SEBERANG JAYA, Malaysia, 18 March 2004 — The single most important issue in Malaysia’s elections is the attitude of Muslims toward religion in government, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday.

In a surprise off-the-cuff breakfast chat with journalists during his campaign in the northern state of Penang, a relaxed Abdullah spelled out his “progressive and modern” approach to Islamic governance in contrast to the “fundamentalism” of the opposition Islamic Party (PAS).

Clad in a checkered shirt and dark pants, the mild-mannered leader admitted the battle by his ruling National Front coalition to minimize the influence of PAS in Muslim Malay heartland of the northern states is a tough one.

PAS, which seeks to impose the Islamic penal code and other Muslim laws if it wins power in Sunday’s elections, already holds sway in two key northern states — Terengganu and Kelantan — and has vowed to conquer more, in particular neighboring Kedah and Perlis.

“Religious appeal is very, very strong for the Malays. They are moved quite easily by religious imperatives,” Abdullah told reporters over a hotel breakfast in his home state of Penang.

Rural people were easily swayed by PAS’s strategy to exploit religion, he said.

“Sometimes what PAS is saying is an insult to the intelligence of the Malays but it still appeals to some,” the premier said.

“This is the single, most important challenge: the mindset of the Malays on how they view Islam.”

Muslim Malays make up more than 60 percent of Malaysia’s population of 25 million, which also has large minorities of non-Muslim ethnic Chinese and Indians.

After barnstorming Kedah and Penang earlier this week, Abdullah plans to take the battle directly into opposition territory tomorrow when he sweeps across PAS-ruled Kelantan and Terengganu.

Abdullah repeated his attacks against PAS leaders for trying to downplay their aim of establishing a theocratic government by not spelling it out in their election manifesto.

“It’s a reflection of weak leadership and the lack of courage to state it,” he said.

He accused PAS of “lying” by presenting different views on what sort of government it wants depending on whether it is talking to Muslims in its own strongholds or to the population as a whole, when it seeks to allay the fears of non-Muslims.

Islamic countries needed to progress, he said. “As an Islamic country if we are poor, it is a shame.”

Malaysia is one of the most economically-developed Muslim states in the world, and in a series of rallies Abdullah has presented a vision of Islamic governance with the message that “Islam is a religion for development”.

“It is about working hard, hunger for knowledge and information in science and technology,” he told crowds of potential voters. “God willing we will then develop according to Islam.”