The Malaysian Insight

PAS should use their own logo in Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan as the “moon” logo is synonymous with the Islamist party rather than the Perikatan Nasional (PN) logo, analysts said.

PAS won only one seat out of the many it contested in the Malacca and Johor elections recently.

“This is because PAS’ traditional voters are familiar with the moon, as opposed to the Perikatan Nasional logo,” Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Dr Mazlan Ali told The Malaysian Insight.

He noted that the party contested under the PN logo in the Malacca (8 seats) and Johor (15) polls, yet only won one out of 23 seats contested. 

“But Malacca and Johor are not PAS strongholds, so it will be interesting to see how they will fare in the Malay belt,” said the political science lecturer. 

Mazlan was commenting on party spiritual leader Hashim Jasin’s suggestion that PAS should use its own logo in the upcoming general election. 

But party president Abdul Hadi Awang dismissed Hashim’s proposal as his own “personal opinion”.

“That’s just his personal opinion. For now, we are still using the Perikatan logo,” the long-time leader said in Marang on Friday.

Mazlan said there are reasons for PAS to stick with the Perikatan logo.

“While they may stand to benefit more in their strongholds, PAS also needs to show solidarity with Bersatu and Perikatan after deciding not to work with Umno in Muafakat Nasional.”

PAS currently helms the state governments in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu with all their federal seats coming from the three states. 

In Kelantan, the party has nine parliament seats followed by five in Terengganu and three in Kedah. In the state assemblies, PAS has 36 out of 45 in Kelantan, 23 out of 33 in Terengganu and 15 out of 36 in Kedah. 

Split in PAS

However, Universiti Malaya’s Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said that a difference of opinions is the cause of the continued split in the party.

“Before this issue, the party was split between working with Umno or Bersatu. Although Hadi’s pro-Bersatu faction won in the end, Hashim was closer to Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali who wanted to work with Umno,” said the Malay ethnic studies lecturer. 

The Kuala Nerus MP quit PAS in March after he was sidelined by the PAS leadership for preferring to cooperate with Umno. 

As such, it is unsurprising to see the more conservative side of PAS preferring their moon symbol to Perikatan’s logo, said Awang Azman. 

But while Hadi is showing solidarity with Perikatan, using a new logo among conservative voters could prove to be challenging, said the political analyst. 

“It’s risky as PAS could lose support in these states that only recognise Barisan Nasional’s ‘dacing’ logo and the PAS moon symbol. 

“While PAS has made some gains by using the Perikatan logo in Malacca and Johor, they stand to lose more if their voters are confused by the change of logos.

“And if they lose to Umno in these states, their reputation as the main Islamist party in the country will come under pressure.” – June 27, 2022.