Islamist Government in Malaysia under PAS: Ideology, Policies, and Competition

Dominant approaches to understanding Islamist politics tend to assume a uniform polity. Most notably, inclusion–moderation hypotheses presume Islamist parties are simply in or out: that the lure of office persuades radical Islamist groups to moderate their behaviour and ideologies to participate in elections. We suggest a different dynamic, in which an Islamist party adapts its mien and messaging to appeal simultaneously to heterogeneous audiences, without compromising its core positions. We find an exemplary case in Malaysia, where Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, PAS) contests both nationally and at the state level. At the federal level, PAS seeks support within a multi-ethnic, multi-religious polity, working in coalition with either secular, noncommunal parties, for whom an adamantly Islamist stance would be verboten, or Malay-ethnonationalist parties, for whom Islam is salient, but secondary. Meanwhile, PAS competes subnationally in its northeastern stronghold, where its confirmed Islamism confers strong advantage – but also in other states, with different approaches. Yet, across these stages, PAS sustains its underlying ideological consistency, especially on fraught social issues. We explore the extent to which electoral participation amid differing incentives reveals more a moderating effect on Islamist-party behaviour and ideology, or a capacity for strategic posturing.