About a six-hour drive away from the cosmopolitan capital Kuala Lumpur on the west coast and across the breadth of the Malay peninsula, is the sleepy fishing village of Kampung Rusila in Marang, Terengganu state.

Here, on the east coast, where waves can reach as high as 6m, Hadi grew up as the fifth of nine siblings in a modest wooden home a few steps away from the mosque where his father was the imam.

Hadi's father was a respected religious scholar in a community where most of the men were fisherfolk and gave religious classes to the grandfather of the current Terengganu sultan.

Hadi has followed in his father's footsteps, giving sermons at the iconic Masjid Rusila, and continues to live in the wooden house of his childhood, inherited from his father.

Indeed, Hadi, who has two wives and 13 children, lived in this same humble home even when he was the state's chief minister (1999-2004) and would use the official residence only to host guests.

Hadi, more affectionately known as Ayah Chik by the locals, has been famously quoted as saying he does not mind living as a fisherman as long as the prime minister implements policies based on Islam and is able to save the country.

In 1969, Hadi left for the Middle East, where he would graduate from two prestigious Islamic universities - the Madinah Islamic University in Saudi Arabia in 1973 and, three years later, the Al-Azhar in Egypt.

While in Egypt, he was exposed to the Islamist movement Muslim Brotherhood and influenced by renowned scholars, including Sa'id Hawwa. Sa'id was a Muslim revolutionary and a major proponent of the Islamic uprising in Syria from 1976 to 1982.

After returning to Malaysia in 1977, Hadi was quickly involved in politics, joining PAS in 1978, and soon making an impact.

In 1981, he issued a radical fatwa, or religious edict, that cemented the split in Malaysia's Malay-Muslim community.

Then a 33-year-old rising star in PAS, he declared that Umno, the ruling Malay-dominated party, must be opposed for "maintaining the Constitution of the colonists, the laws of the infidels and the ways of the ignorant".

People who died fighting secular Umno were "martyrs", according to the edict, which became known as Amanat Haji Hadi (Haji Hadi's Message) and which he never retracted.

However, nearly three decades later in 2008, Hadi, by then PAS president, surprised many when he formed an alliance with two secular parties that reject Islamic law - Anwar Ibrahim's Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP).

The opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) won a record five of the 13 states in a general election that year.

PAS, which dropped its push for an Islamic state and adopted the welfare state and "PAS for all" taglines, won another 15 federal seats, from eight, and was the second-largest opposition party in Parliament, after PKR.

PR came close to defeating Barisan Nasional (BN) five years latter in the 2013 general election by winning 50.87 per cent of the popular vote, although it took only 40 per cent of the federal Parliament.

PAS, however, lost two parliamentary seats and became the smallest opposition party. Socialist DAP became the largest partner in the pact when it gained an additional 10 parliamentary seats.

From then, ties within the alliance began to spiral downwards, with PAS reasserting its Islamic agenda following its poor electoral performance.

In particular, the DAP is opposed to Hadi's push for hudud - the Islamic criminal code that allows for punishment such as amputation - in PAS-ruled Kelantan state, and severed ties with the party in March this year.

PAS, in turn, voted over the weekend to cut ties with DAP while staying in PR.

While Hadi had shown pragmatism in joining forces with the secular PKR and DAP, he and other conservatives now appear to be thinking that PAS has accommodated its partners long enough.

There is even speculation that Hadi may join hands with Umno to rule Malaysia.

Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan said Hadi began as a firebrand in the 1980s but became less dogmatic and more rational as he rose up the party hierarchy.

"However, I think the turning point was when he had the stroke in Istanbul," said Wan Saiful.

In May last year, Hadi was rushed to a hospital there after complaining of breathing difficulties during his trip in Turkey. He was discharged a week later.

"It was a near-death experience for him. He returned to Malaysia a changed man. He was no longer accommodating and has become who he is today," Wan Saiful told The Straits Times.

"What drives him? When you are dealing with someone who is very religious in nature, he is not interested in what is happening in this world but is thinking about the afterlife. His thinking is completely driven by what will happen in the afterlife," he said.

Dr James Chin, director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania, said Hadi is driven by his ambition to be the Islamic leader who brings Islamic law to Malaysia.

"He is a strong believer in Malay and Islamic supremacy, thus he is willing to talk about cooperating with Umno to rule. He does not believe in pluralism or multiculturalism... He does not believe in giving political rights to non-Muslims." (***)

Popular

Kadin urges stability after Constitutional Court ruling

Jokowi says transition to new government to begi

BCA loan disbursement surges 17.1 percent yoy in first quarter