Kelantan to remain backward: Mahathir

Kelantan to remain backward: Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Premier Mahathir Mohamad,
smarting from his National Front's defeat in a by-election in
Kelantan state, said yesterday the state would remain backward as
it had chosen the opposition.

Mahathir's National Front coalition was narrowly defeated by
the opposition fundamentalist Parti Islam (PAS) in Monday's by-
election in Pulai Chondong in Kelantan. The northeastern state is
the country's only state ruled by the opposition.

The PAS candidate, Zulkefli Mamat, held a narrow 118 vote
majority polling 4,778 votes over Yusoff Hamzah of the National
Front's 4,660 votes.

"If (the people of) Kelantan want to be isolated and under-
developed, it's their choice," Mahathir told reporters after
visiting a 800-million-dollar resort built on former wasteland on
the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.