The jailing of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim which angered Malays and bolstered the opposition in the 1999 elections is no longer an issue in the coming polls, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said today.

Abdullah campaigned in Permatang Pauh, a constituency in Penang now held by Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Ismail, and declared the chances of his ruling Barisan Nasional coalition's candidate as good.

"Chances of winning are good at this moment, but we have to work hard," he told reporters.

Asked if Anwar was still a factor in Sunday's elections, Abdullah said "no one has raised this issue."

Wan Azizah, who now heads the opposition Parti Rakyat Keadilan (Keadilan), won a parliamentary seat in the 1999 polls, boosted by sympathy votes after then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad sacked her charismatic husband the year earlier.

Anwar was later sentenced to 15 years in jail for sodomy and corruption. He has insisted that he was framed to prevent a political challenge to Mahathir, who retired in October paving the way for Abdullah's ascension to power.

Case closed

In the March 21 vote, the ruling coalition has fielded a former imam of the national mosque against Wan Azizah in a bid to unseat her.

Officials of the Umno, the biggest political party in the BN coalition, said they had been instructed by Abdullah not to raise the Anwar issue in the campaign.

"We consider Anwar's case as closed. This is a new era. We want to develop Permatang Pauh with new blood and new efforts," said Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid, an Umno division chief.

Wan Azizah however maintained in an earlier interview with AFP that her husband's cause remained alive.

"Things have appeared to change (under Abdullah), but underneath the policies are still the same. Many say the Anwar issue is over but it keeps popping up again and again," she said.

"He is still very much in the people's hearts and minds. They look at me as Anwar's wife, not as Wan Azizah." - AFP