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.