Friday, August 5, 2011

1 Dystopia

It is indeed interesting to note that we live in a nation not unlike Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union. When all it takes is a phone call, an unverified complaint for the authorities to barge into your premises, invade your privacy, go through your personal belongings and generally subject you and your own to humiliation and degradation.

Have a think about that. For there are no lines here. It could happen to anyone. You have a disgruntled neighbor? Well all he has to do is pick up the phone and say there’s an unmarried muslim couple in your home and before he can put the phone down there’s a bunch of people at your door demanding entry and forcing themselves in if you refuse. While that neighbor watches smugly by.

All it takes is for some obnoxious teen whom you told off to call the authorities and report an illegal gathering either of people or beliefs and next thing you know there are police (either moral or legal; probably both) to kick your door in and arrest you.

We live in such conditions here in Malaysia, and it is appalling. The latest case of the joint raid by Jais and the Police is merely further evidence. That entire raid arose from, and this is as reported, an unverified complaint, a phone call. It is not a new reality for those who know. The rest of us just don’t give it much thought, couldn’t be bothered or are just unaware. Until of course it happens to them, when they are the next victims. Our civil liberties in terms of our privacy, whom we asscociate with, how and where we gather is virtually non-existent.

The parallels drawn with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were to highlight one major observation of those times. Aside from the semantics, the police state etc, the bulk of the people living in those dystopian, authoritarian regimes all shared one common emotion. Fear. Fear not of the authorities ( a given with the absolute authority of the state). Nay, added to that fear was fear of their neighbours. Fear that all it took to plunge their lives into misery was an unverified complaint, a phone call, to have the machinery of state breaking your doors down, invading your private property, going over your life with a fine tooth comb and possibly arresting you for various ‘offences’. And we have that here in Malaysia. Have a think about that ….….

1 comment:

bro said...

Well, talking alone is not enough.
You must realise why or how.

The fact is that Malays like Hassan Ali is the one breaking down doors to lovers room.

So you know, PAS, extremist dakwah are the people behind this.

So do ourselves a favour. Shun them.

Tell it to their face their concept of religion is wrong.

What is wrong with that because it is indeed not religion but nazism as you say.

Not all Malays think that way. So like minded Malays must band together agaisnt this minority Malay pussy checking group.