Sunday, 01 April 2012
Super Admin
Yes, religion is about power. It is
about control. It is about domination. It is not about God. God would
never be so cruel as to make us fight. God has been used. God’s name has
been smeared. And most of humankind is gullible enough to allow this
manipulation of our mind to perpetuate. Politicians need religion. They
need religion to con us. And, boy, have we been conned big time.
NO
HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
A drowning man
clutches at straws. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Half a
loaf is better than no bread. How many more clichés can you think of to
describe the human mind? And is this not what most Malaysians are
feeling at the moment? And we hide behind the comfort of denial rather
than face the reality of our pathetic situation. This is a sign of
desperation, which many Malaysians are feeling at the moment.
The Malaysian Muslims and Christians have
brought their war to a new height. At the moment it is still just a war
of words. I doubt it is ever going to go beyond that. Malaysians do not
have the stomach for blood. Oh, of course, they would threaten blood.
But that is all it is, threats and sabre rattling. Muslims would never
dare cut off the heads of Christians, or vice versa.
Christians believe they will go to heaven. So do
Muslims. Is it separate heavens or the same heaven? Both Christians and
Muslims believe that there is only one heaven. The other place is
called hell. Hence there can’t be one heaven for Christians and another
for Muslims. But if only one is going to heaven then the other must be
going to hell. And both Christians and Muslims believe it is they who
will be going to heaven while the other is going to hell.
And heaven is supposed to be a good place. It
is supposed to be a better place than the present world, which is sort
of like hell on earth. If heaven is a better place than the present
world then why are they all so scared of leaving this world? If this
world is such a terrible place while heaven is a better place by far,
then I would expect everyone to rush to get into the other world. But
they are not. In fact, they would fight tooth and nail not to die so
that they can remain in this present world.
So what are the Christians and Muslims fighting
over? Are they fighting to prove that they are from the better religion?
Are they fighting to prove that they are the true religion? Are they
fighting to prove that God has chosen them above the others? It seems
like both would like to believe that they are right and all others
wrong.
Both Christians and
Muslims claim that God is loving, God is just, God is fair, God is
forgiving, in short, God is everything that humankind is not. Why would
such a God want to compartmentalise us into different religious beliefs
just so that we can go into conflict with one another? Would that not
sound like a God with a sick sense of humour?
Both Christians and Muslims claim that a Prophet
from God came to earth to preach the true religion. Both Christians and
Muslims claim that their Prophet left them a holy book. And both these
holy books taught brotherhood to those of the same faith and death to
those of other faiths. Both Christians and Muslims preach love but
practice hate.
From time
immemorial, religion has been used to manipulate and control the minds
of the populace. And we are seeing that happen in Malaysia today. The
current conflict between the Christians and Muslims is not about
defending God. Is God so weak that He needs defending? Did God
personally call them up and instruct them to defend Him? Which God? The
Christian God or the Muslim God? Both say that there is only one God. If
there is only one God and if both are serving the same God then they
are both doing the common God’s work. So why the conflict?
The Umno Malays are worried. They think that
they are going to get whacked good and proper in the next general
election. And the people who are going to whack them are going to be the
non-Malays-non-Muslims. Maybe 80% of the Chinese and 50% of the Indians
are going to vote Pakatan Rakyat. And if 50% of the Malays also vote
Pakatan Rakyat, like in 1999 and 2008, then Umno is doomed for sure.
So Umno needs to win back the Malays. They tried
to win back the Malays by playing the race card. But it is not working.
So they need to up the ante. They need a more powerful weapon. And a
more powerful weapon than the race card would be the religion card. It
is easier for races to unite. It is impossible for religions to unite.
The churches and mosques have made sure of that. India broke up because
they are of many religions although of one race. The Middle East is in
chaos because they are of many religions or sects although all may be
Arabs. So religion is more potent than race. Hence, if race does not
work, then resort to religion.
So Umno
ups the ante by playing the religion card. They know that if they whack
the Chinese there would not be such a fierce response. But if they whack
Christianity, that would guarantee a response.
The Malays have always been divided since before
Merdeka. Malay unity is a fallacy. The Malays have never been united.
Race can never unite the Malays. But religion can. If Islam were seen to
be under attack then the Malays would set aside their political
differences and unite under the banner of Islam.
This is the new strategy. And the strategy
appears to be working. What we are seeing in Malaysia today is a
division along religious lines. It of course takes two hands to clap,
another cliché. It would not work if only one hand claps. It needs two
hands. Hence, if the Muslims whack the Christians, they need the
Christians to whack back. Then the Muslims can see how hostile the
Christians are.
Try telling the
Christians to shut up and not respond. Let the Muslims whack. Don’t
retaliate. No way this can happen. Christians are doing God’s work, just
the Muslims are. Anyway, what gives the Muslims the right to whack
Christians? And why do the Christians not also have the right to defend
themselves? This is not justice. Why turn the other cheek when we can
take an eye for an eye?
But would
not what Umno is doing antagonise the non-Malays-non-Muslims? Would
that not drive the non-Malays-non-Muslims away from Barisan Nasional?
Would the non-Malays-non-Muslims not end up voting for Pakatan Rakyat?
So what? An expected 80% of the Chinese and 50% of the Indians are
already going to vote Pakatan Rakyat anyway. There is nothing the
government can do to change that. Anything that the government does is
not going to bring back the non-Malay-non-Muslim vote. So the government
had better just focus on the Malay vote. Just make sure that 50% of the
Malays do not vote for Pakatan Rakyat like in 1999 and 2008. Try to get
back the Malay votes like in 2004. That is the only way that Umno can
remain in power.
A drowning man
clutches at straws. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Half a
loaf is better than no bread. So better get back the Malay votes. Never
mind about the non-Malay votes. Those votes are already lost anyway.
There is no longer any hope with the non-Malay votes. Concentrate on the
Malay votes and make sure that 50% of the Malays do not vote Pakatan
Rakyat. Try to make sure that at least 65% of the Malays vote Barisan
Nasional. Then Umno can afford to lose 80% of the Chinese votes and 50%
of the Indian votes.
Wars, death
and destruction over thousands of years have always been about power and
greed. It has always been about territorial gain and political
domination. And religion has always been cleverly used as the
camouflage. And this is what we are seeing in Malaysia today. Never mind
if they are Christians or Muslims. Both are the same. Both use religion
for political gain. And through political domination comes power and
wealth. Hence Christianity and Islam are nothing but political movements
disguised as God’s work.
And it
is very easy to fool those who believe in religion. Religion is based on
the intangible. It is based on the unproven. It is based on faith.
Hence, when the mind has been conditioned to believe in what may be
illogical, then it is very easy to pull the wool over their eyes and
pretend that you are doing God’s noble work whereas all you are doing is
manipulating peoples’ gullibility in the pursuit of power.
Yes, religion is about power. It is about
control. It is about domination. It is not about God. God would never be
so cruel as to make us fight. God has been used. God’s name has been
smeared. And most of humankind is gullible enough to allow this
manipulation of our mind to perpetuate. Politicians need religion. They
need religion to con us. And, boy, have we been conned big time.
