The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence.
– Norman Vincent Peale, American minister who popularised the ‘Power of Positive Thinking’
Elysium, in the year of our Lord 2100, is a haven of recurring delight, pure bliss, constant joy and perpetual peace. There are no known, detected or uncured diseases.
There is no crime, no police force, no standing army. The distinct feature of this haven is that there is no government or governance that was known in centuries past as a necessity for (f)law and (dis)order.
The only governance here is that people fend for themselves and each other because of the plenitude that surrounds them. There are no complaints, fights, quarrels, bickering, worries, complaints — nothing.
No travel documents like visas or passports are required to enter Elysium where you can live forever if you wish to without any impediments by any of its inhabitants. Most important of all, money, as we knew it in the past 800 years is unknown, unwanted, and unnecessary.
There is plenty of food, shelter and clothing — a never-ending supply. There is no need for employment as a Supreme Being takes care of all the basic needs of its inhabitants whose seven senses are fine-tuned to a higher consciousness.
There is no need for television, radio, telephones, cellphones, computers, automobiles, smog, smoke, pollutants, civil unrest, wars and famines. Your only cause for concern is eternal life.
You live comfortably till eternity passes by ever so often. Boredom is unknown. Contentment is the oxygen that keeps the inhabitants going.
One day, a few of the inhabitants decided to visit history, and to enjoy a bout of discussions as to what had happened in the past that wrought Elysium.
One of the leading inhabitants was a former political dissident and lawyer, Obaid Kanstitution, who was arrested so many times for his ultra-strong views and opinions about his government that he spent more time counting the bricks of his prison cell than reading at his home.
Obaid began a fascinating account of the birth and death of government as was known in the past by quoting a law in that country that allowed for citizen’s arrest. This means, he explained, that any citizen could make an arrest and hand over that arrested person to the nearest police station.
The relevant law, he pointed out said this: Any private person may arrest any person who, in his view, commits a non-bailable and seizable offence, and shall without unnecessary delay hand over the person so arrested to the nearest police officer or, in the absence of a police officer, take that person to the nearest police station.
So, as time marched on, he continued, corrupt and crooked politicians were physically caught, arrested and marched off to the nearest police station. As luck would have it, the arrested politician would walk out of the police station because everyone in that police station was also on the take.
The law stated that the arrested person be handed over to the nearest police station. And that was that. Not to be outwitted, the concerned citizens arrested this corrupt politician again, and handed him over to another police station.
The same thing happened — he would walk out with a flashy smile on his face, promptly reported in the local newspapers under the headline, ‘INNOCENT TILL PROVEN GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW’.
He even flashed two fingers at the press photographer depicting a ‘V’ sign like Winston Churchill’s two-fingered version of Victory. He walked out of the police station like a conquering hero, someone sarcastically quipped.
These arrests and subsequent walkouts were happening too often.
The citizens had enough. They declared and decided this an outrage in a huge public rally. Suddenly, mass arrests were taking place. Ninety per cent of government servants and politicians were being arrested, and the police stations in the nation were overcrowded with “government servants”.
The police became worried. The leaders of government panicked. The army was behind the people — the citizens.
Things were looking ghastly for the thieves running and ruining honest government and good governance. The citizens, led by Obaid, formed a Peoples Court with wide-ranging powers based on the law.
This court was staffed by wise, intelligent, intellectually-motivated individuals. Police power was guaranteed by the army now solidly behind the People.
The people came out in full force. Most were middle-class and lower-middle class blue-collared workers. There was an ergatocracy in the making.
The new laws declared corruption when evidenced and proven by the written law to be punishable by death. Mass hangings were the order of the day.
Slowly, law and order took on a different meaning. People became more alive to the true quality of life bereft of politics, politicians, woes, troubles, trifles, money, and government.
Obaid finished his story, and said, “That was how Elysium was established.”
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
