The Malaysian Insight

CAPITALISING on the besieged Malay narrative, Umno will formally link with PAS a year after losing power and some 40 years after the first pact that formed Barisan Nasional (BN), said party leaders and experts.

The formal Umno-PAS alliance on Saturday is likely to see them offering the narrative of Malay-Muslim nationalism as an alternative to Pakatan Harapan’s new Malaysia agenda.

“In 1972, when PAS joined Umno to form Barisan Nasional, it was in response to the need for national reconciliation after the May 13 racial riots,” political scientist Dr Mazlan Ali of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) told The Malaysian Insight.

But this time, a “besieged Malay narrative” is being used after Umno lost federal power, he said, noting a similar widespread belief in 1969 that the position of Malays was threatened as Umno lost many seats in polls before May 13.

“The difference is that Umno lost political power to a coalition that includes Malay-Muslim parties, such as Bersatu and Amanah,” said Mazlan.

“So the cooperation in the 1970s was due to national interests but this time, it’s about political survival.”      

PAS joined Umno and its Alliance partners MCA and MIC to form BN in 1972 in the aftermath of the May 13 race riots. It left BN in 1978 after a falling out with Umno in Kelantan.

But PAS and Umno are now betting that their narrative – the supremacy of Malays and Islam is under threat and only they can restore these institutions – is the ticket to capturing federal power in the 15th general election due in three years.

Surveys from think-tanks, such as Institut Darul Ehsan, show that a PAS and Umno alliance would win them enough parliamentary seats to have a shot at winning federal power if snap elections are called.

Sources said both parties predict that if they can win between 90 and 100 federal seats, they will be able to convince enough independent Sabah and Sarawak parties to support their bid to form the federal government. 

United by Pakatan

PAS’ alliance with Umno was short-lived and fell apart in 1977 when the Islamist party left BN after it accused Umno of engineering a takeover of Kelantan, which it controlled.

But the alliance paid off for Umno and the BN as the coalition was able to win 135 out of 154 parliamentary seats when it contested the 1974 general election.

This was a huge improvement over the May 1969 election which saw Umno and the Perikatan parties of MCA and MIC losing their two-thirds majority. 

Since 1978, the two parties have battled it out in every general election to become the sole party that represents the country’s dominant ethnic community, the Malays.

But when Umno lost power in the 14th general election last year and became and an opposition party together with PAS, their leaders started banding together as a parliamentary opposition front against the PH government.

After working together and winning three by-elections in a row and because of the similarities of their ideologies, Umno and PAS decided to put their bitter past aside and team up once again.  

The two parties are expected to sign a charter spelling out their political cooperation on Saturday – two days before 56th Malaysia Day celebrations.

For Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, the circumstances now and before are the same.

“May 13 was sparked because of the inequality in the country and deep prejudice felt by Malays against the Chinese,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

“Now, leaders in Pakatan’s DAP are creating tension among the Malays with their irresponsible statements,” he said referring to PH’s Chinese-majority party.  

Asyraf blames ministers M. Kulasegaran and P. Waythamoorthy and Selangor DAP exco V. Ganabathirau for riling up Hindus in the Subang Jaya temple controversy. A riot at the temple led to the death of fireman Muhammad Adib Kassim.

The same belief was shared by leaders in PAS, such as Dr Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh, who was involved in high-level talks with Umno leaders over the new alliance.

“We are coming together in the interest of the nation and Islam. We need to heal our economy, our race relations because it is proven that Pakatan is unable to govern properly.”

Closer ties

But what is different now is that this sense of shared mission and drive are being felt by both the top leadership and ordinary members, said Asyraf and Zawawi.

“In the 1970s the cooperation was started by the leaders but this time it is being felt by all members,” said Zawawi, who is also Pasir Puteh MP.

Johor PAS grassroots leader Mohamad Ash’ari Sidon sees the camaraderie between these old political foes every time his Sri Gading division organises programmes.

“Umno people who used to pressure us are now coming to our events in droves. They don’t even wear the songkok any more, they all wear the kopiah (skull cap),” he said referring to the different Malay head dresses donned by Umno and PAS members.

PAS deputy youth chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari said more than half of the party’s members are under 40 years old and do not have any memory of the break-up in 1978.

“They don’t carry the bitterness or baggage of the past and are open to working together with Umno to defeat a bigger evil, which is DAP.”

According to Zawawi, negotiations to finalise the charter, which both parties are expected to sign on September 14, proceeded smoothly without any conflict.

“This time, the cooperation and political understanding is stronger and closer than in the 1970s. In the past, PAS was a small party, we had only a few representatives in BN. Umno was the head of BN at the time.”

Now, said Zawawi, the parties are on an equal footing – both are opposition parties and both control two state governments each. PAS governs Kelantan and Terengganu while BN heads Perlis and Pahang.  

“This is not about being racist or just defending Malays,” said Asyraf on fears towards the new pact.

“It’s about defending racial harmony by making Malays and Islam secure. Just like after 1969, the new BN ushered in a golden age in the 1980s and 1990s. This coalition will do the same once we defeat Pakatan.” – September 12, 2019.