A brief history of the PAS-Umno love-hate relationship

Saturday 03 Oct 2026

Edge Weekly

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This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 27, 2026 - August 2, 2026

Umno was born in 1946 (in the grounds of the Johore palace) to fight for independence from the British. PAS was formed in 1951 fter a group of religious leaders (ulamas) left Umno.

PARTI Islam Se Malaysia (PAS) and the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) have been the two dominant Malay-Muslim political parties of modern Malaysia.

In fact, they are related to each other.

Umno was born in 1946 (in the grounds of the Johore palace) to fight for independence from the British. PAS was formed in 1951 after a group of religious leaders (ulamas) left Umno.

The split was because while the Umno leaders then were mostly British educated and Westernised in their lifestyle and view of the world, the ulama group wanted the party to be rooted in Islamic governance.

Ideologically, Umno is a Malay nationalist party, while PAS is an Islamic party.

The two were thus bitter rivals for Malay votes, with Umno dominating in the west coast states of Malaya, while PAS’ sphere of influence was in the conservative east coast belt of Kelantan and Terengganu.

The rivals first came together after the 1969 racial riots when the then prime minister and Umno leader Tun Abdul Razak proposed formation of a unity government under a new coalition called Barisan Nasional (BN) to replace the Alliance (Umno, MCA and MIC) that had been in power since independence in 1957.

Apart from PAS, another opposition party that joined BN was Gerakan, which took power in Penang in 1969. The other major opposition party, the DAP stayed out.

BN scored a landslide victory in the 1974 elections. While Umno led the federal government and PAS leaders joined the federal cabinet, PAS headed the Kelantan government.

But that first partnership between the two political rivals lasted only three years. In 1977 a political crisis erupted in Kelantan when PAS split into two.

When a vote of confidence was tabled to oust the PAS menteri besar (deemed aligned to and supported by Umno), the federal government imposed a state of emergency to stem rioting.

PAS was subsequently expelled from BN, while a new party led by ex-PAS leaders called Berjasa was admitted.

When a fresh state election was held in March 1978, the Umno/Berjasa led coalition swept to victory. There was only one catch: Berjasa leader and incumbent menteri besar Datuk Mohamad Nasir lost his job. The post went to Umno’s Datuk Mohamed Yaacob, while Nasir became a federal minister.

The end result of that was that over the next 20 years from 1978, Umno ruled Kelantan. While Berjasa itself eventually disappeared into oblivion as a political force, PAS remained relevant — but seething on the sidelines of power.

PAS only took back Kelantan in 1990. And after the sacking of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as deputy prime minister in 1998, PAS and the reformasi party of Anwar (PKR) aligned for many years until the 2018 general election (GE13) when BN/Umno was topped by the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition that included the new Bersatu party led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. In the 2018 election, PAS was not aligned with either PH or BN/Umno.

In 1999, PAS won Terengganu following Anwar’s sacking when many Malays turned against Umno. Tan Sri Haji Abdul Hadi Awang became Menteri Besar of Terengganu for the next four years until BN/Umno returned in March 2004 and controlled the state for 14 years until GE13 in 2018.

In February 2020, the PH government collapsed after a group of Bersatu MPs walked out to align with Umno and PAS in the infamous Sheraton Move.

But surprisingly, when the 15th general election (GE15) was held in November 2022, PAS and Umno contested against each other and PH. That three-cornered fight benefited PH most as it won 71 seats, while PAS won 43. Umno fared the worst with 26 seats.

Learning from that lesson, Umno and PAS have decided to cut a deal with each other to avoid three-cornered contests against PH in the upcoming Negeri Sembilan state elections on Aug 1.

But even if it works in their favour in Negeri Sembilan and in GE16, given their history of ups and downs with each other, how long will this renewed love affair between Umno and PAS last?

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