Mohamad Hasan wants PAS to prove that Malay unity works both ways.

At the Umno general assembly, the deputy president challenged PAS to test its sincerity in one of the four SG4 states: Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah or Perlis.

PAS has already answered, and it answered with a question of its own.

Sanusi Nor, election director for PAS and for Perikatan Nasional (PN), said PAS’s sincerity did not need testing because Umno had not released a single state seat to PAS. Speaking to Berita Harian, he asked which Umno seats had already gone to PAS in Johor and Negeri Sembilan, or would go to PAS in Melaka. Free Malaysia Today reported the remarks on 14 September 2026.

Umno’s sincerity so far, he said, has been about defending what it holds, then fighting for seats it does not hold, including those won by Pakatan Harapan.

His complaint is narrower than it sounds. In Negeri Sembilan, BN contested 25 of the 36 seats and left 11 to PN, five of them to PAS. What BN did not hand over were seats Umno already held.

The map behind the argument is simple. BN governs Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Pahang. PN governs the four SG4 states, although in Perlis the menteri besar is Bersatu’s, not PAS’s. PAS cut its ties with Bersatu on 9 June 2026, and in the Negeri Sembilan election on 1 August the two fought each other head-to-head.

Across SG4 there are enough seats held by Bersatu, Wawasan and PH for PAS to make room for BN without giving up much of its own. The real question is whose seats PAS is willing to give away.

Kelantan costs PAS nothing

Kelantan has 45 seats. PAS holds 37, Bersatu four, Umno two, Wawasan one and Amanah one.

Umno holds Galas from 2023 and took Nenggiri from Bersatu in a by-election in August 2024. The easiest formula is for PAS to keep its 37 and let BN contest most of the six seats held by others, taking BN from two seats to as many as eight without PAS losing anything.

But this is room for BN, not a concession by PAS. Every seat on offer belongs to somebody else, and PAS keeps all 37 of its own.

Wawasan complicates it further.

Wawasan, formed in June 2026 by the faction around Hamzah Zainudin, already holds three SG4 seats taken across from Bersatu and will want more. PAS has to choose between feeding a small partner and buying a big agreement with Umno. A compromise could leave Wawasan two or three seats while BN takes the rest.

Kedah becomes tricky

Kedah has 36 seats: PAS holds 21, Bersatu nine, Wawasan two, PKR two, DAP one and Gerakan one.

Wawasan’s two came from Bersatu in 2026. That leaves a large bargaining pool without touching PAS seats. BN could take most of the Bersatu and PH seats, while Gerakan keeps its seat as PN’s non-Malay face, a claim MCA could also make under a BN-PAS deal.

Pejuang adds another complication. Kedah is where it would want seats, because Mukhriz Mahathir used to run the state.

We think Sanusi would want him in the state government. A former menteri besar with a national name makes it stronger, and Sanusi has the seats to offer one.

The result would not be an equal division. PAS protects its core, BN takes most of what is going, and Wawasan and Pejuang fight over the rest.

Terengganu also costs PAS nothing

PAS holds 27 of the 32 seats. Bersatu holds the other five.

For BN to get a real share, PAS would have to give up seats it won itself. It will not. As in Kelantan, the state is too much its own to trade, and the five seats it can point to belong to Bersatu.

So Terengganu looks like an answer and is not one. PAS keeps everything it holds and clears five seats it never held. If Umno wants a real offer, it should ask for Perlis.

Perlis is the real offer

Perlis has 15 seats. PAS holds six, Bersatu five and PKR one, and three seats are vacant.

The December 2025 crisis did that. Eight assemblymen withdrew support from the PAS menteri besar, Mohd Shukri Ramli, who resigned. Bersatu’s Abu Bakar Hamzah took the post on 28 December 2025. PAS then terminated the membership of the Chuping, Bintong and Guar Sanji members and declared their seats vacant.

Nine seats now sit outside PAS: five Bersatu, one PKR and the three vacancies. That is a bigger pool than Kelantan’s, but PAS does not run the state that holds it.

So Perlis turns the question round. Here the obstacle is not PAS’s dominance but Bersatu’s grip: any seat deal would have to go through a Bersatu menteri besar who owes his post to the members who walked out on PAS. Bersatu is still a PN component party, but in Negeri Sembilan it stood against PN in eight seats and against all four Wawasan candidates. That is a partner in name only.

That is also what makes Perlis the offer to make. PAS is not going to hand Umno a state it runs. Umno did not hand PAS the seats it held in Johor or Negeri Sembilan, and Sanusi has said as much. So a PAS seat in Kelantan, Kedah or Terengganu is not coming.

Perlis is different, because PAS no longer runs it. Handing it over would not mean transferring a government. It would mean PAS dropping its claim to the menteri besar’s post and standing aside so BN leads the ticket at the next state election. This is a state PAS wants back, which is what makes conceding it a sacrifice. BN needs eight of the 15 seats to govern, so PAS would have to give up most of its six and let BN lead the charge against Bersatu. BN already governs four states. Add Perlis and it is five states to BN, three to PN.

On its own, BN might win Perlis and might not. With PAS behind it, the Malay vote does not split and the state is much more likely to fall to BN.

That is the trade. PAS keeps three state governments and goes into the general election with BN beside it. If Penyatuan Ummah, the unity of the Malay-Muslim community, is what wins a general election, then three states and a pact are worth more than four states and a quarrel. Perlis is the sacrifice PAS can afford, and the one it can explain to its own members.

Why Umno comes first

Wawasan, Pejuang and Gerakan all offer PN something. None brings what Umno does: a nationwide Malay party with a voter base, candidates and machinery in every state.

If the aim is to gather the Malay vote in one place, making room for Umno is worth more than keeping every small partner happy. Wawasan and Pejuang do not have to disappear. They have to accept a smaller role.

Tok Mat wants PAS to prove that Malay unity is reciprocal. Sanusi wants Umno to prove it too.

Both are answered in one place. Kelantan, Kedah and Terengganu cost PAS nothing, which is why they settle nothing. Perlis is the only state where PAS gives up something of its own, and the only one where BN gains a government it cannot be sure of winning alone.

That is the price of Penyatuan Ummah. Whether PAS is willing to pay it is the question of the next few months.