The fundamentalist party PAS lost heavily in the election, even its leader could not get elected to the Parliament. Badawi's coalition, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), won more than 90 per cent of the seats in the national Parliament and managed to regain one of the conservative states (Terengganu) it lost to the PAS at the 1999 election.

Prime Minister Badawi, better known as "Pak Lah" (Father Abdullah) in the country, is an Islamic scholar and stands for tolerant version of Islam. He believes that Islam and modernity can go together. To him, Islam does not preach hatred towards people of other faiths and disapproves unreasonableness and fanaticism. He has been very critical of fundamentalist Islamic party (PAS) on the ground that they exploit innocent people for political power in the name of their orthodox interpretation of Islam.

Observers believe that PAS's reckless promise of heaven for those who voted for it back fired with voters. Many Muslims were uncomfortable with PAS's unconventional style campaign, including a declaration that the place of hell would be reserved for those voting for the ruling UMNO. Furthermore, many Muslim women were also put off by the orthodox policy of PAS on women. Another outcome of the election resulted in virtual wipe out of PAS's partner, Parti Keadilan (Justice Party) of Anwar Ibrahim's wife, Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.. Only she won the election from her party.

During the campaign, Badawi turned to the plight of Malay farmers in the Islamic heartland of the North-East of the country and it paid handsome political dividends.

He has been a strong and uncompromising fighter against corruption and nepotism. His words were followed by action.

Prior to election, the arrest of a corrupt Minister manifested his determination to wipe out corruption in the government. Badawi's swift action against a Minister and his promise of clean and moderate government lured many voters back. Furthermore, the election result shows that the deep divide in the Malaya community, caused by the September 1998 sacking and arrest of Anwar Ibrahim, the former Deputy Prime Minister, seems to have been healed.

It is a sweet election victory for Malaysian Prime Minister Badwai. Only last October he succeeded to the high position of Prime Minister when Dr. Mahathir stepped down after 22 years. Badawi has now obtained in his own right a decisive mandate from people to rule Malaysia. Although he has been a protégé of Dr. Mahathir, he slowly but steadily distanced himself from some of his predecessor's policies. He is a consensus man and does not approve confrontation in politics. He quietly made changes of government policies. For example, big infrastructure projects, previously awarded to corporate insiders, were cancelled and competitive bidding was introduced to eliminate corruption and nepotism.

Economists believe that graft in the country needs to be urgently addressed if Malaysia's economy is to sustain the high growth rates. It is reported that according to calculations by Morgan Stanley regional economist Daniel Lian, the extent of graft in the country cost Malaysia's economy as much as 5 percent of its gross domestic product. Once reforms take place, foreign investors will be willing to sink money into Malaysia.

People hope that the overwhelming election victory delivered Badawi a huge mandate to pursue attempts to break the nexus between politics and business. People expect him to go after the big corrupt businesses, not just the so-called small fish (ikan bilis in Malaysian language) he has prosecuted in the last five months.

Malaysia is a country of 22 million people. It is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual country. Malaya Muslims constitute about 57 per cent of the population, the Chinese 30 per cent, while the Indians about 9 percent. The racial harmony in Malaysia was maintained since the 1969 eruption of racial tension between Chinese and Malay communities.

Malaysia is one of the world's top 20 countries in economic development and is in 4th place for international trading competitiveness, behind only the US, Canada and Australia. 36 per cent of the work-force are engaged in industry, 48 per cent in services while only 16 per cent in agriculture. Malaysia's per capita income has risen to Asia's fifth highest, trailing only Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. Its stock exchange is one of the best performers in the world over the past five months.

The new Malaysian government under Badawi is overwhelmingly pragmatic in its attitude towards domestic and international issues. Tolerance and cooperation has been the hallmark of Badawi's coalition party, UMNO and the victorious Prime Minister has made his mark among his voters by preaching Islam's precepts of peace, open-mindedness and respect for other faiths. Badawi's victory is a positive development of moderate Islam, drawing a clear distinction from fundamentalist Islam.

The election has demonstrated that Malaysia is a pillar of stability and democracy has taken a firmer root in the country than some of other fragile democracies in South-East Asia and North Asia. In Seoul, politicians are immersed in the debate of bitter impeachment of their President and in Taiwan the national election is overshadowed by calls for invalidating the result of the election. Malaysia has none of the political uncertainty that may restrain longer-term investment in South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Many Islamic scholars believe although the moral and spiritual teachings of Islam have eternal value and validity, their social, economic, administrative and political ramifications are to be interpreted and adapted within the context of time and place. And that is what moderate voice of Islam stands for. The verdict given by Malaysian voters will be taken due notice of in many Islamic and non-Islamic countries. The moderate voice of Islam that has not kept pace in publicity with hard-line Islamists will hopefully receive a boost in other Islamic countries. Malaysia could be the role model for many Islamic countries.

Barrister Harun ur Rashid is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.