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Abdul Hadi Awang notes that after his party, known as PAS, won control of the state government in 1999, the federal government in Kuala Lumpur cut off tens of millions of dollars worth of annual royalties from the state petroleum company. Despite a two-thirds fall in revenue, he says his government has been able to build markets like this one and has even abolished taxes on residential property. He says his government compensated for the loss in funds with better management of logging fees and higher contributions under zakat, a Muslim form of charity.

His deputy in the state government, Mustafa Ali, says PAS is still popular. "The mood is still with the current government, inshallah," he says. "And we are very confident that we will get, still, not less than two-thirds majority for the state."

Up the road, in the (state) capital of Kuala Terengganu, the executive-secretary of the United Malays National Organization, Alias Mustafa, is campaigning at a rally in the middle of town. Speaking from a wooden shed festooned with party banners, he drums up support for the Barisan Nasional, or National Front coalition of 14 parties, that has dominated Malaysian politics since independence.

Mr. Alias says he is confident that with the support of the people, the PAS government will be brought down in Terengganu.

One of those listening to the speech is businessman Laurence Law, a member of the ethnic Chinese minority that is economically powerful across Malaysia. Mr. Law says business suffered after PAS won control of the state government. "For the past four years, half of the time I just shake my leg, doing nothing, because business opportunity is so down here now, no activities," says Mr. Law.

In another controversial move, PAS, after it won power, gradually instituted Islamic law, or Sharia, in Terengganu. Today most women dress conservatively and cover their heads. Gambling and entertainment places like karaoke bars have been closed.

But the laws do not apply to non-Muslims. Non-Muslim women are not required to observe the dress code. And although gambling has been banned everywhere, restaurants in the neighborhoods of the ethnic Chinese, the largest non-Muslim group here, are allowed to sell alcohol.

A National Front supporter, Yeo Sin Soon, says PAS's religious policies bother non-Muslims. "They [PAS] are propagating a very stringent form of Islamic rule, which is entirely different from Barisan Nasional, which is more tolerant, and there is no forceful enforcement of their doctrines," he says.

But an ethnic Chinese who works for the PAS government in Terengganu, Ng Chai Hing, disagrees, saying non-Muslims have been treated fairly by the PAS government. "The Chinese community, especially the non-Muslim community, continues to enjoy freedom, freedom of religion, of culture, and way of life under the PAS-led state government in Terengganu," he says.

The electorate is still divided in Terengganu. Some praise what they say has been an improvement in governance and morality under PAS. Others note that the state is poor and underdeveloped, and say it will remain that way as long as it is run by a party that opposes the coalition now in power in the federal capital of Kuala Lumpur.