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Iman Muttaqin Yusof

Malaysia’s Johor election has opened a new front in the country’s long-running racial politics, after former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and Islamist party PAS urged voters to put “Malay-Muslim political power” ahead of party loyalty in one of the country’s most closely watched state polls.
The southern state, which borders Singapore and sits at the centre of Malaysia’s cross-border growth plans, is also a stronghold for the United Malays National Organisation.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that Umno leads holds 40 of the state’s 56 seats after a landslide victory in 2022. Yet this time the terrain is less certain. BN is battling Pakatan Harapan (PH) in every seat despite sharing power with it in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s federal unity government, while Perikatan Nasional (PN) is contesting just 33.
Into that ambiguity has stepped Mahathir, still shaping the national conversation aged 100. In an open letter, he urged Malays to back Malay candidates regardless of party or affiliation.
Vote for Malay candidates without loyalty to any party or NGO faction
Mahathir Mohamad, ex-Malaysian prime minister
“If we want this country to remain Tanah Melayu, vote for Malay candidates without loyalty to any party or NGO faction,” Mahathir wrote in the letter published on social media on Tuesday, using the Malay term historically associated with the Malay peninsula.
He added that Malay loyalty should be to the Malay race rather than political parties, warning that if such loyalty was given to parties, “Tanah Melayu will be lost”.
PAS has adopted a similar line, campaigning to “protect Johor” while telling voters not to support Anwar’s PH coalition even in seats where the fight is effectively between PH and BN, a stance that could benefit Umno where PN is not contesting.
‘Testing ground’
Analysts told This Week in Asia that Johor was emerging as a “testing ground” for cross-party Malay-Muslim electoral alignment.
Kamles Kumar, associate director at Asia Group Advisors, said signals from Mahathir, PAS and elements within BN suggested a shift in which ethnic political identity might begin to override coalition lines.
“This is not just campaign noise,” he said. “Johor is being used as a testing ground for whether a broader Malay-Muslim electoral understanding can operate across party boundaries.”
Mahathir asking voters to look past party labels, PAS saying stopping PH mattered more than a PN victory and BN openly “flirting with cooperation with PAS” all pointed to a sidelining of party loyalties, he said.

“Loyalty is becoming secondary to a broader objective of securing Malay-Muslim political control,” Kamles said.
In such a scenario, he said BN stood to benefit most in closely contested Malay-majority seats, particularly where PAS voters were decisive and PN was absent.
PN is fielding 33 candidates, including 16 from Bersatu, 11 from PAS, five from the Malaysian Indian People’s Party and one from Mahathir’s Homeland Fighter’s Party (Pejuang).
At the same time, Kamles said PAS’ positioning revealed strains within PN, which still includes both PAS and Bersatu despite the former previously deciding to end political cooperation with the latter.
Kamles said PAS was giving itself room to manoeuvre “for the future of PN or any coalition”.
“By framing this election about Malay-Muslim political power, PAS is positioning itself as the coalition’s main actor instead of operating as Bersatu’s partner,” he added.

Analysts say the country’s major political coalitions are showing internal contradictions, with alliances at federal level diverging from state-level contests.
“There is the unity coalition at the federal level, and on the other hand, the parties in that coalition are battling one another in state elections,” said Norshahril Saat, a political scientist and principal fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
“Similarly, PN is also fractious at this point, with the national narrative claiming that PAS and Bersatu have broken ties, yet the two parties manage to divide their seats in Johor.”
Exploiting ethnic sentiment was nothing new in Malaysian politics, Norshahril said, adding that the greatest test of the tactic would come for Umno, which “is trying to delink itself from criticisms of collaboration with the DAP”.

The Chinese-majority DAP, or Democratic Action Party, is a key component of Anwar’s PH and a frequent target of conservative Malay campaigning.
Johor’s demographics further complicate the picture. With a population of about 4.2 million, the state has a majority of bumiputra – the official category covering Malays and indigenous groups – alongside sizeable Chinese and Indian communities, and an economy spanning rural heartlands, industrial zones and Singapore-linked districts.
Because of this, some voters say national race-based messaging does not always resonate locally.
At the end of the day, voters respond to delivery, not rhetoric
Ahmad Syahmi, 26, Johor voter
Ahmad Syahmi, a 26-year-old voter from Johor Jaya, said local issues often mattered more in state elections than sweeping ethnic rhetoric.
“Local issues, governance and development tend to matter more than broad ethnic or political narratives,” he said, adding that high levels of trust in Johor Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, who is Malaysia’s current king, and the sultan’s son Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Ibrahim make it more likely to judge politicians by their delivery rather than slogans.
“Calls from one side to vote strictly along communal and racial lines, combined with scare tactics from the other side, completely miss the mark on how ordinary Johoreans actually see this election,” Ahmad said.
“At the end of the day, voters respond to delivery, not rhetoric,” he added. “A plan without execution is a hallucination.”


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Malaysia

Mahathir and PAS demand Malay unity in Malaysia’s Johor poll

A combination photograph shows Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad (left) and PAS chief Abdul Hadi Awang overlaid with a transparent Malaysian flag. Photos: Reuters, AFP 

Supporters of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) wave flags during a rally in Kedah in 2012. Photo: AFP

Anwar Ibrahim speaks to Pakatan Harapan supporters during an election campaign in 2022, before he was elected prime minister. Photo: AP

A DAP candidate meets supporters while campaigning at a farmers’ market in Kulai, Malaysia’s Johor state, on Wednesday. Photo: Facebook/dapjohor.my

Malaysia’s fight for Malay votes becomes a multiparty scrum

Malaysian voters show their fingers dipped in ink after voting in the last general election in 2022. Photo: Bernama/dpa

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang (centre) waves in Malaysia’s Terengganu state during the last general election in 2022. Photo: Malaysia’s Department of Information/AFP

The launch of Parti Wawasan Negara in Tanah Merah on Saturday, featuring Hamzah Zainudin (front row, centre left) and Abdul Hadi Awang (front row, centre right). Photo: Facebook/halim.hussin.5

PAS supporters display party flags before Malaysia’s last general election in 2022. Photo: Shutterstock

Malaysia’s Johor election campaign begins as federal allies clash

Pakatan Harapan supporters (left) and Barisan Nasional supporters (right) fly the flags of their respective coalitions during Johor state election nomination day in Malaysia on Saturday. Photos: Facebook

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, also chairman of Pakatan Harapan, with Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, president of Umno. Photo: Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia / Handout

Vehicles travel across the causeway (left) linking Malaysia’s southern state of Johor to Singapore. Photo: AFP

Former education minister Maszlee Malik is contesting Puteri Wangsa in a five-cornered fight. Photo: Facebook

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The state election is serving as a testing ground for a cross-party Malay alliance, threatening traditional coalition loyalties


The state election is serving as a testing ground for a cross-party Malay alliance, threatening traditional coalition loyalties.


Mahathir and PAS demand Malay unity in Malaysia’s Johor poll

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The state election is serving as a testing ground for a cross-party Malay alliance, threatening traditional coalition loyalties

The state election is serving as a testing ground for a cross-party Malay alliance, threatening traditional coalition loyalties