Ganu has 387, 000 voters of which 90 percent are ethnic Malays. They are mostly farmers and fishermen. In 1995, PAS fared badly in the number of seats though they had some good performances in terms of votes. PAS currently holds one parliamentary seat and seven state seats in the local assembly. The ruling NF has seven parliamentary seats and 25 state seats.

The opposition is entering the fray with a slate of credible candidates, comprising former academics, lawyers and other professionals. It is breaking away from the old mold of having mainly turbaned Muslim clerics and former schoolteachers. "If we win, there will be an earthquake in UMNO," says former University of Malaysia lecturer and PAS candidate for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat Syed Azman Syed Ahmad.

UMNO, not wanting to be upstaged by PAS among the religious-minded rural folk, will also step up it's waving of the Islamic banner. They are confident of retaining the state, which it captured from PAS in previous elections. Rural Terengganu has been the scene of some of the toughest skirmishes between the two Malay parties.

The effects of the industrialization and urbanization brought by the NF government, have ravaged the rural state. Low-cost housing areas are plagued by drug addiction, which is constantly on the rise. The average Malay is viewed as pro-Anwar. They have their reasons for that and Nik Aziz explains this perfectly well.

He blames Mahathir's treatment of sacked and jailed deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim as unfair and having raised the concern of the average people. "It was a crucial campaign issue," he said. "We may not be able to find a leader like Anwar for the next 30 years. I care for Anwar. He has leadership qualities. Just to cut him off like that is not right," he said.

Many in the suburbs of Terangganu feel the same. But the issue for them is a better distribution of wealth and transparent governance. The rule of Mahathir after 18 years is being questioned in the whole of Terangganu. Anwar's accusations hit directly in their hearts. Islamic issues play an important role in Terangganu. Issues that Anwar Ibrahim and his supporters have been rattling off, with postings on the Internet and propagation by audiocassettes and word of mouth since Anwar's sacking.

Allegations that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and his cronies have amassed wealth, that corruption is endemic in the highest levels of government, that only a handful of Malays are reaping the benefits of the New Economic Policy and that the prime minister is a dictator are the issues that are making their ways in territories like Terangganu.

While feedback from the ground suggests that these issues have not swayed voters in Johor, Sabah, Sarawak, Pahang and Negri Sembilan, they remain hot topics among the Malays in the north and the federal capital. In Kuala Lumpur, taxi drivers are among the main campaigners for Anwar. They suffered a direct blow when the Mahathir government decided to pull out all individual permits, replaced by permits given to a few operators said to be close to Mahathir himself.

The idea among the people today is that political leaders and their families had a stake in all privatization projects in Malaysia, that of the development projects launched by the Mahathir administration were wasteful and that Anwar was the only one who could save the country.

In Alor Setar, Kedah state, a teacher commented on the "mega-projects," saying that it was a major discussion among those in the teaching profession.

Teachers nowadays avoid shaking hands with Cabinet ministers who visit the state. The ministers are reduced to forcing the teachers to attend their talks on threats they may lose their bonus or job eventually, an opposition activist says.

UMNO officials insist that the hardcore supporters of Anwar remain a minority, but concede that allegations put forward by the former deputy prime minister still have to be countered. Current Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi said that UMNO candidates should not avoid the Anwar issue but instead "take the bull by the horns."

The government is out to crush the Anwar issue with the release of tapes and pictures that are said to depict Anwar having sex with a woman. The tapes are said to have come from the United States and are poorly edited. The picture is said to be too blurry to make any sense.

Anwar's group also released cassettes of meetings held by Mahathir and his Cabinet members with other leaders of the states. In one of these cassettes called Dajjal, Mahathir is heard lambasting Muslim scholars (ulama), promising to jail all ulama who want to contest decisions made by his government over Islamic issues.

Issues like the participation of Muslim women in public pageants and wearing bikinis have ravaged the Malaysian secular state of Selangor. The former Mufti of Selangor, Ishak Bahrom, had a tussle with the then-Chief Minister of State Mohammad Taib and Prime Minister Mahathir. The mufti had decided to implement the laws guiding women's dress code in an Islamic society. His decision was overturned and he was made to resign as mufti before being sacked by the Chief Minister. On top of that, Chinese and Indian cabinet ministers passed a new regulation stating that Muslim women were free to participate in Miss World and all other pageants.

On the other hand, the leader of Malaysia's only Islamic-ruled state, Kelatan, a key battleground in the November 29 polls, makes no secret of his support for the introduction of strict Islamic law in his rural northeastern fiefdom. Nik Aziz Nik Mat, chief minister of Kelantan, said his party's goal was Islamic "hudud" laws.

Nik Aziz, 68, said PAS would pursue both spiritual and economic development if voted back to power in the state assembly for a third term. "The Malaysian government hangs a person for drug offenses. Under Hudud it is just the cutting of the hand. The person does not die," he said in an exclusive Islam Online interview. "Why do people get agitated over Hudud when hundreds have died from hanging?" he asked.

PAS is trying to cash heavily on the Anwar issue in the Malay heartland. Together with its partners in the newly formed coalition Alternative Front (AF), PAS's newspaper is depicting Anwar as a hero waiting to be released. These words hang under a grim portrait of what Mahathir did to the jailed ex-deputy premier, on a poster. It reads:

"A man is sitting in jail in maximum security Sungai Buloh. He has lost a great deal of weight, is still losing weight, and his hair, staring at a possible 20-year jail sentence. He has no access to his young children and the outside world, is not even attending court any more. Yet, this is the man who haunts the aging Mahathir. He wants him dead in prison. The sooner this happens, the better. Give the BN another five years, and see before your very eyes how Asia's most promising leader rots in prison. This election, ask yourself: what can I do to help him? So on November 29, remember…a vote for BN means an endorsement of Mahathir's dirty lies. Don't let him insult your intelligence. But above all, don't be part of a murder plot."