The ruling coalition Barisan Nasional won a surprise headstart in March 21 elections, taking 14 parliamentary seats unopposed as official campaigning began at the weekend.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi hailed the news as "an indication that we will win big" at the polls, which are seen as a crucial test of his ability to reverse a draining of Muslim support for the government.

In the last elections in 1999, when former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's popularity was on the wane, the BN coalition won only one parliamentary seat uncontested and went on to lose 20 constituencies to the opposition.

Abdullah took over when Mahathir retired last October after 22 years in power, and has presented himself both as a "Mr Clean" who will crack down on government courruption and as an Islamic scholar capable of taking on the fundamentalists.

But major fights shaped up for the remainder of the 219 parliamentary seats on nomination day yesterday, with PAS presenting tough candidates in its bid for the votes of the 60 percent of the 25 million population who are Muslim.

Religion for development

The party fielded a renowned faith healer against a brother of the King standing for the BN in northern Perlis state, and a retired general against defence minister Najib Razak in central Pahang state, which has a large army base.

All but one of the uncontested parliamentary seats are in the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak, where the Islamic fundamentalism of PAS takes a back seat to land rights and other issues close to the hearts of indigenous tribes.

The key contests are expected in the rural Muslim Malay heartland in the north of the country, where PAS already controls two states - Kelantan and Terengganu - and is hoping to win neighbouring Kedah.

While the conservative opposition is promising religious rule, Abdullah is offering Islamic governance which stresses science as much as religion and protects the rights of non-believers in this multiracial country with large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.

In a series of rallies he has presented a vision of "Islam Hadhari", or Islamic governance, with the message that "Islam is a religion for development".

Malaysia already ranks as one of the most developed Muslim countries in the world, having transformed a commodity-based economy over the past two decades into a high-tech manufacturing powerhouse.

Apart from the role of religion in government, Abdullah has made the fight against corruption a key platform for his new administration and made sweeping changes in the candidates standing for the BN.

Four cabinet ministers have been dropped or are retiring, including one, Kasitah Gaddam, who is facing corruption charges in court, while 20 out of Umno's 72 lawmakers have been axed.

Anwar factor

A major cause of the swing against the government at the last elections was Malay anger over the sacking and jailing of Mahathir's popular deputy Anwar Ibrahim, but the issue has faded from the frontlines of this campaign.

Anwar's plight is championed mainly by the Parti Rakyat Keadilan Keadilan, led by his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and this election is seen as a do-or-die mission for the party, which won five seats in 1999.

The BN, which is led by Abdullah's Umno, also won seven state seats unopposed, out of a total of 505 in 12 state assemblies, while PAS took a surprise seat in Johor in the south when the front's candidate was disqualified on a technicality.

With the crucial support of Malaysia's large Chinese and Indian minorities the coalition is expected to retain power, with interest focused on any signs of growing Islamic fundamentalism. - AFP