Although Kelantan has been under PAS rule for 18 years, political analysts believe the tide has turned in the Barisan Nasional's (BN) favour in the state when the next general election is held.

They feel it's 'game's up' for PAS as the BN also lost power in the state after administering it for 18 years. PAS whitewashed the BN in the 1990 general election but came close to losing Kelantan, the only opposition-held state, in the last election in 2004.

Although PAS says the people have no reason to reject the party in Kelantan, the BN strongly feels that the Kelantanese cannot stomach the conservative religious party anymore and want to see changes in the state.

"Choose the BN so that we can bring changes to Kelantan," is the advice Kelantan Umno chief and state BN chairperson Annuar Musa told Bernama.

Calibre leaders ready

According to him, the Kelantan BN is in a favourable position to sweep clean all the 45 state seats at stake in the coming general election.

"Yes, we are in the best of situations and have a line-up of high calibre leaders to develop Kelantan, which has been lagging behind for so long," he told the national news agency.

The change in the state's political scenario is also felt by the People's Progressive Party (PPP), which took root in Kelantan only about a year ago.

Its state chairperson Nik Sapeia Nik Yusoff said although the PPP had been in Kelantan for only about a year, more than 3,000 people had joined the party.

"We are happy with the response from the people. Most of those who have joined us are former PAS supporters and fence-sitters.

"We are confident of the BN regaining its strength with the solidarity seen among members of the component parties in Kelantan," he added..