Key Takeaways:
PAS is no longer just a northern opposition party: largest federal bloc since GE2022, runs Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, and with a BN–PN pact just took Negeri Sembilan (August 2026). The article asks what foreign policy would look like if PAS led Putrajaya—not only hudud at home.
Outlook still starts with 1980s ulama politics (Brotherhood + Iran as models; Darul Islam / Ahdi / Harbi; no Israel; Palestine first). In office (PN 2020–22) that mixed with statecraft: Hadi as Middle East envoy (Qatar, Taliban talks; critics called it ceremonial and Brotherhood-tinged); the Lajnah still slams Abraham Accords but Hadi still met the UAE ambassador. Faith frames the world; practice can split from doctrine.
State governments show “development diplomacy.” Terengganu’s Ahmad Samsuri courts Korea (hydrogen, rare earths), Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong (ECRL, Kemaman Port); Kedah’s Sanusi pitches China on Kulim airport. The author’s bet: a PAS federal government would sound more Islamist than Anwar’s Malaysia but keep China, ASEAN, Gulf and even non-Muslim neighbours for investment—rhetoric shifts more than the trade map. Risk is delivery and competitiveness, not only ideology.
In Malaysia, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia’s (PAS) electoral performance has gained momentum since the 1990s. Since the 2022 General Election, it has held the largest number of seats in the federal parliament. It now also controls three states: Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. Rather than viewing PAS as a regional party,[1] policymakers both within and outside Malaysia are beginning to prepare for the possibility of a PAS-led, or at least PAS-dominated, federal government. PAS was part of the federal government in two instances in the past: in Barisan Nasional (BN, 1974-1977) and Perikatan Nasional (PN, 2020-2022), but as a minor party in the coalitions. Currently, there is an electoral pact between BN and PN, which successfully defeated Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the August 2026 Negeri Sembilan state election, thereby forming the new state government. Consequently, it is no longer merely an academic exercise to ask what policy direction Malaysia might take in the eventuality of PAS forming the federal government.[2]