In 1972, as an extension of Abdul Razak’s reshaping of the ruling coalition, Umno started to court PAS. It was part of an elaborate plan to render the country under a single gargantuan coalition rule - by expanding membership to all political parties with any support base.

At that point in history, PAS was in control of Kelantan. Although seemingly a regional party they were in solid shape, and this is why Umno courted them.

umno pas 180708 After much muzakarah as what is happening today, PAS acquiesced and became part of the new Barisan Nasional, along with PPP and Gerakan in 1974.

By 1978, PAS was out of the BN after an acrimonious split, lost Kelantan and had an Umno-inspired internal split in the form of Berjasa. They had to wait for 12 years to regain the state.

Is PAS once bitten, but never shy?

There are four elements to the present overture from Umno to PAS, the ideological consideration, the politico-historical past, experiences of other similar Islamic parties with splits and the realpolitik of working with Umno. Here we will look at the first two.

Is PAS an Islamic party or a Malay party?

I think any leader from the party attempting to answer the question is likely to meander over a few sentences as to cover all the bases and still end up not answering the question.

Article 160's definition of what is a Malay is broad and open to much interpretation. But what is most important is that though all Malays constitutionally need to be Muslim - which beggars the vast number of non-Muslim Indonesians - not all Muslims are Malays on the face of it.

There are multitudes who slip through the crack in Malaysia like Arabs, Indian Muslims and Southern Thais. However, there would be no contention in saying Bangladeshis, Chinese Muslims and Afghans are not Malays.

PAS wears both hats, and for them to move forward - irrespective of their ‘dangerous liaisons’ with Umno - they have to form some firmness of what is their ideological base. Are they are an Islamic party seeking a theocratic state or a modified theocratic state, or are they an Islamist- based party seeking a secular government which is driven by Islamic principles? Or are they just a Malay party which is more religious than Umno seeking the same support base, Malays?

But why would they have to define themselves now?

Ideological divide

They have cleverly avoided working directly with DAP in the lead-up to the 2008 election, using PKR as their intermediary. Without making direct negotiations with the outright secular party, they made it easier for the party to avoid the, "have you given up on the theocratic state"question.

The election is over, and the gains have been made. PAS has one seat in Kuala Lumpur, and two governments in partnership with DAP. They have to come to terms with that reality if they want to become leaders in their own right.

In the 1960s and 1970s, PAS was largely a Malay-centric party. It was the poorer cousins of Umno since they did not like the more western-centric inclinations of Tunku Abdul Rahman’s leadership. They ran a more xenophobic line and it worked to a tee for them.

In the aftermath of the 1978 elections they found themselves poorer in both wealth and political seats than the Umno brigade. Predictably, the party went in the way of the religious teachers. More Islam and less race. The PAS we know today is quite dissimilar to the one that ran Kelantan in their first spell.

Today they are more akin to being an Islamic party before being a Malay party. The Kelab Penyokong PAS is indicative of this effort to bring everyone closer to the ummah. Ex-Gerakan member Anuar Tan Abdullah over the years has become a lynchpin for the party.

The Arabisation of the party with a larger ratio of religious educated leaders, has rendered the party diametrically opposed to xenophobia and more in tune with a religious based party.

Everyone can be a PAS member if they are a Muslim. A political partnership with Umno will alter that status quo and stab a sharp projectile into its present identity.

Is PAS largely Malay populated, as an incidental causality of the nation’s demographics, or will it abandon its non-Malay Muslims for Malay unity with Umno, and bring itself closer to what it was three decades ago?

Umno has typically gone back and forth from being a Malay party to a Muslim party, but Umno is expected to be non-committal about what it really stands for. Is PAS willing to go down that path?

A checkered history

The second, the politico-historical experience.

PAS joined BN in 1974 in order to foster greater Malay unity, contribute to nation-building and be a force of change from within.

In the end PAS was just confused and in complete disarray.

Unlike Pakatan Rakyat, BN is a strict coalition with Umno ruling the roost. Umno likes to give a fair bit of latitude to both MCA and Gerakan when they are competing for the same pie like the chief ministership of Penang, but they are unlikely not to keep a close eye on PAS.

As Voltaire put it, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

PAS is a party that competes for the same voters as Umno.

This was the case in 1974. After the general election - the same year PAS joined BN - Abdul Razak appointed a menteri besar for Kelantan who was not the pick of the party leadership. Mohamed Nasir was the pick and his selection led to a series of disagreements in the way Kelantan was to be run.

This was despite PAS and Umno working so well in securing all the seats in Kelantan for the BN- with one seat for MCA. PAS held more seats, but Abdul Razak in typical fashion decided it is for Umno to decide who should be the menteri besar.

It is also key to remember that in the elections, a group of dissenting PAS members challenged the coalition candidates - and their former PAS comrades - under the umbrella of Barisan Bebas Bersatu (BBB). BN prevailed, but the seeds of discontent within PAS were already sown.

So soon after joining, PAS was facing factionalism within the party, which was conspicuously absent before. Abdul Razak’s choice of Nasir was a challenge to the power base of the party supremo Asri Muda. The party was in an awkward situation. They had Kelantan, but they got a menteri besar who was more in gratitude to Umno bosses than his party and regional bosses.

And Nasri had the thicker wallet and the state machinery, plus the confident backing of the federal government. The constant talk was of Nasri challenging Asri for the presidency which never materialised, but remained a large shadow over a previously harmonious party.

The whole relationship between PAS and Umno soured ceaselessly and climaxed with Emergency Rule. Using its Parliamentary majority, Umno put Kelantan under federal rule. Despite the matter being a quarrel inside Kelantan involving PAS and Umno, Prime Minister Hussein Onn went around state authority and used their Parliamentary power to oust PAS. Even the DAP were in support of the PAS government in their efforts to keep the state from Emergency rule.

BN and Umno trumped PAS again with a vote of 118 to 18

And here the further splits occurred as when PAS chose to abandon the cabinet, its deputy president Hassan Adli refused to and was sacked by the party. He remained as a minister under the Umno government.

The humiliation for PAS was complete when it lost the state it had governed for almost two decades - to Umno and a PAS splinter group Berjasa working together - reducing PAS to two assembly seats.