Making Hadi Opposition Leader Ought To Stem The Bilge

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The possibility of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang emerging as parliamentary opposition leader ought to be encouraged if only to stem the nonsensical talk emanating from him.
Thus far, his drivel has had a lush season.
His main target has been the DAP, which he has called everything from communist to Islamophobic.
Police reports lodged against Hadi have led to him being summoned by the police to give a statement, presumably of explanation and defence, of what has been a scattershot approach to a necessary aspect of the business of politics - the verbal pummelling of opponents.
Hadi’s “roughing up” of opponents is on the nether side of the wild.
One way to stem the flow of bilge from Hadi would be to make him the opposition leader.
As is it, the Marang MP heads the PAS component of Perikatan Nasional (PN).
And PAS commands the largest number of seats in the lower house at 49. DAP has the second-largest collection at 40 seats.
On the basis of PAS’ dominant size in Parliament, Hadi ought to become the opposition leader although Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Pagoh MP, is the PN chairperson.
But Bersatu holds only 24 seats, a whole lot lower than PAS’ collection.
PN chairperson Muhyiddin YassinPAS’ parliamentary takings of more than double Bersatu’s ought to make Hadi a shoo-in for the post of opposition leader.
Unless, of course, Muhyiddin pulls rank and relies on his place in the PN pecking order to stake his claims to the position.
Seemingly, Muhyiddin is helpless before the phenomenon of an unhinged PAS president.
And it won’t help PN’s cause to have the leader of its largest component shooting from the hip when it comes to targeting opponents.
Making Hadi the opposition leader would be a not-so-subtle manoeuvre to get him to curb his penchant for reaching for the cudgel, instead of the scalpel when taking on the opposition.
However, there is a deeper reason to commend Hadi for the role of opposition leader.
While he and PAS were a part of the opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim, under the aegis of then-Pakatan Rakyat, Hadi has chafed under the leadership of Anwar.
Hadi jealous of Anwar?
That recalcitrance led in April 2013 to Hadi leading a coterie of PAS leaders to meet and urge Anwar to yield to PAS’ preference of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as their choice of prime minister - in the event they won the 13th general election (GE13).
This was in spite of the fact that Razaleigh was an Umno MP and went on to stand on an Umno ticket in GE13.
When Anwar resisted the PAS importuning on behalf of Razaleigh, Hadi led the same delegation to meet up with the Kelantanese prince, to urge him to accept the nomination for prime minister should the opposition emerge victorious from GE13.
On his part, Razaleigh told the PAS delegation to wait for the outcome of GE13.
In the event, at GE13, Pakatan Rakyat garnered 52 percent of the popular vote but wound up with only 40 percent of the parliamentary tally - a consequence of the gerrymandered parliamentary landscape.
Hadi’s end-runs around the possibility of an Anwar premiership have been variously attributed to jealousy and other unparliamentary traits.
Even when Dr Mahathir Mohamad appeared to be dragging his feet on handing over the premiership to Anwar as per an unwritten agreement amongst its powerbrokers, Hadi, while in the opposition, was all for Mahathir being given the time and space to choose his exit.
Prime Minister Anwar IbrahimChagrin may be the reason for Hadi’s refusal to grant Anwar his prime ministerial due.
What better reason now, then, for Hadi to show that it was not resentment that had prompted his eddies around the possibility of an Anwar premiership than to occupy the seat across the parliamentary aisle from the prime minister, and show the latter to be wanting. - Mkini
TERENCE NETTO is a journalist with half a century's experience.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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