ANALYSIS In the battle for Kuala Besut, PAS appears to have squandered its potential to win the seat by starting out with the wrong campaign strategy.

About half-way through the campaign period, it became clear that its efforts to paint a hung state assembly as a ‘perfectly balanced government', its allegations of BN's abuses of power and the supposed neglect of development in the constituency were not gaining traction.

NONEThese matters were not highlighted in the mainstream media, and even the ceramah sessions held by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim only drew about 1,000 participants at the most, with the bulk of the crowd being outsiders.

There was also a leafleting campaign raising these claims of Pakatan Rakyat at mosques and other public places, but still, the issues did not hold or sway the attention of the local voters.

Meanwhile, BN mounted an effective response by arguing that a hung assembly would cause instability and at the same time, pledged millions of ringgit worth of development projects.

Development pledges worth RM477 million

PAS estimates that the sum the BN pledged for the development of Kuala Besut reached RM477.45 million over the course of the 12-day campaign period.

On just one day during this period, Malaysiakini noted five cabinet members attending various official functions in the tiny constituency, in addition to state government officers.

Hence, PAS toned down on its initial campaign issues and began to capitalise on its candidate's approachable personality, with events such as the ‘Let's meet Che Long' carnivals, drawing competitions and the auctioning of artiste Abby Abadi's clothes.

Che Long is how the PAS candidate, Azlan Yusof, a local businessperson and philanthropist, is widely known to the people of Kuala Besut.

NONEPAS even tried its hand at handing out goodies in the form of free petrol for motorcyclists on the eve of the polling day, which cost it some RM10,000.

Nevertheless, these moves were few and came too late to have an impact on the election outcome, while BN's tried-and-true strategy of pumping out election goodies and projects remained effective in swaying the rural voters.

Nevetheless, PAS has started out with a 2,592-vote handicap from the last general election in the Umno stronghold, making the BN's victory almost a forgone conclusion.

What remained was the question of how big the BN win would be. However, the ruling coalition only garnered 2,592 votes in yesterday's by-election, a paltry increase of 158 votes from the May 5 battle.

This came despite the huge funds poured into the constituency and a far cry from BN by-election task force deputy director Idris Jusoh's goal of a 4,000-vote majority.

Kuala Besut would have been a pyrrhic victory for BN except for the implications of the by-election result on the state assembly. For now, BN's 17 assemblypersons will maintain a firm control there against their 15 Pakatan Rakyat counterparts.

As for the PAS leaders who led the by-election campaign, especially its director and party vice-president Husam Musa, there may be some explaining to do at the coming PAS muktamar, especially since he can now expect a greater challenge from the party conservatives.

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