The 11th General Election in March 2004 saw Barisan Nasional winning 198 of 219 parliamentary seats and regaining Terengganu.

The opposition was almost annihilated and the outcome was a nightmare for the opposition leaders.

They were left disillusioned and instead of doing some soul searching they started spreading wild allegations against Umno.

zahid hamidi and umno and barisan nasional and election They said the party resorted to the services of thugs, misused authority, resorted to the laws of the jungle, convened dictator- style elections and many other allegations that were difficult to imagine.

They alleged that BN won big because of its undemocratic campaign. The opposition pointed at America saying the nation practices true democracy because not a single party won 60 percent or more of the seats in the Senate or Congress.

The opposition leaders went on comparing the democracy in Malaysia with the political situation in Indonesia under Suharto's rule; the Philippines under Marcos; Iran under the Shah of Iran and Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

Running out of political capital

The opposition failed to realise that the democracy practised by Malaysia is far different from these countries. Malaysia has its own political mould unique to the country.

The opposition has forgotten that in the election history of the nation no one has been killed while fulfilling their obligation as voters, unlike in some nations.

There is no cases of ballot boxes being confiscated. Polling centres are not secured by the army. There is no fight at the polling centres. All these show the elections go on smoothly and freely.

The opposition stalwarts spoke freely in public saying democracy in the country is dead. Where ever they went, they played the same tune.

The opposition is still dreaming. The nation has seen 11 general elections over the last 50 years to uphold democracy and the fact that the opposition has contested in those elections proves democracy is very much alive in the country.

The opposition and their mercenary writers in the newspapers and their publications including books, leaflets, blogs continue to slander Umno and BN. Is this the democracy that they want?

PAS was given the opportunity to rule Terengganu (once) and Kelantan (until now) through the election process. Doesn't this show they too have benefited from the country's democratic system?

Many of the opposition leaders have voiced out destructive views but claimed BN is the one playing with fire in its campaign.

In the 2004 general election, the opposition leaders and their henchmen went all out to denounce Umno as a party of 'kafir' (infidels) to bring down BN. We don't hear of it anymore.

Why they lost badly

The opposition is aware that among the reasons for their downfall in Terengganu is the very same edict of Hadi Awang.

hadi awang 010807 The people in Terengganu realised that edict can result in a bloody conflict and thus they found that it is most appropriate to throw out PAS.

Realising this, the opposition has shifted strategy this time and the campaign theme now is 'Barisan Nasional is dangerous'.

Opposition leaders are going in droves to the ground organising ceramah and warning the people that BN is dangerous.

The opposition too is going around telling that they too played an active part in fighting for independence and implementing the social contract.

They blamed the British and Umno for spreading negative propaganda on PAS.

The opposition need not twist the historical facts. Everyone knows that PAS emerged from Umno's religious bureau. Just because the head of the religious bureau lost out in the leadership tussle, PAS emerged from the leader's frustration.

That is why the frustrations voiced out by PAS is never ending and it went to the extent of branding fellow Muslims with differing political ideology as infidels.

Imagine 50 years under Umno and BN the nation has developed and its multiracial society is living in harmony and prosperity. While PAS, for the last 50 years has been slandering others and manipulating the Quran and the Hadith.

AHMAD ZAHID HAMIDI is deputy information minister. This article is reproduced with permission from Bernama.