KUALA TERENGGANU, July 8 — Kuala Besut, slightly more than 100km from Kuala Terengganu, will be a hive of activity following the announcement by the Election Commission on the nomination and polling dates.

A somewhat sleepy but not hollow area of about 50 sq km, the state constituency is a flatland of tobacco and padi fields with half of the area lying along the seaside, fronting the popular Pulau Perhentian, an island known to the world for its natural corals.

The majority of the 17,000-odd voters here are farmers while the remaining are fishermen, those involved in a small fishing industry such as producing keropok, and some in the tourism sector, including the few hotels on Pulau Perhentian.

The nearest township is Jerteh, about 30km away, but the local residents do not mind going to Pasir Putih in Kelantan, which borders Kelantan and Terengganu and the distance is quite the same to Jerteh.

In fact, Kuala Besut is nearer to Kota Baru in Kelantan than Kuala Terengganu where the time taken from Kota Baru to Kuala Besut is just about an hour compared to Kuala Terengganu to Kuala Besut, where it takes about two hours.

Thee two main islands that Kuala Besut folks are proud of are Pulau Perhentian Besar and Pulau Perhentian Kecil — the first houses tourist facilities and accommodation while the second one is where the local people live and which also has a school for the islanders.

Kuala Besut, or Terengganu as a whole, has been a religious breeding ground since the 1950s, along with its neighbour Kelantan, and Kedah on the west coast, given the poverty of the people in the three states.

However, when development began under the federal government of Barisan Nasional (BN), the mindset of the people changed accordingly and began the simultaneous development of religion and economy.

For the local people, the “feud” between PAS and Umno is nothing new as the whole state has been the arena for the two sides of the political divide to “fight” for influence since the 1950s.

PAS and Umno — both Islamic-based and Malay-based but different in approach — have been at odds despite being together for just five years in the 1970s.

PAS, a splinter of Umno, had won Terengganu once for one term in 1999 until 2004, and the upcoming Kuala Besut by-election is a golden chance for the party to be “on par”, meaning, to give the ruling state BN a kind of fear and recognition of the party’s influence and strength in the state.

The party had given the state BN a good “fight and fright” by losing just two seats in the 13th general election two months ago but for Kuala Besut, the party may not find it smooth sailing.

The by-election is expected to be fierce and wild if the political history of the constituency is taken into consideration.