There is only one crime: robbery

Can you see that everything in the end boils down to just one thing -- robbery. Anything taken from the people or denied the people is an act of robbery. You rob the people of this, that or the other. So our struggle must be to oppose these robbers. Anyone who short-changes the people is robbing the people. And I can see robbers on both sides of the political divide. Even in Pakatan Rakyat, just like in Barisan Nasional, there are robbers.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Yesterday I wrote about lust, the foundation of humankind (READ HERE). It was a good experiment in presenting half a glass of water and then watch whether people would say that the glass is half-full or half-empty.

People with a positive mind would say that the glass is half-full whereas those with a negative mind would say it is half-empty. Most readers who posted comments saw the glass as half-empty, which means these people have negative minds.

I am not sure whether these 70 or so readers who posted comments in that article reflect the sentiments of the 800,000 readers of Malaysia Today but we certainly cannot say this is the majority view.

The funny thing is one reader even interpreted my article as a Chinese-bashing article. I suppose this reader sees everything as Chinese-bashing. I bet if I were to say that Hari Raya Puasa should be a one-week holiday just like how some Chinese businesses close for one week during Chinese New Year they would also interpret it as a Chinese-bashing comment.

Malays have this very idiotic tendency to sometimes see everything as positive. When my Tok Guru’s infant son died he praised Allah (Alhamdulillah). I could not fathom the logic in praising Allah for the death of your infant son but then Tok Guru explained that infants have no sin so that means he would be guaranteed heaven. And all parents want their children to go to heaven.

I suppose this is giving a new meaning to the concept of half a glass of water being half-full rather than half-empty.

When they crash their car they say Alhamdulillah the car is not a total write-off and can still be repaired.

If it is a total write-off they will say Alhamdulillah only the car was damaged but no one was injured.

When someone is injured they say Alhamdulillah no one died.

When someone dies they say Alhamdulillah it was a fast death and he/she did not linger in pain for months in a hospital before dying.

If that person lingers in pain for months in a hospital before dying they will say Alhamdulillah that Allah has sent us a message that death can visit us at any time without warning to remind us how close we are to death and for us to repent before something like this happens to us and it is too late to repent.

How do you deal with people who always see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty and every calamity is seen as a blessing from Allah?

That is the ‘old’ Malay, of course. The ‘new’ Malay would probably blame the Chinese for the calamity. “Ini semua Cina punya pasal. Dia orang buat jalan tak betul sebab nak untung besar dan cepat kaya.”

Anyway, today I want to write about there being only one crime: robbery (just like there is only one sin: lust -- the gist of yesterday’s article). And that is why the crime of robbery or theft in Islam attracts a very heavy penalty -- amputation.

Yes, believe it or not, there is only one crime, the crime of robbery. Everything else is a sub-crime of robbery.

When you do not run the country properly you are robbing the people of a good government.

When you do not manage the elections properly you are robbing the people of a clean and fair election.

When you mismanage the economy you are robbing the people of quality of life

When you do not have an independent and professional judiciary and legal system you are robbing the people of justice.

When you force religion and religious edicts/rules/laws on people you are robbing them of freedom of thought and freedom of choice.

When you silence the people and deny them freedom of dissent and the right to oppose you are robbing them of their own opinion.

When you vilify and disparage critics you are robbing them of their right to disagree.

When you do not provide a good healthcare system you are robbing people of a healthy life.

When you do not provide a good education system you are robbing people of freedom from ignorance.

When the police fail in its duty it is robbing the people of safety and peace of mind.

When you distort the news you are robbing people of accurate information.

When you lie to the people you are robbing them of the truth.

Can you see that everything in the end boils down to just one thing -- robbery. Anything taken from the people or denied the people is an act of robbery. You rob the people of this, that or the other. So our struggle must be to oppose these robbers. Anyone who short-changes the people is robbing the people. And I can see robbers on both sides of the political divide. Even in Pakatan Rakyat, just like in Barisan Nasional, there are robbers.

Let me give you one example.

The religionist robbers rob gays of their right to a lifestyle of their choice because, according to them, God does not allow this. How do they know that God does not allow this? They reply that this is what the holy books say. Who wrote the holy books? They say unknown humans wrote the holy books based on quotations from the Prophets of God. How do you know they are Prophets of God? They say this is what the holy books say.

So, unknown humans wrote the holy books based on what they say are sayings of the Prophets and they are Prophets because the holy books say so. Hmm…is this not ‘I am a Prophet because the book that I wrote says so’?

Hence, based on ‘I say so’, I rob you of your right to freedom of choice. And since you do not have freedom of choice you cannot choose your own religion if you are born a Muslim (that used to be the same in Christendom until they burned all the priests alive at the stake, Alhamdulillah). You also cannot drink beer. You will also be arrested if you eat at daytime during the fasting month. You also cannot watch Elton John or Beyonce concerts (because Elton John is gay while Beyonce is too sexy). And so on and so forth.

Robbery is a foul crime. And any act is an act of robbery. And robbers should be shunned and despised. And the worst robbery of all is the act of robbing us of our rights while hiding behind various laws and using democracy as the excuse to rob us of our rights.