PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat today admitted PAS' defeat in the Bagan Pinang by-election was due to a wrong strategy in their campaign.

NONE He said relying on ceramah (political rallies) did not bring in the intended results.

Most voters in Bagan Pinang did not know much about PAS and thus, did not vote for the party, he added.

"This caused the votes for PAS to drop as compared to the last general election," he added.

Nik Aziz, who is also Kelantan menteri besar, added that the voters also had the perception that the party comprised terrorists and extremists, causing them to be too afraid to accept it.

On Umno's extraordinary general assembly, Nik Aziz said : "Umno can only be accepted by the people if its national policies be changed to Islamic policies and its name be changed from United Malay National Organisation to United Muslim National Organisation."

President: Don't point fingers

Meanwhile, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang urged party members not to point fingers as to what or who caused the defeat.

hadi awang pc 060609 02 He said the party would conduct a post-mortem to look into several aspects - local and national politics - to determine why the party lost.

"The leadership would definitely take the appropriate strategic steps without sacrificing the principles of the party in upgrading ourselves," he added.

Hadi said PAS is aware that numerous quarters had high hopes that its candidate Zulkefly Mohamad Noor would wrest the seat away from BN.

"The fact is we entered the race knowing that it would be a challenging task, and one that would be full of provocation by our rivals," he added.

In Sunday's by-election, BN's Isa Samad, a former menteri besar of Negeri Sembilan, had trounced Zulkefly with a majority of more than 5,000 votes.

The contest also saw a significant increase in non-Malay support for the ruling coalition.