BN should not be overly excited with the 134 votes majority they got to win the Pengkalan Pasir state by-election . Kelantan Umno chief must have thick skin to claim such a razor-thin majority as a clear indication that the Kelantan people has lost faith in PAS governance. If we look at it a little closely, BN may have won the battle, but everyone knows, it actually lost the war.

Even before the day the by-election was announced, BN machinery, especially Umno members from around the country have 'moved mountains' to ensure they win the seat. Despite the state being under PAS rule, the playing field was never even. The TV channels and the mainstream print media openly campaigned for the BN candidate.

Plus the colossal federal government machineries and the exchequer vault is wide open for Umno's spending spree. All the resources combined, BN was in an overwhelmingly advantageous position as compared to the clean, elfin and fragile PAS regime.

Every minister had something to give from their ministries plus promises abound. Even exam results were announced in the constituency for media coverage. Building a university has been the standard carrot these days. Every Umno post holders from the party, Wanita, Pemuda and Puteri were there day and night coaxing simple and unsuspecting village people for their votes. There has never been an election where the deputy prime minister himself, despite being booed in most places he visited, stayed camped to motivate BN election workers.

Despite reaping more benefits in the nine days of campaigning than what their wakil rakyat would have otherwise given them in 30 years, Pengkalan Pasir people proved far smarter than the Umno people. For the amount of effort and money BN put into the constituency, getting a majority of less than one percent is a stark shame..

For 134 votes, Kelantan people caught BN in a catch-22 situation. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Abdul Razak have to keep their promises for developments, for university, for better infrastructure, for better living conditions and they have about two years to deliver. If BN keeps their promise, Kelantan people might find they don't need BN after all. If BN fails, they lose Kelantan again.

They know the BN sandiwara all too well. The Puteri chief was wearing a 'tudung'! The Umno Youth were painting the surau. The leaders were going around inquiring the state of health of grandmothers. The MBs were walking barefoot in flash floods. The people of Pengkalan Pasir know, after this, these people will never set foot on their soil again. And they also know, at least PAS are the honest and sincere lot. What you see is what you get. They don't lie or make false promises. They know the greater part of their present-day suffering comes from BN sabotage of development funds to the state.

The phantom voters that PAS feared of BN supposedly did not work for them this time. But the postal votes and the spoilt votes was enough to secure BN victory when such a razor-thin situation arises. Despite being against such odds, PAS getting almost 50 percent of the votes is a great feat. Had this been a national election, where BN resources had to be divided among thousands of constituencies, BN could never have beaten PAS. Luckily enough, PAS did not fall into BN trap when they were challenged to dissolve the state assembly. The BN could have swept the state away.

Given the above factors, if the voting is any indication, in a situation of a national election when it is called, BN has no chance to take the seat or the state away from PAS. One can bluff the village once but the Kelantan people will not buy the same fairytale next time around. After all, what has Abdullah to show in the economy? In religion? In education? In good governance?

Malaysians know how corrupted Umno and the BN administrations are. The rot in the police, immigration, JPJ, local governments, in the finance ministry, the APs, etc, are so very terrible. They also know we have the weakest PM in history whose brother spins his fortune from the misfortune of Malaysia Airlines. What he makes from extra long contracts with the Army is another feat by itself.

Malaysians already know the truth. Sermons don't make dreams come true. What is in hand is worth two in promises. Kelantanese really know how to exploit Barisan Nasional. Which ever way we look at it, Kelantan won the Pengkalan Pasir by-election. They just did.