COMMENT | Malaysia’s fundamentalist PAS stunned the country when it won the most seats in Parliament at last month’s election, ousting star politicians including Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter, Nurul Izzah in a constituency that has been held by him and his family since 1982.

The popular and well-respected Nurul Izzah won the Permatang Pauh constituency in Penang at the 2018 general election with a majority of more than 15,600.

This time around, she lost to a PAS cleric.

Anwar’s ascent to the prime minister’s job after a career of extraordinary setbacks has gathered the most attention internationally – his daughter’s loss the obvious sour note – but the success of PAS has been a victory that was decades in the making.