Ahh awakeee
Oh which side was I on...lemme switch..
Commencing Argument.
Throughout the ages, greedy men have prostituted religion for their own selfish needs. They have used religion as a double-edged tool to satisfy the people's hunger for deliverance, and at the same time to amass power and control over them. Emperors, tyrants, dictators, Kings, community leaders and even a few Popes in history, regarded it as an effective instrument to subdue their people.
The purpose of any religion, be it God-sent, Man-made or culturally derived, is to provide its followers with a daily guidance on how to live peacefully with oneself and with one another. These instructions differ from one religion to another but all have equally pure intentions. Monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam portrays the vision of one God and that all our actions in life will be used to decide whether we go to heaven or purgatory on judgement day. In Hinduism, God has many representations and man undergoes reincarnation upon death. Buddhism expounds that every man can ultimately achieve the state of Enlightenment, through cultivation of the mind and by practicing moderate values found in the Middle Path.
All religion requires a certain degree of faith among its followers to sustain its existence. It is obvious that there is still no convincing scientific proof that can explain the workings of any religion. Thus followers are compelled to a certain degree to have complete faith and belief in their religion, and to follow its tenets or teachings.
Although faith is the pillaring strength of most religion, unscrupulous leaders see it as a weakness that can be exploited for their own advantage. They rush to the forefront to be associated with religion and declare themselves to be its defenders. Through this crafty act of self-appointment, followers are hoodwinked into believing in their leaders' proclaimed sincerity; and thus start to develop faith in them, just like they have total faith in their religion.
These leaders know that once they have garnered their people's trust and faith, they would have achieved their ultimate goal of total control. From then on, they can freely create policies to govern their people, which most of the time favour the rulers and ensure their continuous political survival.
These are the leaders who also know that they need to generate a regular concoction of crisis amongst the people to justify their own continuous existence. Contrary to popular belief, crisis can actually help the government to maintain its power. It is through resolving these self-invented situations, that leaders can be seen to be doing their work, and thus gain the people's confidence and support.
Throughout history, leaders and revolutionists have used this tactic to gain and maintain power. Most of the time, it ends with devastating results and the loss of many innocent lives. In 1947, when India achieved Independence from the British, they had to create a separate country called West and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) due to the threat of civil war by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who was then the unofficial leader of the Indian Muslims.
Immediately after the declaration of Independence, there was a massive migration of people across the newly designated borders. Millions of Muslims travelled northwest and northeast into these new countries, and the non-Muslims, travelled southward into India. This chaotic period was marked by religious violence, which left an estimated 2 million people dead.
The Independence was supposed to be a joyous and peaceful occasion for the people, who could at last rule their own country. But radical political figures had misused their religion to gain control of a separate country for themselves. Once ignited, the spark of religious violence spreads very fast and it ended with a conflict, which continues until today.
In Malaysia, the Barisan Nasional Government is starting to realize that racial issues are no longer viable as a crisis stoking mechanism. Through the advent of globalisation and the Internet, various cultures all around the world, including Malaysia, are starting to assimilate each other's values. Malaysians are beginning to consider themselves as citizens of the world, and no longer view themselves as a particular ethnic race. After all, there is only one race in the world, and that is the HUMAN RACE.
For that reason, the Government is turning its sights to religion as the next powerful tool to control its people. In a land where most of its population are obsessed with symbolism and idolism, religion is a very powerful tool to ignite a crisis between the various groups of people in the country.
Thus we see our self-righteous leaders in various States scrambling for the honour to become holier than the leader of the next State. The Chief Minister of Perlis has extended the school hours to introduce more religious and morality subjects. In Ipoh, the authorities have been issuing summons to innocent courting couples in parks, whose only crime was to show their love for each other. And in Selangor, the Chief Minister himself is patrolling the town to round up prostitutes.
Who are the victims in this entire fracas?
It is obvious that the two main casualties are RELIGION and THE REST OF US.
People will begin to view religion other than theirs as hostile and uncompromising, and thus rendering it a bad name. Animosity will grow among followers of different religion and the crisis, which has been anticipated eagerly by the Government, will appear as a result.
Religion and morality should remain as the personal responsibility of an individual. The Government should not dictate how a person prays or practise his or her religion. A Government's duty is just to administer the country to ensure a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere throughout. Only the well-learned religious leaders should handle religious matters.
However, it is sad nowadays to note that there are some dubious religious leaders who also double up as politicians and conversely, there are politicians who also put on religious apparels. These two characters are the ones who will not allow THE REST OF US, to privately discover the beauty of our own religion. These are the two characters who will always highlight the differences between the various religions but diligently attempt to hide their similarities.
The truth is that all religion guides us to become a better person. If we allow self-serving politicians and ambitious religious leaders to come in between our RELIGION and US, we will never learn to appreciate the common values, which is shared by all religion.
