The Hindu : Mahathir's party takes on fundamentalists

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 18, 2002

International

International

Mahathir's party takes on fundamentalists

PENDANG (Malaysia) JULY 17. Who is more Islamic? Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's moderate party and the Muslim fundamentalist Opposition are battling to win a by-election that is their first direct fight since the September 11 attacks, and each presents itself as the true bearer of Islam.

The by-election on Thursday comes less than a month after Mr. Mahathir tearfully told a conference of his United Malays National Organization that he will resign. Under a long transition intended to assure stability, he will give up power in October 2003.

The state assembly and Parliamentary seats up for grabs in Mr. Mahathir's home state, Kedah, were vacated by the death of another heavyweight, Fadzil Noor, leader of the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party.

The contest is a toss-up over who gets the biggest sympathy vote — Mr. Mahathir, a native son whose 21-year leadership has seen Malaysia become one of Asia's richest countries, or Fadzil's party, which is increasingly controlled by hardliners.

Mr. Mahathir, who travelled to Kedah to shore up support on Monday, was embarrassed by the 1999 general election results in Kedah, when Fadzil's party won 12 of 36 assembly seats and eight of 15 parliamentary seats.

Abdul Hadi Awang, the new hardline leader of the fundamentalist party, known as PAS, vowed on Wednesday to extend its control from two of Malaysia's 13 states to eight in the next general election.

``The outcome of this by-election will have an important bearing on PAS' chances in the next general elections,'' Mr. Abdul Hadi said. ``We plan to take control of six more states.''

More than 4,000 policemen are being deployed for polling day. Isolated cases of vandalism have been reported, but the campaign has generally been peaceful. — AP

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