At the third congress held in Padang Panjang, Persatuan Sumatera Thawalib had transformed itself into the political party.
Its activity ranged from education, scouting, publishing of news outlets and pamphlets, and holding of public meetings.
[6] PERMI's position on both Islam and nationalism reflected the understanding of these issues shared among the Minangkabau society during the time.
[10] The philosophy of PERMI also differed from the certain Minangkabau figures such as Mohammad Hatta who, albeit himself a Muslim, opposed to the idea of a religious political party from the position of the separation of church and state.
PERMI's position was further reinforced by the return of two Minangkabau Islamic intellectuals from Cairo, Iliyas Ya'kub and Muchtar Lutfi.
[12] Ilyas Ya'kub, in the header of the February 1931 issue of the political magazine Medan Rakjat, grieved the situation of Indonesian society for what he called a split between the Muslim and nationalist blocs.
He called for the inclusion of the PERMI slogan "Islam and nationalism" into the political arena in order to solve the crisis.