A sign of desperation

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.