Kedah, PAS's front-line state in the next general election, is expected to see an Islamic rule if the opposition Islamic party captures the state or wins the elections.

It is learnt that PAS is working very hard in Kedah and its leaders are quietly confident of winning at least six more seats - in addition to the 13 won by the opposition in the last general election. Kedah is the home state of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Yesterday, PAS acting president Abdul Hadi Awang reiterated that if the opposition wins the elections, the federal government will implement the Barisan Alternatif manifesto while PAS-governed states will be ruled by a separate manifesto drawn up by the party.

He said the two manifestos do not contradict one another although the one designed by BA made no mention of setting up an Islamic state.

Different state laws

"We need different laws for the states and federal government. Each state is unique".

"Therefore, we will implement our manifesto in states ruled by us, and let the others and the federal government be ruled by the BA manifesto," he told malaysiakini after chairing the party's central committee meeting in Alor Setar.

"For example, there is no oil in Kedah and no padi fields in Terengganu. So how can we use the same state laws to govern all states?" he quipped.

The 1999 BA manifesto focused on reinstating democracy, accountability, transparency, and stamping out injustices, corruption and crony capitalism, while PAS insisted on setting up an Islamic state and implementing hudud laws.

The Islamic state issue has caused much difficulties among the opposition groups. DAP left the BA in 2001 because it was unable to resolve the issue despite months of discussions and talks.

Last week PRM president Syed Husin Ali warned that if PAS was bent on bulldozing its Islamic policies without consultation with its opposition partners, then his party would review its relationship in BA.

At the PRM 36th national congress held in Kuala Lumpur, the party was quick to distance itself from PAS's yet-to-be-made-public Islamic state blueprint.

PRM statement

PRM will soon be merging with its BA partner Keadilan, which has so far not made a clear stand on the Islamic state issue.

Meanwhile, Abdul Hadi had dismissed Syed Husin's statement as "an untruth told by the media". He said he had checked and was satisfied with the clarification given by Syed Husin.

Abdul Hadi, who is Terengganu menteri besar, said that despite disagreement over the Islamic state issue, its coalition partners - Keadilan and PRM - continue to cooperate on common issues such as justice, good governance and democracy.

Backing his statement, the parliamentary Opposition Leaders said that the coming BA convention in September will endorse BA decision on seat allocation and candidates for the coming general election.

"This shows that we are still able to work together despite our differences," said Abdul Hadi, who is also member of Parliament for Marang.

Positive mood

On Kedah, PAS secretary-general Nasharudin Mat Isa said that the mood was positive in the Malay-dominated northern region state, which is the main rice basin for the country.

In the 1999 elections, BN lost eight parliamentary and 12 state seats in Kedah, all of which were won by PAS. The state has15 parliamentary and 36 state seats.

The PAS-controlled state seats are Kuala Nerang, Langgar, Bukit Lada, Kupang, Sala, Anak Bukit, Bukit Raya, Pedu, Belantek, Jeneri, Pengkalan Kundor and Ayer Hitam.

The opposition party also won the Padang Terap, Pokok Sena, Kuala Kedah, Baling, Sik, Pendang, Jerlun and Yan parliamentary seats.

However, the party lost the Pendang seat in a by-election which was called after the death of its president Fadzil Noor last year.

In 2000, BN lost another state seat - Lunas - in a by-election to Keadilan.