Abdul Hadi Awang


Abdul Hadi bin Awang is a Malaysian politician and religious teacher serving as the Member of Parliament for Marang from 1990 to 2004 and again since 2008. A president of Malaysian Islamic Party, he served as the 11th Menteri Besar of Terengganu from 1999 to 2004. Hadi previously was the 8th opposition leader from 2002 to 2004 and was formerly a vice-president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.
Born in Terengganu. Hadi received his education in neighbourhood schools before furthering his studies at the Islamic University of Madinah between 1969 and 1973, and later at Al-Azhar University. Upon his return to Malaysia, he joined Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia in 1977, where he quickly became its Terengganu state chief. A year later, Hadi joined PAS and contested the Marang state constituency in the 1978 general election. He rose quickly through the ranks. He became the deputy president of PAS in 1989 when Fadzil Noor was elected to the party presidency. He remained as the deputy until 2002, when Fadzil died of a heart attack, resulting in Hadi succeeding him as the president of PAS and has been the longest-serving president in the party's history.
Hadi is a highly controversial politician in the country. Since the 1980s, he has routinely made incendiary remarks against non-Muslim minorities as well as local Muslims who do not subscribe to his ultraconservative religious views. Consequently, he has often been the target of investigation by the Royal Malaysia Police.

Early life, family and education

Hadi was born on 20 October 1947, in Kampung Rusila, Marang, Terengganu. He is the fifth child of nine siblings; four of them are already deceased.
His father was Haji Awang Mohamad bin Abd Rahman while his mother was Hajjah Aminah binti Yusuf. They are also deceased. His father who was Tok Guru in Kampung Rusila was also a political activist of Hizbul Muslimin Terengganu. Similarly, his bonds were the place of reference and the focus of society, especially in religious matters. Hizbul Muslimin was banned by the colonists, at the will of the ruling party. A few years after the ban, Haji Awang Mohammad emerged as one of the earliest to introduce the struggle of the Malay Se-Malaya Society in Terengganu.
Hadi was given an early education by his father beginning in 1955. Later, he was educated formally at the Rusila National School before continuing his secondary education at Marang Religious School. He then pursued Sanawi's degree at the Sultan Zainal Abidin Religious Secondary School, Kuala Terengganu. In addition, he studied religion, Arabic and politics with his father.
He furthered his studies at the Islamic University of Madinah for a Shariah bachelor's degree funding by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the support of the then-vice president of the Islamic University of Madinah Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Baz.
After about four years in the Arabian Peninsula from 1969 to 1973, he earned his first degree in Islamic Shariah. He furthered his master's degree at Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, in political science from 1974 to 1976.

Early career

Community education

Shortly after finishing his studies and returning to his homeland, in 1976, his father died. Hadi then decided to continue his father's duty of being a khatib and delivering khutbah every Friday morning.

Non-government organization

He served as an officer for the Terengganu Islamic Foundation from 1977 to 1978, and at the same time as Terengganu Chief of Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia.
In 1978, he began teaching at the Maahad Al-Ikhwan, a private school set up by a few young PAS youths in Mengadang Akar, Kuala Terengganu.
In 1982, when ABIM President, Anwar Ibrahim left the organization and joined the United Malays National Organisation, Hadi joined PAS with Fadzil Noor and Nakhaie Ahmad.
Along with these three, some of the ABIM leaders who joined PAS included Mohamad Sabu, Abdul Ghani Shamsuddin, Husam Musa, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, Abu Bakar Chik, Muhamad Mustafa and Mohammad Daud Iraqi.

Political career

Early political career

Hadi has been active in politics since 1964 when he was studying in high school. He has been entrusted as a branch secretary in the PAS village Rusila, Marang.
In 1976, he was appointed Terengganu PAS Youth Chief and the Central PAS Youth Council Exco. In 1977, he was elected to the Central PAS Working Committee. In 1978, he was appointed acting Vice President of the Central Center and later confirmed to the post in 1980. In 1983, he and Nakhaei Ahmad were once again elected as PAS Vice Presidents. In 1989, he was elected PAS Deputy President after Fadzil Noor was elected as President of PAS.
Following the death of Fadzil Noor, he was appointed Acting President of PAS in 2003. He officially became the PAS President after being ratified at the convention in 2005.
At the 61st PAS Muktamar, he was challenged for the first time for the post of PAS President by Ahmad Awang. However, he managed to defeat his challenger with a majority of 695 votes.

Rose to prominence

He joined the election after returning home in 1978 where he was entrusted to contest the 1978 General Election in Marang state constituency representing PAS. He lost by 64 votes to BN's Tengku Zahid Tengku Musa. In the 1982 General Election, he was nominated by PAS again for the Marang seat and won with a majority of 320 votes, but lost in the Dungun Parliament, which was also contested, to Haji Awang Jabar.
In the 1982 election, four other PAS leaders in Terengganu won their state seats—Haji Mustafa Ali, Haji Harun Taliib, Haji Abu Bakar Chik, and Haji Wan Abdul Mutalib Embong.
In 1986, he retained the Ru Rendang seat defeating Abdul Latif Muda and has retained it until present day. However, for the Marang parliamentary seat that year, he lost to Abdul Rahman Bakar. He won the seat in 1990 and in subsequent general elections except during the 2004 General Election.
After PAS's victory in Terengganu in November 1999, he was appointed as Menteri Besar of Terengganu until March 2004, as well as being the Marang Member of Parliament. He was also the Federal Opposition Leader from 2003 to 2004, replacing Fadzil Noor.

Menteri Besar of Terengganu

Early time

Hadi was elected the 11th Menteri Besar of Terengganu officially on Tuesday, 22 Syaaban 1420 corresponding to 2 November 1999, when he was 52 years old. The ceremony for the declaration of the appointment of the Chief Minister and 10 members of the State Executive Council was held at Istana Maziah, Kuala Terengganu, on 2 December 1999.
He was also the state commissioner for Terengganu when he was appointed Menteri Besar to replace Wan Mokhtar Ahmad after PAS won 28 of the 32 state seats in Terengganu in the 10th general election. The party also won seven out of eight parliamentary seats; the other parliamentary seat was won by Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Hadi I cabinet of Terengganu

  1. YAB Tan Sri Dato' Seri Tuan Guru Haji Abdul Hadi Awang
  2. *Menteri Besar
  3. *Chairman of the Land, Mines and Forestry Committee
  4. *Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee
  5. YB Dato' Haji Mustafa Ali
  6. *State Executive Councilor
  7. *Chairman of the Economic, Petroleum, Industrial and Human Resources Development Committee
  8. YB Dato' Tuan Guru Haji Harun Taib
  9. *State Executive Councilor
  10. *Chairman of the Committee on Education, Da'wah and Shariah Implementation
  11. YB Dato' Haji Wan Abdul Mutalib Embong
  12. *State Executive Councilor
  13. *Chairman of the Local Government, Housing and Environment Committee
  14. YB Dato' Ustaz Abu Bakar Chik
  15. *State Executive Councilor
  16. *Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock
  17. YB Tun Dato' Mohd Salleh Abas
  18. *State Executive Councilor
  19. *Chairman of Hisbah Committee and Special Duties
  20. YB Dato' Haji Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut
  21. *State Executive Councilor
  22. *Chairman of the Committee on Entrepreneur Development, Small Business and Consumer Affairs
  23. YB Dato' Haji Yahaya Ali
  24. *State Executive Councilor
  25. *Chairman of the Infrastructure Development Committee, Public Utilities and Communications
  26. YB Ustaz Haji Abu Bakar Abdullah
  27. *State Executive Councilor
  28. *Chairman of the Welfare, Social and Health Committee
  29. YB Ustaz Haji Awang Dagang Jusoh
  30. *State Executive Councilor
  31. *Chairman of Women and Non-Muslim Affairs Committee
  32. YB Ustaz Haji Wan Hassan Mohd Ramli
  33. *State Executive Councilor
  34. *Chairman of the Sports, Culture and Tourism Committee

    Achievement

The achievement of Hadi while serving as the Menteri Besar of Terengganu were encouraging despite being denied the petroleum royalty as provided under the Petroleum Development Act of 1974.
Among his achievements were in the education sector where he helped consolidate both formal and informal educational institutions in the country. He instituted a higher zakat collection from 2000 to 2004 with a total of RM122.4 million compared to 1990-1999 under the UMNO administration where the total was only RM85 million. In the case of land reform, he reduced the land charge premium from 20% to 10% and exceeded the target to settle an arrears of 50,000 land dispute cases each year.
He instituted transparency in logging activities increasing the premium of RM60.6 million to 15,000 hectare in 2003 compared to premium of RM17.9 million for the same amount of hectares during the UMNO administration in 1997. He helped to reduce the poverty rate from 17.3% to 14%;
He helped introduce Five Working Days policy in 1999, which was followed by the Federal Government in 2000. He introduced 90 days maternity leave and seven days leave for fathers. He assisted with the abolition of the pedicab permit and the fees for small traders, abolished toll collection at the Sultan Mahmud Bridge, and re-established the Islamic Law in the state constitution with the introduction of several laws based on the Al-Quran and As-Sunnah.