COMMENT In politics, only bores are insufferable.

And bores, by definition, are those who redouble their efforts just when they have lost sight of their goal.

That the PAS No 1 leader has lost sight of the opposition's goal of wide-ranging political and economic reform of the country - misgoverned by Umno-BN for at least two of the last six decades they have been in power - has become plain to see.

That Abdul Hadi Awang thinks a provenly incorrigible Umno may now be susceptible to persuasion of the Islamic sort, has led him to backpedal his party from outright opposition to its longstanding rival, to tugging at their sleeves with reformatory advice.

That several from among the leadership of the party think of this proposition as some kind of joke was reflected in remarks that a critic of his within PAS, Husam Musa, made at a Pakatan Harapan fundraiser in Petaling Jaya on Friday.

Harapan - the new coalition linking PKR, DAP and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) formed on Sept 16 - clearly thinks that Husam's joining them by enlisting with Amanah would add furlongs to their appeal.

But the state assemblyperson for Salor in Kelantan declined the invitation, though he did not refuse their offer to speak at the fundraiser where he held Hadi's "advise Umno" proposition to the derision it deserved.

In the process, he showed it may be more useful to the opposition's cause for him to stay put in PAS - if only as a foil to the dizzying reasoning and flipflops of the party president.

He drew this out to comic effect in remarks he made at the Pakatan fundraiser.

'Only following Hadi's footsteps'

He said he did not anticipate disciplinary action for appearing at a public function with Harapan leaders because Hadi himself had recently set an example by sharing a public stage with Umno president Najib Abdul Razak.

He was referring to the gathering in Kuala Lumpur of alumni of Al-Azhar University in the middle of last month where Najib and Hadi were not only seated next to each other but were attired in matching colours , telltale signs of a new cordiality between the top two leaders of the largest political parties in the country.

Husam quipped in anticipation of criticism of his being seen together with Harapan leaders that he is “confident that I have the blessings of the president and my party, as I am only following his footsteps.”

In a neat dig at his party's pretentions to Islamic rectitude and to an adviserial role vis-a-vis Umno, he said: “My party is a just party, (a) good (party). (PAS) will not sack me for attending this ceramah and for coming to 'advise' all of you who are here.”

Malaysian politicians are not known for a penchant for irony which must have made Husam's playing Hadi's aspirations to 'advise' Umno to broad effect a source of refreshment to the audience at the fundraiser.

“If the PAS president can dispense advice to a stubborn Umno, then why shouldn't we advise our old friend DAP, too?” he quipped.

Husam indicated he would not confine his adviserial exertions to just fundraisers for Harapan; he would broaden the role to include joint campaigns with Harapan partner parties to "advise" voters to throw out the Umno-BN regime.

This is tantamount to giving the broadest contrivance to Hadi's 'adviser' trope that the PAS supremo wheeled out to justify his rapprochement with Umno.

Informed opinion among oppositionists holds that Hadi does not quite know what he has bargained for by proposing an adviserial role for PAS vis-a-vis Umno.

Be that as it may, but the best role at present for Husam - who would regard as anathema any tie-up between PAS and Umno - is to stay put in PAS where he can expose his president's gaucheness to ironic effect.

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.