Pan-Malaysian Islamic Front


The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Front is a political party in Malaysia.

History

The party was founded in 1977 by the then Chief Minister of Kelantan, Mohamed Nasir, under the persuasion and endorsement of United Malays National Organisation who were dissatisfied with the demands made by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party. These demands included internal squabbles for the lump share in controlling the state of Kelantan, and pressure from UMNO soon led to PAS withdrawing from Barisan Nasional. In the following 1978 general election, the split cost the PAS a huge number of votes in Kelantan: among the 36 state seats in Kelantan, UMNO won twenty three, BERJASA won eleven, to set up the Kelantan state coalition government while PAS won only two as opposition.
BERJASA subsequently joined BN, but support for BERJASA quickly dissolved and only managed to win four seats in the subsequent 1982 general election. BERJASA stayed out of the 1986 general election as it had pulled out from BN in protest of the admission of another new splinter party of PAS, Parti Hizbul Muslimin Malaysia into BN. In 1989, it joined Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah opposition parties coalition under the leadership of Parti Melayu Semangat 46. It managed to win one seats in the 1990 general election but failed to retain it in 1995 general election. APU alliance was subsequently dissolved in 1996 after Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah decided to dissolve it and rejoin UMNO. Since then, BERJASA only maintained minimal participation in the political fray, as evidenced from their participation in subsequent general elections.
In the 2013 general elections, the NGO leaders of Malaysian Muslim Solidarity or in Malay: Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia ; had contested and all had lost as candidates under the ticket of BERJASA.
BERJASA received a facelift in 2016 when the party joined Gagasan Sejahtera, a coalition of opposition parties led by the PAS. In the 2018 general elections, BERJASA contested in three parliamentary seats, namely in Cameron Highlands, Selayang and Tanjung Piai. It also contested in the state seats of Sungai Manik and Batu Kurau. The party failed to win any of the seats, with all of their candidates losing their deposits.
In the 2019 Tanjung Piai by-election, BERJASA president, Prof Dato' Dr Badrulhisham Abdul Aziz contested for the seat but only obtained 850 votes to finish forth, in the six-cornered fight for the parliamentary seat.