Hadi under fire over ‘extra time for losers’ remark

 

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s cryptic comment on Twitter was interpreted to be about the formation of a government after the elections on Nov 19.

PETALING JAYA: PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang should move on after not being able to form the government, a political analyst said today following a cryptic comment by Hadi about a football referee providing “extra time for the losing side” after the match was over.

In a posting on Twitter, Hadi used a football analogy to say that although a team had won, the referee “suddenly gave extra time” to give a chance to those who had already lost “so that they could win by any means”.

His comment, a quotation from a column he wrote for the party organ Harakah, was interpreted as a reference to the formation of a unity federal government and drew angry responses on Twitter.

Among them was a Twitter user who said: “The others have 82 seats, you have 73 seats, how is it you won?” In the parliamentary election on Nov 19, Pakatan Harapan won 82 seats while Perikatan Nasional won 73.

However, another Twitter user said Hadi’s comment might be about the Pahang state elections, where Perikatan Nasional had won 17 seats, ahead of Pakatan Harapan (16) and Barisan Nasional (8).

Earlier today, Pahang BN chief Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail was appointed menteri besar after PH and BN agreed to form a coalition government.

Political analyst Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said he felt that Hadi was referring to the 10 MPs from Barisan Nasional who withdrew support for PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin after BN had initially decided to form the opposition.

However, Hadi’s comment was seen by many as referring to the formation of a unity government by PH chairman Anwar Ibrahim, who was appointed prime minister by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Thursday.

Sociopolitical analyst Awang Azman Pawi said Hadi and his allies “need to move on” and should not be seen as questioning “the referee”, which was interpreted to mean the King and the royal institution.

“Hadi’s attitude highlights how the PAS president and his allies are too hungry for power and want to hold important positions in the Cabinet,” he told FMT.

“Hadi’s actions will only cause anger among the public, who want to move on and focus on people’s economic issues as opposed to one that has already been decided by the King and the Conference of Rulers.”

Azmi said Hadi should not have come out (with the post) “as the decision has already been made (to appoint Anwar) by the King,” he told FMT.

“PN and PAS should accept the decision that the PH-led government has the majority. If he is still not satisfied, he should just wait until Dec 19 when a vote of confidence will be tabled and this can be settled once and for all,” said Azmi.

Hadi’s posting on Twitter has drawn more than 1,500 comments as at 10pm, five hours after it was posted.

“Extra time is one of the rules set out by Fifa, but that’s if you are indeed commenting on football,” said Twitter user @anas4fifi. “I hope you are really talking about football,” said a user with the handle @hariridin.

Another user, @xennials2, pointed out that “one team has 82 seats and your (Hadi’s) team has 73 seats” in a clear reference to PH and PN. “How did you win?” he said. - FMT