The biggest factor for the defeat of PAS in the general election was the leadership of Barisan Nasional (BN) chairperson Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, political analysts told the national news agency Bernama.

This and the choice of fairly young BN candidates greatly helped the BN in wresting Terengganu from PAS as well as to penetrate deep into Kelantan, where the final tally will not be known until later today.

The Election Commission is conducting a vote recount in nine state seats in Kelantan.

The analysts said Umno, coupled with Abdullah's focus on agriculture and socio-economic issues, had managed to win the debate on Islamic governance and to gain the confidence of Malay voters.

"(Abdullah) has won the Islamic debate which was monopolised and exploited by PAS," said Abdul Razak Baginda, executive director of the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre.

He also noted that, in 1999, the inclusion of "old faces" had caused to the BN's loss of Terengganu, but that the new faces in the line-up this time around helped to win the state back yesterday.

Climate of concern

Washington DC-based Associate Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins University Dr Bridget Welsh noted that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had taken a much stronger, more conservative line than his predecessor, the late Fadzil Noor.

She said there was a climate of concern over increased conservatism, especially among Chinese voters, and noted the high voter turnout in Kelantan and Terengganu, especially among the Chinese community.

Abdullah had addressed the issues which matter to rural voters, she said, and the results were a "recognition" among the voters that he fits them into his agenda".

Political scientist and former Keadilan deputy president Dr Chandra Muzaffar said the main reason for BN's good performance was the absence of the "Anwar factor", which was not a campaign issue this time.

"In 1999, it was not so much a vote for PAS as a vote against Umno,' he said.

Meanwhile, PhD candidate John Pang of the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University, California, said the BN used the "softly, softly approach" to win against PAS - "not with strong-arm tactics but the gentle, persuasive manner which the prime minister (Abdullah) has".

Pang, whose area of study is political theory and religion, said Abdullah took away PAS' rhetoric that they were the party against corruption and for social justice.

"He is the best representative and he undercut them on that front," he said.

Chandra said Malaysia's election results had lessons for the rest of the world.

"The BN defeated the political Islam of PAS by a fair and just electoral process and with a certain kind of dignity and peace," he noted.

Pang concurred, saying: "The United States, with its so-called war on terror, should take notice of this. The turn to Islam is real, is not something to be feared or to be adversarial (about)."

He said Abdullah managed to take Islamic aspirations on board and incorporate them into a multi-racial, pluralist and progressive democracy.

The BN won 195 parliamentary seats, the DAP 10, PAS six and an independent in Sabah, one.

Polls for the Sungai Lembing state seat in Pahang has been deferred to March 28 following problems over a wrong logo in the ballot paper.