“This is because the sin of insulting Islam is bigger than the sin of insulting the courts, which is minute before God”.

– PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang

COMMENT | The common narrative that young PAS supporters tell me is their admiration for party president Abdul Hadi Awang’s commitment to Islam.

Some non-Malays naively think that someone like Hadi should be ignored or dismissed and this is the main reason why the theocratic forces in this country have been gaining ground in mainstream politics.

Of late, Hadi has been overtly calling for the dismantling of whatever is left of our secular and democratic state. His recent call for the faithful to rise and defend Islam against “parties who try to divert them from the ‘real’ religion” is a call for insurrection against the government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Hadi is smart enough to understand that with the Madani government going after old corrupt sacred cows of the political establishment, the system is afraid to retaliate against the theocratic establishment.

There are a couple of reasons for this. The prime minister has been desperate to...