and organizations. Contains several good excerpts on Malaysia and PAS, including the PAS Islamic State Document. Of interest, though, is the excerpt on the statement from the PAS women’s wing on the duty of Muslim women to vote on pp. 322–323.
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Hwang, Julie Chernov. “When Parties Swing: Islamist Parties and Institutional Moderation in Malaysia and Indonesia.” South East Asia Research 18.4 (December 2010): 635–674.
DOI: 10.5367/sear.2010.0016Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An illuminating comparative study of PAS and the PKS (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera or Prosperous Justice Party) in Indonesia. It argues that PAS (and PKS) have moderated both their strategy of political engagement and their ideology in order to enhance their appeal to a broader electorate. Of interest in this article is its discussion of women’s issues in PAS circles, found on pp. 665–668.
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Liow, Joseph Chinyong. “Creating Cadres: Mobilization, Activism, and the Youth Wing of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, PAS.” Pacific Affairs 84.4 (December 2011): 665–686.
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Focuses on the youth wing of PAS and its role in the social and political transformation within the party as a result of political successes and the rise of reformist elements. Also provides a useful discussion on how mobilization and cadreization take place within the party.
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Mohamad, Maznah. “Women in the UMNO and PAS Labyrinth.” In Risking Malaysia: Culture, Politics, and Identity. Edited by Maznah Mohamad and Soak Koon Wong, 112–138. Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Press, 2002.
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Discusses conceptions of women in the Malay-Muslim community in relation to women of other races as well as in the context of political discourse and trends toward Islamic conservatism in Malaysian society.
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Mueller, Dominik. “Islamism, Youth, and the Contestation of Normative Orders: A Study on the Youth Wing of the Islamic Party of Malaysia (Dewan Pemuda PAS).” PhD diss., Universitat Frankfurt, January 2012.
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The first book-length analysis of the youth wing of PAS in the English language. It discusses the evolution of the youth wing and its relationship with the main party and sheds light on how the struggle within the youth wing to balance reform and commitment to an Islamist agenda echoes larger challenges confronting the party.
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UMNO-PAS Islamization Race

One of the most popular themes in the study of PAS’s political engagement in Malaysia is what has come to be known as the UMNO-PAS “Islamization race.” Liow 2004 and Lee 2010 note that the Islamization race already took form in the 1970s, but it escalated significantly in the 1980s. During this period, the competition to be the exclusive legitimate Islamic political voice in the country quickly intensified, as demonstrated from frequent takfir (excommunication) episodes between the two parties. Ramanathan and Adnan 1988 suggests that the frequency of takfir, manifested in the fatwa issued by PAS leaders against UMNO members declaring them to be infidels, was a sign of a more aggressive and confrontational political strategy on the part of PAS. Hamid 2007 on the other hand argues that takfir between the two parties in fact began in the 1960s. Nevertheless, Hamid agrees that takfir incidents increased in the 1980s, which led to a stern response from the Malaysian government. Muzaffar 1986 delves deeper into the issue and notes that among the reasons for the intensification of takfir was PAS’s desire not only to erode UMNO’s Islamic legitimacy and credibility in the eyes of the Malay-Muslim population, but also to set the context for its agitation for an Islamic state. Nagata 1997 reinforces this by highlighting how UMNO was forced to respond to these challenges to its religious credentials by engaging in their own takfir attacks on PAS, while at the same time introducing more religious hues into its discourses and the policies it was rolling out as the incumbent federal government. According to Hassan 1987, the acrimonious climate of the 1980s as exemplified by the regularity of takfir was a major factor that drove Anwar Ibrahim to join UMNO instead of PAS. In the 1990s the Islamization race took a slightly different focus, where both UMNO and PAS were trying to shore up their Islamic reputation by banking on their own versions of the Islamic state. Lee 2010 argues that PAS took their 1999 general election victory as an affirmation of their Islamic state agenda but quickly realized its rejection after their 2004 general election loss vis-à-vis UMNO’s milder version, which is their Islam Hadhari brand. Liow 2009 is slightly more circumspect, and suggests that the leadership of PAS were in fact split in their interpretation of the 1999 and 2004 results and what the results implied for their Islamic state agenda.

Hamid, Ahmad Fauzi Abdul. Islam and Violence in Malaysia. RSIS Working Paper 123. Singapore: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 2007.
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Provides empirical examples of several takfir cases, particularly in the 1980s, including information of the first recorded incidence of takfir allegations made by PAS leaders.
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Hassan, Muhammad Kamal. “The Response of Muslim Youth Organizations to Political Change: HMI in Indonesia and ABIM in Malaysia.” In Islam and the Political Economy of Meaning: Comparative Studies of Muslim Discourse. Edited by William R. Roff, 180–196. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
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Discusses the impact of takfir in relation to Muslim youth movements such as ABIM, which was led by former deputy prime minister and later leader of the opposition, Anwar Ibrahim, from 1974 to 1982.
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Lee, Julian C. H. Islamization and Activism in Malaysia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010.
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A competent discussion of the increasing influence of Islam in Malaysia from the perspective of party politics as well as civil society activism.
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Liow, Joseph Chinyong. “Political Islam in Malaysia: Problematising Discourse and Practice in the UMNO-PAS ‘Islamisation Race.’” Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 42.2 (July 2004): 2184–2205.
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Probes the ratcheting up of the Islamist discourse by both UMNO and PAS from the 1980s to former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s declaration in 2000 that Malaysia was already an Islamic state. It argues that the escalation of this discursive Islamization race has had detrimental effects not just on the credibility of the participants (UMNO and PAS) but also on relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in Malaysia.
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Liow, Joseph Chinyong. Piety and Politics: Islamism in Contemporary Malaysia. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
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Contains a chapter discussing in detail the contours of the UMNO-PAS Islamization race and its effect of constricting discursive space in Malaysian politics. It also contains a chapter that analyzes the subject of reform in PAS and the emergence of the professional and/or reformist camp in the party.
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Muzaffar, Chandra. “Malaysia: Islamic Resurgence and the Question of Development.” Sojourn 1.1 (February 1986): 57–75.
DOI: 10.1355/SJ1-1DSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Primarily discusses the Islamic resurgence in Malaysia as it is expressed in the daily lives of Malay-Muslims toward an Islamic social order. It also provides a discussion of the institutional manifestations of the Islamic resurgence in the form of Islamic civil society movements and NGOs, as well as PAS and UMNO.
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Nagata, Judith. “Ethnonationalism versus Religious Transnationalism: Nation-Building and Islam in Malaysia.” The Muslim World 87.2 (1997): 129–150.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-1913.1997.tb03290.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A thoughtful article that discusses the link between ethnic and religious identities among the Malay-Muslim community in Malaysia, and how these tensions are played out in politics.
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Ramanathan, Sankaran, and Mohamed Hamdan Adnan. Malaysia’s 1986 General Election: The Urban–Rural Dichotomy. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1988.
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Discusses the results of the 1986 general election in depth, which proved to be PAS’s worst performance at a national election in its history. PAS only managed to win one parliamentary seat at the election, and the authors suggest that a reason for this was that the PAS strategy of discrediting UMNO through the exercise of takfir backfired.
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Unity Government

If takfir can be understood as a particular expression of UMNO-PAS relations against a specific historical, social, and political context, then the concept of UMNO-PAS unity, recently explored via the concept of the “unity government,” would represent another. Liow 2011 details the genesis of unity government talks between UMNO and PAS after the watershed March 2008 general elections. According to Ghazali, et al. 2011, the 2008 general election results effectively fueled the UMNO-PAS unity government exploratory talks because of growing concern in certain quarters of PAS for a perceived weakening of Malay-based parties and the increased popularity of non-Malay parties. Providing a different perspective, Sulaiman and Othman 2008 posits that the unity government idea was in fact UMNO’s strategy to retain political dominance given that they relied heavily on Malay-Muslim voters.

Ghazali, Amer Saifude, Mohammad Redzuan Othman, Zulkanain Abdul Rahman, and Rosmadi Fauzi. “Politik etnik Malaysia: Analisis pasca Pilihan Raya umum ke-12 mengenai sokongan bukan Melayu kepada UMNO dan PAS.” Geografia: Malaysian Journal of Society and Space 7.2 (2011): 18–27.
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A thoughtful discussion of non-Muslim views and responses to the 2008 political campaigns of UMNO and PAS.
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Liow, Joseph Chinyong. “Islamist Ambitions, Political Change, and the Price of Power: Recent Successes and Challenges for the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, PAS.” Journal of Islamic Studies 22.3 (September 2011): 374–403.
DOI: 10.1093/jis/etr030Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Provides details on the origins of and rationale behind the UMNO-PAS unity government talks. Also points out the tensions the exploratory talks caused for the leadership of PAS—tensions that threatened to split the party.
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Sulaiman, Nidzam, and Zaini Othman. “Politik Melayu: Antara muzakarah, mugabalah atau makinparah.” Paper presented at “Seminar Politik Malaysia, Kompleks Pentadbiran Kerajaan,” Sabah, Malaysia, 28–30 October 2008.
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A seminar paper written in the Malay language that maps out the twists and turns of UMNO-PAS exploratory talks on the matter of the unity government.
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PAS and Non-Muslims

An issue that has exercised PAS in recent years has been the matter of the party’s position toward non-Muslims. Despite the salience and importance of this issue, most studies on PAS only deal with it peripherally, preferring to focus on the theme of Malay or Muslim politics. There are, however, several studies that have explored the non-Muslim dimension of political Islam in Malaysia from several perspectives. Liow 2011 teases out aspects of the emergent Islamist discourse in Malaysian politics that have impinged on minority rights and freedom of worship for non-Muslims. Mutalib 2008 suggests that non-Muslims had supported UMNO’s more progressive “Islam Hadhari” concept over PAS’s Islamic state, although it is questionable whether this remains the case given the lack of progress on the government’s part to operationalize “Islam Hadhari” on one hand, and PAS’s innovative engagement of non-Muslims since 2008 on the other. Given the electoral success resulting from active engagement of non-Muslims, Badaruddin, et al. 2011 suggests that PAS is keen to continue on this current trajectory of taking a more moderate stand on issues while downplaying its Islamic state agenda. This new face of PAS that is proving to resonate with segments of Malaysia’s non-Muslim population has been outlined in the case of Terengganu in Tan 2002. While some may have accused PAS of merely engaging in rhetoric, there have been a number of issues that appear to substantiate this turn toward moderation and inclusivity. Liow 2011 suggests this in the author’s exploration of PAS’s handling of the controversial Allah issue, where senior PAS leaders criticized attempts to prohibit Christians from using the word “Allah” in reference to the God of the Bible. Meanwhile Chan 2010 discusses the party’s efforts to establish a formal non-Muslim wing within the party, known as the PAS Supporters’ Congress. Pasuni 2010, however, cautions that PAS’s attempts to appeal to the non-Muslim vote may well entail costs in the form of an erosion of support in its core Malay-Muslim base. This is particularly so given unresolved issues such as the place of hudud and the Islamic state in PAS’s long-term objectives, or the extent of voting rights for non-Muslim members of the newly minted PAS Supporters’ Congress.

Badaruddin, Shaharuddin, Mohammad Redzuan Othman, and Azami Zaharim. “Educating the Masses for the Middle Path: Strategy and the Political Action of the Islamic Base Political Parties Post Malaysia 12th General Election, 2008.” In Recent Researches in Educational Technologies: Proceedings. Edited by Nikos Mastorakis, 15–21. Corfu, Greece: WSEAS, 2011.
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This short chapter provides a useful discussion on the strategies of the Muslim-based parties to shore up their religious credentials during electoral politics.
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Chan, Wen Ling. “When Islamists Play by the Rules Yet Change the Game.” RSIS Commentaries 62 (2010).
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Argues that the new non-Muslim supporters’ wing is essentially an “experimental departure” from what the author suggests was PAS’s traditional race-based politics.
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Liow, Joseph Chinyong. “Islamist Ambitions, Political Change, and the Price of Power: Recent Successes and Challenges for the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, PAS.” Journal of Islamic Studies 22.3 (September 2011): 374–403.
DOI: 10.1093/jis/etr030Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Contains a section that illuminates the politics surrounding the Allah issue. In particular, it looks at internal party debates over the question of whether non-Muslims, and Christians in particular, should be permitted to use the term. The author identifies a split between leaders who supported the rights of non-Muslims to use the term and those who argued that Muslims had proprietary rights to the term.
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Mutalib, Hussin. Islam in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2008.
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This monograph presents a general survey of Islam in Southeast Asia. The discussion is broken down into chapters on individual countries.
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Pasuni, Afif. “PAS: Balancing Inclusion and Tradition.” RSIS Commentaries 63 (2010).
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This cautionary brief argues that PAS’s increasing attention toward non-Muslims may affect the party’s traditional Malay-Muslim base who might view these attempts as an erosion of the party’s Islamic identity.
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Tan Chee Beng. Chinese Minority in a Malay State: The Case of Terengganu in Malaysia. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2002.
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An important contribution to our understanding of how non-Muslims perceive the nature and manifestation of Malay-Muslim dominance in Malaysian politics and society. Based on ethnographic research using the case of Terengganu under a PAS government, the author argues that ethnic Chinese did not feel that their culture and identity were threatened under the PAS state government that ruled Terengganu from 1999 to 2004.
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Party Documents

As a political party, PAS has attempted to articulate and present its positions on some of the controversial issues highlighted above in a coherent fashion for public consumption. These efforts are detailed in Dewan Ulama PAS Pusat 1980 and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia 2003. Aside from the party’s constitution, these attempts have taken the form of publication of speeches on the part of party leaders, such as in Noor 2001, as well as of documents delineating party positions on matters such as the Islamic state and the importance of Islamic governance, as elaborated in three undated working papers, Kertas Kerja Dasar Negara Islam, Draf Memorandum Negara Islam, and Memorandum PAS kepada Rakyat Malaysia.

Dewan Ulama PAS Pusat. Islam dan Politik. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Ulama PAS Pusat, 1980.
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A resolute statement in defense of the relationship between Islam and politics from the clerics of PAS that essentially paved the way for the introduction of clerical rule in the party in 1982.
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Noor, Fadzil. “Penghayatah Pemerintahan Islam dalam Demokrasi Abad ke-21 Masehi.” In Fadzil Noor: Perjuangan dan pemikiran. By Fadzil Noor; edited by Kamarudin Jaffar. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Muslimat, 2001.
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A landmark speech by former party president Fadzil Noor; this speech was an early enlightened and cogent articulation of the party’s embrace of pluralism and democracy.
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Parti Islam Se-Malaysia. Draf Memorandum Negara Islam.
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The unpublished second version of PAS’s attempt to articulate its vision of an Islamic state.
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Parti Islam Se-Malaysia. Kertas Kerja Dasar Negara Islam.
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The unpublished first version of PAS’s attempt to articulate its vision of an Islamic state.
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Parti Islam Se-Malaysia. Manifesto: PAS Negeri Kelantan 1986. Kelantan, Malaysia: Perhubungan PAS Negeri Kelantan, 1986.
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This booklet is an example of PAS campaign literature. This one highlights details of the PAS campaign to regain Kelantan during the 1986 general election, at the height of takfir between UMNO and PAS.
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Parti Islam Se-Malaysia. Memorandum PAS kepada Rakyat Malaysia. 2002.
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The unpublished third version of PAS’s attempt to articulate its vision of Islamic governance. This version was presented by former party president, the late Fadzil Noor, at the annual assembly in 2002, and is noted for its reformist bent and discernible restraint on matters such as hudud.
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Parti Islam Se-Malaysia. The Islamic State Document. 2003.
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The final version of the Islamic state vision authored by clerics who took over the drafting of the document from the reformists after the demise of Fadzil Noor. It contained several references to hudud and Islamic law, and it was eventually heavily criticized not only by the Malaysian public but also by PAS’s coalition partners and reformists within the party.
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Malaysian Federalism

While PAS has never won national political power (save for a brief period between 1974 and 1977 when it joined the ruling National Front coalition), Malaysia’s federal system of government has allowed it to control the state legislatures of several states over the course of its history, even though, as Mokhtar 2002 rightly observes, jurisdiction over religious issues has proven particularly prickly for the federal government’s relations with state authorities. PAS has ruled the northern Malaysian state of Kelantan for a large part of Malaysia’s post-independence history. It formed the state government from 1959 to 1974. It managed to regain control of the state government after losing it to UMNO in 1978, and has held on to it since. Aside from Kelantan, PAS also controlled the Terengganu state legislature from 1959 to 1962. As Stark 2004 highlights, this allowed PAS to practice what it preached on Islamic governance at the level of local and state government. With the help of opposition allies, PAS has been part of the incumbent government in the states of Selangor and Kedah after March 2008. In order to have a better appreciation of PAS’s appeal at local levels, a better understanding of Malaysia’s federal system of government is required. In this regard, studies such as Kessler 1978 and Yusoff 2001 have been particularly helpful in illuminating the nature of politics in the PAS-ruled state of Kelantan, and the conflicts state authorities frequently have with the central government.

Kessler, Clive S. Islam and Politics in a Malay State, Kelantan, 1838–1969. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1978.
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The classic study of Kelantanese politics by an eminent scholar of Malaysia. Based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in the late 1960s, this book is an excellent treatise on the tension between traditional nobility and PAS in the state.
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Mokhtar, Khairil Azmin. “Federalism in Malaysia: A Constitutional Study of the Federal Institutions Established by the Federal Constitution of Malaysia and Their Relationships with the Traditional Institutions in the Constitution (with Special Reference to the Islamic Religious Power and Bureaucracy in the States).” PhD diss., Aberystwyth University, 2002.
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This dissertation is a detailed study on the origins and institutional manifestations of federalism in Malaysia. Its focus on the powers of the Islamic bureaucracy is particular helpful with respect to PAS and how the party has attempted to assert influence over matters of religious governance.
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Stark, Jan. “Constructing an Islamic Model in Two Malaysian States: PAS Rule in Kelantan and Terengganu.” Sojourn 19.1 (April 2004): 51–75.
DOI: 10.1355/SJ19-1CSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An excellent comparative study of the state government of PAS in Kelantan and Terengganu.
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Yusoff, Mohammad Agus. “The Politics of Malaysian Federalism: The Case of Kelantan.” Jebat 28 (2001): 1–24.
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Outlines the conflicts and tensions between the central government and the PAS state government in Kelantan from 1990 to 2000.