The clear and present danger in Hadi’s speech

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang wants the rest of the country to follow his vision or go to hell. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, September 21, 2014.

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang must be congratulated for his clear and honest vision of what his Islamist party stands for.

His speech yesterday is actually good news for many Malaysians: because now it is clear that the so-called puritans have to be rejected by all who consider this a multiracial and multi-religious party.

It is not. It is an Islamist party that wants Malaysia to be an Islamic state, where everyone faces the strict puritanical laws and punishment they hope will deter people from crime and malfeasance.

They once called it an Islamic welfare state but that was just a cover for what Hadi has always maintained – an Islamic state.

Although he says that PAS cannot be used by anyone for their ambitions, Hadi is not above using the Paktan Rakyat (PR) for his ambitions.

That isn't Islamic. That's just naked political ambition. And Hadi is a politician who uses Islam to justify his actions and for his own ends.

From his speech, Hadi's PAS belongs on the margins, where it was in 2004 when his hardline and confrontational crashed into the inclusiveness of the Abdullah administration.

Its Terengganu win in 1999 was a blip, more a reaction towards Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sacking rather than Hadi's clear vision of an Islamic state.

The then Barisan Alternatif (BA) of Keadilan, PAS and DAP did not survive, thanks to Hadi's uncompromising stand on Islamic state.

But the party of conservatives only survived as a mainstream player because out of power, it became part of PR and seemed to accept the principles of coalition politics, once again, in 2008.

But it does appear that hubris and the bodoh sombong culture has infected Hadi's PAS. There is a clear and present danger that Hadi feels he knows what is best for Malaysia.

So much so that it now believes that it can impose its puritanical agenda on PR and the rest of Malaysia. He believes that the rest of his Islamist party and PR must follow his vision or go to hell.

At least he is honest about it. And Malaysians should be honest about what they feel about his vision of Malaysia.

And Malaysia's message to Hadi and his party men should be simple: good riddance.

- TMI