WHEN Pas Kelantan announced that their candidate, fishmonger Mohd Fauzi Abdullah, would win by a massive majority of 2,000 votes, it sounded strange because by all accounts, the voters on the ground were split evenly.

Obviously those who are sympathetic towards Pas say this is an Umno spin, a way to make Malaysians believe that Barisan Nasional is still very relevant and wanted by a large portion of the population.

But the result in Manik Urai clearly shows a huge shift in voter sentiment, even in the heart of Pas territory. More importantly, young voters are showing a significant change of heart. Many ballot boxes of young voters handed victory to Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat, BN's candidate.

Up until yesterday, BN campaign workers were unsure whether young voters who had shown sympathy for Umno would actually commit their votes in support of the former Kesedar officer. It appears that their reservations were unfounded; these young voters from Manik Urai are genuinely disappointed with Pas, which they have known all their lives. They see all the disappointments and failures of local government as the  failures of Pas.

They look at the poor economic state of their district, the lack of employment and advancement opportunities as unfair treatment of their dreams and aspirations. Some older voters continue to lend their support to Pas     and most of them do this out of their religious sentiment. They still believe that they will be blessed by the Almighty and granted eternal peace and salvation by the simple act of voting for Pas.

Even then, many of these voters, who have crossed the moon for four terms, are now looking at their progenies and wondering if they are being selfish by choosing heaven over the future of the younger generation.

After all, they have chosen heaven for four terms.  Many were also attracted to the positive campaigning that Umno adopted, all the political speeches talked about development and mentioned almost nothing negative about Pas.

The conciliatory tone meant that many locals could find no reason to be angry with Umno and the incessant damning of the Malay party by the Islamist left a bitter taste in their mouth.

Umno and Tuan Aziz will not be celebrating tonight but in the weeks to come, the post mortem meetings held in Umno offices all over the country will find many things were done well and done properly.

Most of the credit to the paper thin loss suffered by Umno in Manik Urai must go to Datuk Mustapa Mohamed who worked harder and longer than even the party workers on the ground, setting the right tone and example for others to follow.

Kuala Krai Umno division chief Datuk Ramzi Abdul Rahman must also be given a generous pat on the back for not sabotaging the campaign, as has happened so many times in the past.

When he stood by Tuan Aziz, he showed to the people of Manik Urai that Umno has gone past petty internal politics and was now ready to move on and lead the nation once more. The way Umno approached this by-election and the way they worked diligently, quietly and without much malice towards the Opposition must be used as the template for future by- and general elections.

Umno's calm politics is paying off and the Opposition, with all  their internal conflicts and bickering, is learning that the people are tired of politics and just want their government to put shoulder to the grindstone and work for them.

It took the simple folk of Manik  Urai to show the so-called sophisticated voters of the Klang Valley that at the end of the day, politics should not be divisive, abusive and repulsive.

This writer blogs at marahku.blogspot.com