Life is a Struggle
By batsman
Life is a struggle. This phrase is so obvious that there seems no point in writing about it. Yet in many ways, people either forget this lesson or choose to ignore it. And they ignore it in the most mundane as well as exceptional ways.
Take washing machines or DVD players for example. Lots of people go through a great deal of trouble to get the best deal for their money, yet the same persons allow strangers to look after their loved ones without so much as a background check or interview.
It is as if they surrender the decision of looking after their loved ones to something bigger than themselves and which they have no control of, while they feel they have full control over the choice of DVD players they wish to buy.
It is the same with earning a living. Most people take a lot of trouble (I do not dismiss those who even at this stage have already given up) and some even resort to cheating and unethical practices. At the same time, they surrender government over their lives and environment to forces bigger than they and which they accept they have no control of.
It is as if given a choice of controlling 2 things, they will choose to try and exert full control over the smaller and pettier one. I guess it is a way of deluding oneself that one has full control when in reality there is no choice in the matter. Both have to be controlled.
Still the fact that life is a struggle inevitably comes back to haunt them. The people who fought so hard for independence eventually surrender government to political parties which over the years become even more cruel and cynical than the colonial masters. Immigrants who struggle so hard to make a good life in a new country surrender to forces who continue to call them prostitutes and drunkards and consider many generations after them still immigrants without full citizenship rights.
If life is a struggle, justice is equally a struggle. Unfortunately the business of earning a living is immediate while problems associated with justice can be less frequent or seem less urgent. Eventually “life is a struggle” comes back to haunt when unjust laws and corrupt bureaucrats frustrate justice. Sadly, usually by this time, the situation will be even more difficult to handle and the focus on earning a living is no longer voluntary but forced and it becomes dangerous to contemplate fighting for justice. Children are raped or shot by policemen instead of by criminals and false charges and accusations are thrown at the victims.
Ensuring that the laws are just as well as implementation of these laws are just are 2 things that cannot be ignored or postponed for too long. In a society, if someone sees injustice done and ignores it, then that society is in danger of becoming a sick society and the members in danger of being victimized one by lonely one. If one closes an eye when the victim is of another race, then society is even more quickly in danger of being infected by an even more deadly sickness.
Without political maturity and uncaring of abuses of power, civil society is in danger of not being able to defend itself, not just in terms of law, but in terms of rationale and intellectual foundations.
Take for example, the recent campaign to catch bribe givers. There is a reason why the law was heavily weighted to catch bribe takers and not bribe givers. Unfortunately, the intellectual battle was lost when the excuse that the supply side must be cut off was accepted by civil society. This means that all power is now in the hands of the policeman. If he demands a bribe and a citizen refuses, the policeman can now turn the tables and falsely accuse the citizen of offering a bribe. It is one man’s word against another and with the emphasis on catching bribe givers, who do you think the court will believe? Citizens are being made into criminals. Such power will actually make the corruption even more foul. Soon he won’t even have to make false accusations against citizens; he can just shoot and say you tried to run away.
Power is being placed in the hands of policemen when they are allowed to shoot just on mere suspicion. There is no need for a dangerous crime to be clearly committed before the policeman can open fire. The mere suspicion raised by a citizen fleeing is sufficient cause for the police to open fire. Again ordinary citizens are being turned into dangerous criminals and shot as such.
More power is placed in the hands of policemen when it is not just a criminal offence to sell pirated DVDs; it is also a criminal offence to buy one or to be in possession of one. Pirated DVDs are now placed on the same level as dangerous drugs. Citizens are being demoted to the same level as drug traffickers. There is now less and less protection for a citizen, let alone a citizen without full rights.
Of course there are always pros and cons in any argument especially academic ones. Power may be placed in the hands of the police when they are trusted and are assured of being professional in their training and approach. Even then this is only done with a lot of conditions and often with great limitations. However placing more and more absolute power in the hands of the police when they suffer so much suspicion and distrust is a major calamity.
Judgment has lost out to academic argument. Ordinary citizens are being turned into criminals. The lesson here is that until and unless the police are fully trusted, competent and professional, it is better to be suspicious of the police than to let the police be suspicious of you because they are the ones carrying the guns. If we have to learn lessons from the Greeks, let one be “Beware of men bearing gifts and guns”.
Citizens are asked to choose between being bullied by gangsters or victimised by abusive policemen. This is not a choice and it is offered only when the police force is unprofessional and incompetent as well as corrupt.
As a relaxing distraction and to investigate the nature of police mind control further, let us take a look at Singapore. The Singapore police are not as tainted or distrusted as the PDRM. They are seen as professional and not corrupt. Yet what is the result when their police are given absolute power and PAP thugs betray their neighbours at the drop of a pin? Have a read for yourself:
Jeffry Oon – Cost of being global
Elena Torrijos – Unable to retire at 60
After decades of struggle and some early success, the Singaporeans are starting to realize that police mind control can only give rise to people who are at best skilled technicians and only if they struggle hard enough. In the end, they will be overpowered by rich foreigners who flock into Singapore to enjoy the services of willing and eager as well as well-trained skilled technician servants and the good life which they find hard to get even in their own countries where without rampant sycophancy, creativity is able to thrive.
Life is already a struggle. If more and more power is surrendered to abusive policemen, corrupt judges and bad government, life can only become even more of a struggle. One must fight for freedom and for justice as well as for good government. Without struggle, there can be no freedom and no justice just as there can be no life without struggle. I hope the voters of Sibu are thinking long and hard about these things.
