COMMENT In a political culture where indirection is the preferred mode of discourse, the pronouncements of incumbent PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang in the immediate prelude to what is regarded as a pivotal internal election is causing him to lose ground to his challenger for the top post, Ustaz Ahmad Awang.

Rarely if ever is the word “tolol” (asinine, mutt) used by Malay politicians to describe the conduct or actions of opponents.  

Regarded as far too denigratory in a culture where if indignation is felt, it is conveyed without menace, and if outrage is caused, it's registered without hard feelings, the use of “tolol” by Hadi to describe party members who after a collective decision, go out on their own to express dissent in social media, is being viewed as the latest demonstration of the president's lack of finesse in handling internal discord.

Never challenged in 13 years as president, Hadi’s ability to project presidential gravitas is untested.

Now, with an unprecedented challenge to his position coming from a theological quarter that was more likely to be deferential rather than disputatious of his scholarly credentials, Hadi is on trial in a way he has never been before.

And his flaws are showing.

His resort to derogatory language to describe the very conduct he himself has been accused of, over the past year especially, is seen as lack of introspection on the part of a leader who is increasingly out of his depth.

In contrast, challenger Ahmad Awang, formerly regarded as a competent ulama of pleasing personality but limited range, is now reemerging as a potential president of rounded edges and non-confrontational style, just what the Islamic party needs to bring together its theologians and professionals who have been at odds with each other for several years.

Hadi has tread an uncertain line during this period of internal tension and strife between the two factions, occasionally issuing statements and making comments that alternated between conciliation and factionalism.

He plunged over into the conservative quarter in the last year or so where his support for the implementation of hudud in Kelantan and baffling gyrations on the issue of a replacement for Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim ( photo ) certified him as a divise partisan in the intra-PAS and intra-Pakatan Rakyat battles.

The challenge to his presidency has arisen from this abandonment of political wariness and embrace of orthodoxy in spite of the obvious costs of deepening divisions within PAS and Pakatan.

Now his use of alienating language, expression of open antagonism towards critics and opponents, and reckless disregard for the niceties of discourse between competitors within one Islamic party, have come across as glaring in its contrast with the deportment of his challenger who has declined to stoop low.

Reservations about his leadership mettle

Hadi has long given cause to people with reservations about his leadership mettle, and that as a leader there isn’t much intellection in him.

His statements and remarks, in the heat of crisis or controversy, have not made the issuer appear to be a leader of considered opinion, deliberative judment and mollifying temper.

Thus far these flaws were hidden under the carapace of his scholarly credentials but now under the pressure of a challenge to his leadership, his religious sheen can no longer camouflage blemishes on the political side.

A lack of introspection is the telltale sign that a deeply religious exterior has not penetrated personal consciousness.

Hadi’s behaviour at the height of the Selangor menteri besar crisis last year showed him up to be a leader who could jarringly repudiate agreements and consensus achieved collectively once he has left the negotiating room or was not in on the discussions despite being represented by his deputies.

Just now his stinging remarks - the opprobrious term “tolol” was used - on similar behaviour by some of the people who may wind up as delegates to the party’s elective assembly next month is actually retrospective condemnation of his own past conduct.

Last week, his backing for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak went down poorly among the PAS faithful, who are said to be 70 percent against the idea of a unity government with Umno.

Hadi has followed that indiscretion with puzzling claims this week that the late Nik Aziz Nik Mat and the jailed Anwar Ibrahim had been in favour of a unity government at the height of the Perak menteri besar crisis in February 2009.

All this is news to PKR and DAP insiders who promptly denied their veracity, denials which depicted Hadi as wanting a unity government with Umno more than the latter wants it.

The impression of a leader out of his depth has gained credence as the election campaign in PAS enters its critical final weeks.

TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for more than four decades. A sobering discovery has been that those who protest the loudest tend to replicate the faults they revile in others.