MUAR, Johor: Attempts by Malaysia’s key opposition party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) to revive ties with its old rival United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) ahead of the Jul 11 Johor state election have so far failed, says former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, whose own party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) has fallen out with PAS.His comments come amid tensions within Malaysia’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) opposition coalition – which PAS and Bersatu are both part of - and as PN heads into the Johor polls divided over how closely it should work with its long-time rival, the Barisan Nasional (BN) pact.UMNO is BN’s lynchpin party and Johor is deemed to be its stronghold. UMNO and PAS are Malaysia’s two largest Malay-Muslim parties.“I have heard that even before the election started PAS was trying to woo UMNO and to work together, but it failed,” Muhyiddin told CNA in an interview on Sunday (July 5). “So when you say there's a collaboration, it has failed, but PAS will not stop what they've been doing to continue to sort of try to embrace UMNO. But I think until today they have not been successful,” added the 79-year-old Bersatu president, who claimed that PAS and UMNO had not been able to reach an agreement on quid pro quo arrangements for seats to contest. The campaign for the Johor state election has crossed the mid-way stage with BN and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) pact hotly contesting all 56 seats, even though BN and PH are partners at the federal level.Meanwhile, despite their ongoing rift, PAS and Bersatu candidates are both campaigning under the PN banner. The parties are fielding 16 and 11 candidates respectively. PAS unilaterally decided to sever ties with Bersatu last month, claiming that the latter had become “power-hungry” and failed to prioritise Malay-Muslim unity in the country.The move has paved the way for PAS to seek new partnerships that could reshape the political battle lines in subsequent state polls and ultimately the federal election, analysts previously told CNA.