I must study war and politics that my sons have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
– John Adams, 2nd US President
Psychologists declare that human experience hardly provides us with everything we want – not to be confused with need. Instead, we are by nature compelled to compete, struggle, compromise, and even fight to get what we want. Does that justify the existence of the state (government)?
The ancients believed and imposed governance and control to ensure peace and happiness. If we trace the period 800 BCE to 1515 CE, we experience a seesaw of peace, goodness, happiness, irrationality and injustice under institutional government.
Confucian ethos: “if your desire is for good, the people will be good.” But then Sun Tzu carved another trajectory that “the art of war is vital to the state.” The barbarian can only get to the gate, but shouldn’t happiness and goodness be that gate to stop intruders?
Aristotilean ethos: “man is by nature a political animal” – humans are naturally social and drawn to political partnerships and associations. Should natural selection be blamed?
Aristotle postulated that humans are born with weapons for the use of wisdom and virtue, but they also be used for the opposite ends. Obviously, the politics of the day and age determine the pendulum of choice swinging to the extreme right, or to the extreme left.
The Indian sage Chanakya observed that “a single wheel does not move.” The political animal inherent in mankind thus translates to the power of traction in partnerships and associations in that many wheels facilitate political notions and motions.
Law and justice became a crucial component of the tapestry of the fabric of government. Law became a blinding theme while justice decided to remain blindfolded. ‘Equal justice under law’ is now a cliché wrapped in a metaphor and presented as a veritable psychobabble of jurisprudence.
Augustine of Hippo believed that “if justice be taken away, what are governments but great bands of robbers”. And that pigeonholes government as a necessary evil that can be eradicated by the will and consent of the people.
Before governments existed, there is evidence that human beings and communities thrived and managed their daily affairs with minimum fuss. Soon religion entered the race. Everything was created, and therefore there must be a Creator mused the early theologians.
War and peace entered the rat race, too. Pacifists and warmongers alike clamoured for their voices to be heard and their choices to be had. The Holy Quran (English version) encourages believers in Surah Baqarah 2:216 to defeat the enemy to please God.
The enemy appears in many forms – greed, envy, anger, lying, cheating, addiction, corruption, compulsion, etc. Inner engineering is a great mechanism to shut out the enemy. The self should know best.
Ibn Khaldun highlighted the fact that “government prevents injustice, other than such as it commits itself.” This fact is evident and manifest today in almost every organised criminal government.
Awareness to divine intervention is enumerated in Surah Al Taha 20:6 of the Holy Quran (English version); and in Vaughan CJ’s declaration that “no human authority can make lawful what divine authority hath made unlawful” – Thomas v. Saltmarsh (1674) 124 ER 1098 concerning a land licence.
Saltmarsh was inspired by the Holy Bible as well – Leviticus 25:23, Psalm 24:1, Deuteronomy 19:14, and in hundreds of other passages. It postulates that permanent peace, progress and prosperity are attainable only when government leaders unreservedly obey the Word of God.
The psychobabble of politics began earnestly with the infamous dictum of Niccolo Machiavelli who haughtily declared that “a prudent ruler cannot and must not honour his word” – this outrageous treachery and non-punishable sedition dictated Malaysian politics between 1981 and 2003.
A proactive government should strictly focus on vision, mission, commission, and provision without division. YWB (Your Well Being) – the Peoples – is the only service expected notwithstanding YAB, YB, YM and YA.
Political leaders must avoid being diseased by self-interests and ego. We should not blindly rely on IQ (Intelligence Quotient) tests, but CSQ (Common Sense Quotient) for practical purposes.
Psychobabble politics began between 1515-1848 that witnessed the birth of realism and the social contract (Thomas Hobbes); liberalism and the rule of law (John Locke); republicanism and the general will (Jean-Jacques Rousseau) that impelled Thomas Paine in the American colonies; freedom and personal responsibility (Immanuel Kant); conservatism and the political tradition (Edmund Burke).
All these political psychobabble experiments were planned and designed to determine the best course of action to exercise power and authority by the institution of government. The thinkers, ploticians, shakers, and movers were political revolutionaries who rendered the deep state secretly relevant.
Will a moral code help (Jose Ortega y Gasset)? Is unlimited government preventable (Frederick Hayek)? Is property theft (Pierre-Joseph Proudhon)? Is justice attainable (John Rawls)? The administration of law and justice totally depend upon government will.
Mao Zedong offered the final solution that defines, describes and determines the role of the Pied Piper: “politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.”
Malaysia’s ‘national unity’ is relegated to lip service, spineless enforcement with a soulless exposition. This national psychobabble requires direct action or swift closure. No government is entitled to gamble away the coming generations.
Charles de Gaulle made a point: “politics is too serious a matter to be left in the hands of politicians.”
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune.
