(AFP) focus Barisan Nasional's victory in a tiny by-election signalled how Sept 11 attacks in the United States had swung public opinion, politicians and analysts said today.

BN led by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's yesterday retained the tiny state constituency of Indera Kayangan in Perlis when MCA's Oui Ah Lan defeated Keadilan's Khoo Yang Chong.

The seat in the state assembly fell vacant on Dec 19 following the death of MCA's Khor Liang Tee of colon cancer.

Oui defeated Khoo by a majority of 2,592 votes, up from the 1,974 the MCA obtained in the 1999 general elections.

The victory was widely expected after an intense BN campaign using the fallout from Sept 11 to win back lost support but the increased majority votes took many by surprise.

Voters had been bombarded daily with stark images of war and atrocities as BN painted the opposition as a Taliban-in-waiting. State-owned television RTM aired propaganda clips juxtaposing images of opposition leaders alongside slow-motion footage of a kneeling, burqa-clad woman being executed by a turbaned gunman in Afghanistan.

New ball game

Politicians and analysts said yesterday's results signalled how the US tragedy had turned the tide against the opposition just two years after the 1999 general elections, in which the opposition PAS rose to prominence.

"The opposition must learn, and learn fast, that Malaysian politics after the Sept 11 terrorist incident is a completely new ball game," said Lim Kit Siang, DAP chairman.

Lim told AFP that the US tragedy had reinforced fears over plans by PAS to set up an Islamic state if it came to power. The DAP was once part of the opposition alliance Barisan Alternatif together with PAS and Keadilan but withdrew last year soon after the Sept 11 attacks after a row over PAS's Islamic goal.

Lim said the opposition's defeat in Indera Kayangan was due to Keadilan and PAS' failure to address the Islamic state issue post-Sept 11 and to respond to the allegations of Islamic extremism, he said.

"Their campaigning was based on the great fallacy as if Sept 11 never happened and the Islamic state was a non-issue," Lim said. "The BN will deploy the Sept 11 terror card again in the next general elections which I expect to be called in 18 months. If the opposition does not understand this, then the BN is likely to win a great victory," he added.

'Thumping win'

The fear of Muslim militancy had made Mahathir's moderate form of Islamic rule seem a safe haven in a frightening new world, analysts said, forcing PAS, which had grown in strength while accusing Mahathir's government of being corrupt and un-Islamic, onto the defensive.

"The by-election results reinforced the perception that Mahathir and the BN have been strengthened by the Sept 11 incident," said a diplomat.

Mahathir, 76, has suggested that PAS is linked to an alleged plot by Afghan-trained militants to overthrow the government by force. Dozens of suspects, many of them PAS members, have been detained in recent months.

The next general election must be held by late 2004. The premier has expressed delight in his coalition's "thumping win".

"Yesterday's victory is a good sign but we must not be over confident," Mahathir was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

"It is now about politics of well-being. What matters to the masses now is national development and peace," he said.

His deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the victory reflected the people's solid support for the government and its policies.

"This is the first by-election in the country after the Sept 11 attacks and the by-election results reflect the people's rejection of any form of extremism," Abdullah said.

Threats, assaults

PAS president Fadzil Noor charged that the opposition lost due to bribery to voters.

"BN's victory is a victory of money politics and of blackmail. Throughout their campaign, they have bribed the people to vote for them while our workers were threatened and assaulted," he said.

"Our defeat is not a setback for the opposition front," he said.