Malaysia's Islamists reshape image to win allies

By Jalil Hamid and Clarence Fernandez - Analysis

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's hardline Islamist party is reshaping its image ahead of widely expected early elections, trying to reach beyond its northeastern stronghold, but skeptics are looking for a true change of heart.

The party has lifted a ban on Western-style pop concerts, unveiled a seven-storey headquarters next to Kuala Lumpur's red-light district and last week voted in a crop of young moderate leaders over its more usual turban-clad clerics.

Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), a major opposition force until it was crushed in the last elections in 2004, is banking on the younger leaders to lure back Muslim Malay support and give the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi what it calls "a run for its money".

But the new crop were unlikely to alter the face of a party that wants to turn multireligious Malaysia into an Islamic state based on the Koran, analysts said.

"I don't see how the presence of these so-called 'Young Turks' will make any change to the fundamental policies of the party," said political analyst Chandra Muzaffar.

"I do not think PAS will move away from its commitment to an Islamic state. I don't think PAS will move away from hudud law."

The party would rely on the newer leaders to be more flexible in forging alliances with opposition parties, he added.

"The young ones are tactically more prepared to make some concessions to other actors in the political arena to secure an electoral pact or work out some sort of arrangement."