Some Secularists Are Really Dumb
Frankly, the acrid debates between secularism and religion are almost obsolete and really belong to the last century or two. Yet, some secularists still cling on to secularism in a religiously fanatical way. This is sad because it deprives Malaysia of room to maneuver in its efforts to find a decent solution for its problems.
By batsman
Some of the most powerful men in the west were extremely religious men hiding under the cloak of secularism. Bush and Blair come to mind. They played and toyed with the religious fanaticism of some secularists to get their way while all the time, secularism is beating a retreat worldwide.
The situation is so dire that even the new bishop of the British Armed Forces says that the Taliban enemy must be admired for their honesty and faith (Taliban can be admired for their faith and loyalty, says bishop – Telegraph ). This can only mean that secular Britain is suffering an enormous plague of secularist deceit and hypocrisy and they are no longer able to see truths or reason without extreme prejudice. Thus far, they sound as if they are only capable of listening to the logic of Blair.
Secularism is in such tatters that the secularists themselves retreat into worshipping a pantheon of pagan gods such as the god of Money, the god of Sex, the god of WMD, the god of Science, Beyonce, Beer, Tiger Woods, etc. In Malaysia, I am firmly of the opinion that some secularists worship the god of Stupidity.
In our efforts to reform our political and legal institutions, one institution comes to mind which is not in the limelight only because of its passiveness. It is the Senate.
I am no legal expert, but as far as I can remember, the Senate has not tossed back a single law passed by our House of Representatives in spite of frequent amendments to our Constitution. This means that senators are just a bunch of puppets of the establishment; so why are we, the rakyat feeding them still, when they are obviously not playing their rightful role?
Unfortunately, with fanatical secularists around, it is not possible to reform this secular institution, even when Malaysian society obviously places extreme importance on religion. Instead, the secularists detract attention from a useless bunch of senators by questioning the role of the Malay Rulers.
To match our institutions to our social obsessions, would it not be logical to keep the Senate but replace the current bunch of useless senators with a Multi-Faith Council that not only vets the laws passed by the Lower House, but also advises the Agong and the government and sits in session to discuss and seek equitable solutions to the difficulties facing our rakyat on disagreements over expressions of religious traditions and guidelines that impinge upon each other?
Unfortunately, since secularism bans all forms of religious involvement in forming the policies of the state, it seems we are all doomed to quarrel “under the counter” forever. This way, stupid secularists make it impossible for Malaysians to find a fair and equitable way out of the complexities of our multi-religious and multi-cultural environment except the current oppressive one of UMNO dictatorship over both religion and state.
In this modern age, would it not be better to openly discuss problems instead of using the ancient solution of suppressing religion under the secular state and ideology? The whole world seems to be confused about what religion really is, yet religion seems to be making a comeback. This gives secularists an excuse to label religious expression as terrorist and fanatical while it is they who are the terrified fanatics and suppress all discussion and experiments at social or religious solutions to problems in order to maintain the pre-eminence of secularism.
We need a new paradigm instead of the ones fostered by secularists called deceit, hypocrisy, suppression, war and violence.
