The Prophet and the Polls Hadi Awang’s Dream Amid PN’s Downfall

Nehru Sathiamoorthy

I don’t have much to say about the philosophical and theological meaning behind Hadi claiming that he met his prophet in his dreams, but I do have a political interpretation.

For context, Hadi Awang has recently resurrected an old story about how he had met the Prophet Muhammad in his dreams, and in the meeting, the Prophet had told to unite the Muslims.

Philosophically and theologically, I don’t know what to make of supernatural claims like the one that Hadi is making. Although I am convinced that 99.9999 percent of the supernatural or miraculous claims that people make are the result of lies or delusions, the older I get, the more I am questioning the incredulity of the remaining 0.0001 percent.

It occurs to me now that a subjective experience cannot be summarily dismissed as false or illusionary merely because it cannot be objectively verified. A truth after all, is what stands the test of experience, and an experience is something that can be internally appreciated, without necessarily leaving any impression in anyone else’s external experience.

But saying that, regardless of what is my opinion about that 0.0001 percent of cases that cannot be summarily dismissed as the product of lies or delusions , one thing I do know for sure is that whatever it is that happens to us in a supernatural moment, it is of no concern to anyone else but us.

If we feel that we have to share our supernatural experience to a crowd, then this is a mundane decision that we make for worldly reasons like the accumulation of power or influence.

It is on the basis that Hadi has chosen to publicize his internal experiences, rather than whether Hadi’s internal experiences are true, that I am interpreting Hadi’s proclamation.

Politically speaking, I see Hadi’s decision to resurrect his meeting with his prophet in a dream as a sign that Perikatan Nasional is close to throwing in the towel in its contest with Pakatan Harapan.

That Hadi is now resorting to extraordinary claims of miracles and supernaturality is to me a sign that Perikatan Nasional has reached a dead end in its attempt to conquer Putrajaya. That is why Hadi is scraping the bottom of the barrel. This is his last attempt to keep Perikatan Nasional politically relevant. If Hadi can’t make an impact even after resorting to such extremes, I believe that Perikatan Nasional, or at least PAS, is close to waving the white flag and suing for peace with Anwar.

When the 2022 general election ended, talk was rife that something called the “green wave”, or the counter reaction of the Malay-Muslims towards the victory of Pakatan Harapan, which was perceived to be not favorable to the Malays and Islam, would sweep across the nation and cause the Pakatan led unity government to collapse before its time.

For quite a while, it did look like Perikatan Nasional had the potential of harnessing that green wave and ride it all the way to Putrajaya.

That however, is likely no longer the case.

To Anwar and Pakatan Harapan’s credit, despite facing the rough sea with a rickety boat in the last two years, PH’s fumbling captain and coterie of officers on the deck, like Captain Jack Sparrow and the crew of the Black Pearl, have somehow managed to navigate the unity government through the storm and take it to calmer waters.

In a few weeks, Anwar’s reign would have reached two years. In those two years, the economy did not crash and Anwar has also proven his worth to the working class, both foreign and domestic, by taking such significant actions to raise their wages and increase their social security. Despite what his critics claim, nothing has also happened to the Malays and Islam under his watch.

Now that Anwar has crossed the half way point and is now closer to the end of his term than the beginning, no one has any reason to want to see his government to fall and every reason to want him to finish his term.

Next year, we will also see the Sabah state election and in the year after that, the Sarawak state election will also be before us. The battleground is shifting. If in the last two years, the main political contention in the country was between PH and PN for the right to rule Putrajaya, next year and the year after that, the political battle that will receive the most attention from the nation will be between PH and the East Malaysian parties for the fate of the Federation.

So where does all this leave Hadi and PN?

Considering everything, I’d say that until the next general election is called, Hadi and the PN will likely have nothing else to do other than to waste away while waiting idly or implode from within.

In other words, in the next two years, Perikatan Nasional is going to fade away in importance from the eyes and mind of the people. On one hand, it has lost the battle for Putrajaya and it doesn’t look like will get back to its feet before the count is up, and on the other hand, it also doesn’t look like it has what it takes to join in the fight for the fate of the Federation in Sabah and Sarawak.

It is perhaps in recognition of its abject state of decline and deterioration that Hadi is resurrecting a 10 year old supernatural story about him meeting his prophet in his dream.

When you feel like a winner, you are interested in politics and power but when you feel like you are the least, the lost or the last, it is in religion that you will seek refuge.

I am not the least bit surprised that Hadi is getting even more religious today than he usually is.

At the rate that Perikatan is sinking, I won’t be surprised if Muhyiddin also starts talking about miracles and signs in the foreseeable future too.