Kedah Menteri Besar Syed Razak Syed Zin has come under fire for allowing the PAS-aligned Malaysian Islamic Scholars Association (PUM) to hold a seminar at the state government building Wisma Negeri last week.

Describing it as a "serious political blunder", an Umno source said today this has reinforced the perception that PAS could organise their activities freely in the state to the extent of staging them in the state government building.

The PUM seminar was officiated by Sultan Abdul Halim.

The source said that such erroneous actions helped boost the confidence of the opposition party's supporters that Kedah would fall into their hands in the next elections.

"The handling of the seminar was all done by PAS supporters, including the presentation of some of the working papers. It should not have been allowed to be organised in the first place," complained the source who declined to be named.

He said PAS' increasing strength in Kedah - which is the home state of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad - has caused concern among Umno leaders including Syed Razak.

Next target

"Kedah is the next target. PAS is confident of capturing the state in the next polls. Such a mistake by allowing the seminar to held at Wisma Negeri last Saturday was seen as another morale booster for its members..

"Confident that they can retain Kelantan and Terengganu, PAS has pulled almost all their resources to concentrate on their mission to capture Kedah," he added.

According to the source, Kedah PAS has also capitalised on the fact that Syed Razak has refrained from attacking the opposition party in his speeches.

The source said another major concern was the infighting among Umno leaders in the state, which if left unchecked, could prove disastrous for the party.

In the last elections, the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition lost eight parliamentary and12 state seats in Kedah, all of which were won by PAS. The state has15 parliamentary and 36 state seats

However, PAS lost its Pendang parliamentary seat in a by-election called after the death of its president Fadzil Noor last year. In 2000, BN lost another state seat in a by-election to PAS' opposition front ally Keadilan.