In the Johor palace where Malaysia’s once-dominant ruling party was born, Umno’s leaders posed on Monday with the country’s king in a carefully staged reminder of the power they commanded for six decades – and the influence they now hope to reclaim.

The United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the Malay nationalist party that led Malaysia from independence until its shock election defeat eight years ago, marked its 80th anniversary in its birthplace with a grand show of unity as it sought to reassert itself before a string of polls due in coming months.

Umno was thrown into the political wilderness in 2018 after six decades in power, rejected by voters angered by rising living costs and allegations of widespread corruption in that year’s watershed national election.

Experts say, however, that the party has slowly clawed back some ground with the country’s Malay-Muslim majority, especially since 2022 when it partnered with erstwhile rivals in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to form the government.

Umno is now preparing to defend its overwhelming majority in the southern states of Johor and Melaka in state polls that party insiders expect will be held in the second half of this year, as a warm up for a national election due by early 2028 at the latest.

And the move to celebrate Umno’s 80th anniversary in Johor on Monday was the clearest indication yet of its ambition to recapture a vote base lost to a Malay nationalist opposition coalition wracked by infighting.