Contrary to his so-called 'clean and nice guy' image, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was certainly not above board during the recently concluded general election.

Apart from the blunders and bungles made by the Election Commission (EC), whose most senior officials, pre-eminently its chairperson, broke every rule in the book to ensure that Barisan Nasional (BN) would be returned with a landslide victory, two very important and crucial factors were not considered by most voters.

First, BN had to recapture Terengganu at any cost and by any means! Why was this so? The Terengganu state government under PAS' rule, had filed a civil suit against Petroleum Nasional Berhad (Petronas) and the federal government on March 8, 2001. Apart from interest and costs against both defendants, the following reliefs were sought against Petronas: