Race and religion do not separate people, ignorance does.
— Matshona Dhilwayo, Canadian author
THE age of disorder is a persistent monkey on our shoulders. Man-made disorder is competing with Nature’s assaults. In the grand scheme of things, man alone is bent on self-destruction. It’s the very nature of the beast.
Malaysia is no stranger to this ominous age. Transparency, decency, dignity, and obedience to the laws are abandoned while other sinister government policies provide flickering shadows in this recurring wayang kulit.
Unabated disorder from government sponsored toxins intoxicate our society as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — race, region, religion and the ringgit. These are like four pillars in the temple of doom controlling the narrative.
Ruby Bridges summed it up nicely: “Racism is a grown-up disease, and we should stop using our kids to spread it.” We witnessed school children brandishing toy swords in support of a faraway war not long ago.
Disorder is the direct result of mental illness. All major religious texts and tenets mention this fact. There is growing evidence that the adage ‘peace comes with strength’ is a veiled threat to maintain disorder while betraying a sick mind.
We want peace. We got the firepower. This is Uncle Sam’s motto. But, when another superpower fires up its armaments-building programmes, political disorder erupts with threats of sanctions that create more disorder.
The aftermath of the 1969 general elections sadly entrenched the age of disorder when race and religion were relegated to symbols of perpetual disunity. The Rukun Negara, the Federal Constitution and other laws exist as silent sentinels and mere props in a macabre political theatrical production.
Thirsty vampires roam unchecked. Political witchcraft is rife. Whenever something good evolves, the naysayers feel threatened and insulted. This gives them the excuse, reason and purpose to spew thoughts into maddening words and action betraying severe mental illness.
Does the Madani government imagine and believe they can last with this age of disorder until GE-16? PMX chastised the troublemakers without calling for strict enforcement or implementation of the laws. This is demeaning. This is outrageous decaying disorder.
PMX is not without power to put an end to this madness. If he instructs the appropriate agencies to investigate, to check, to probe or to confirm, some imbecile will come out of the woodwork and claim that such executive actions are politicised. And he should not indulge defending his executive vantage point.
We have become a nation of lawbreaking leaders. “When the crowd is headed in the wrong direction, walk alone,” advised Matshona Dhilwayo. He added that “a right minority is superior to a wrong majority.” This is not rhetoric or polemics.
What do Malaysians have in their arsenals to upend the age of disorder? Do we have to rely on elections? Do we need experimental political systems to blot out recycled old folks in government hanging on to old ways, hopes and dreams?
Civil servants and judges are required to retire upon reaching 65 years. But not the prime minister and others above retirement age. Discrimination and double standards by the WIPs (Wealthy, Influential, Powerful) sustain greater disorder.
Malaysians do not forget that the age of disorder may have the undeniable and unstoppable power to ban and burn books, boycott scholars, blacklist intellectuals, banish dissidents, but they cannot blot out ideas. Ideas have consequences.
The Dewan Rakyat is a gladiatorial arena for the age of disorder to function and flourish as justification for a legislature. Listen to the psycho-babble. Standing Orders are just another theatrical prop. Do we need this lackluster institution which costs millions of taxpayer ringgits to maintain?
And what precisely has the Cabinet achieved since GE-15? Is Parliament the pit-stop for decisions, or another showroom for models of leadership that nobody wants to emulate?
The judiciary continues to rely on the common law while vacillating between the phenomenal and noumenal. “Experimental jurisprudence” awaits discourse, debate and deliberations. Dialogue with the common law alone fails to offer remedies in law where the clash between (current) social facts and repealable laws is unavoidable.
Malaysians need a non-Westminster model to access justice, not just the law, to suffocate the age of disorder. A comprehensive makeover has become utterly necessary so that litigants can be constitutionally connected to their rights. The existing disconnect is unhealthy.
The ‘Royal’ imprimatur attached to the PDRM and the Armed Forces speaks volumes for the executive (and non-ceremonial) role of the YDPA. Thus Article 182 Federal Constitution (Special Court) urgently needs amendments to remove the malicious stigmas imposed by a Machiavellian-minded former prime minister.
PMX should effectuate a sea change with every available resource. Make decisions. Take action. Introduce measures to confront and control our institutionalised biases. Fix the fundamental fault lines. He has the two-thirds majority in Parliament. The path is clear.
The path to political wisdom (phronimos) is not littered with unwanted debris. Religious texts open minds, and offer opportunities, solutions, remedies and answers. It will be remiss of our political leaders to use them only for recitation, prayer and worship.
PMX must speak truth to power. Malaysians are not seeking a utopian summum bonum. Most seek an oasis of solace and comfort somewhere between ‘cari makan’ and leading debt-free lives.
It’s a toss-up between order (people-centric government), and disorder (ethno-centric policies). Who decides? Who chooses? Who wins? Who loses?
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
