I HATE YOU AND YOUR IDEOLOGY: MY SUNDAY SERMON

So let us hate each other if we cannot agree on a common ideology. And let us demonstrate this hate by cursing, disparaging or vilifying each other so that there is no doubt left in our minds that we hate each other because of these differences in ideology.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Many Malaysians are of the opinion that it is okay to hate your ideology and that it is equally okay to hate you because of your ideology. And they demonstrate this hate by the comments they make. I should know because I, too, am a victim of these hate comments. Every day dozens of comments are posted by Malays, Chinese, Indians and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak demonstrating the hate they have for me (plus for all those others who do not share their ideology or have a different ideology to theirs).

I suppose humankind has always been like this. Humans have always hated each another and have been killing one another because of these differences in ideology. Some of these ideologies may be politics-driven, some race-driven, and some theological-driven (and some a combination of all). However, whatever it may be, it has always been a source of hate and killings since time immemorial. We hate each other and we kill each other because we do not share the same ideology or we have opposing ideologies.

I have been trying for some time, and quite unsuccessfully at that, to explain to Malaysians that we do not need to hate each other because of ideological differences. We do not need to curse, disparage or vilify the other person just because that person does not share our ideology and holds to a different ideology to ours. Somehow Malaysians feel that there is nothing wrong in hating you because you have a different ideology or you do not share my ideology and that I should demonstrate my hate for you by cursing, disparaging or vilifying you.

Okay, I give up. I know when I have been defeated. If even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is said to have been Malaysia’s most draconian Prime Minister ever, can lament that his greatest failure in his 22 years as Prime Minister was that he was not able to change the Malay mindset, how can I expect to succeed when even a man like Dr Mahathir failed?

So I concede defeat. I, too, will join the majority and will go along with this new Malaysian culture of hating you because you have a different ideology than mine or you do not share my ideology. This is, after all, what being a Malaysian is all about. If you have a different ideology to mine and if you do not share my ideology then it is halal, kosher, legitimate or ‘fashionable’ for me to hate you.

Malaysians have to know, though, that this is not a Malaysian invention. Even as recent as the 1600s people in Europe went to war (civil wars included) because of differences in ideology. In the 1700s they went to war in America because of the same thing. In the 1800s they did the same in the Middle East. And since the 1900s (up to now) the whole world has been at war because of ideological differences. And we do not even need to discuss what the world was like before the 1600s.

So let us hate each other if we cannot agree on a common ideology. And let us demonstrate this hate by cursing, disparaging or vilifying each other so that there is no doubt left in our minds that we hate each other because of these differences in ideology.

We are already doing this quite perfectly when it comes to political ideology. We have successfully shown that we are capable of hating each other if your political ideology is different or opposite to mine. All you need to do is to read the comments posted in the Internet, even here in Malaysia Today, or in Facebook and the other Blogs and news portals, to get a good idea on how we hate one another.

So we do not need to waste any more time regarding differences in political ideology. That would be like flogging a dead horse. After all, we all agree that you are an idiot for having a different political ideology to mine so what more can we say regarding this? I want to move on to the next ideology, which is theological ideology. And there should be even more to hate when it comes to theological ideology.

Just like in the case of political ideology, I think you are an idiot for having the wrong theological ideology. I mean, can you imagine Hindus praying to stone statues and thinking that these man-made stone statues are gods? And what about the Chinese who pray to ancestors and think that the colour of the paper that the money is wrapped in can determines their future? I think those are silly theological ideologies.

Jews, Christians and Muslims believe in Genesis and Exodus, which are part of the two-dozen or so Hebrew Bibles. The majority of the scientists and archaeologists say that Genesis and Exodus are mere myths and that these events could not have happened. And they have given very strong reasons as to why all these events as reported by Genesis and Exodus could have not have happened.

No doubt theologians argue that if there is no evidence that these events did happen this does not mean they did not happen. Absence of evidence is not proof that the event did not happen. Absence of evidence just means you cannot prove that it did not happen. I suppose this is just like saying since they cannot prove that Anwar Ibrahim did sodomise whoever he was accused of sodomising this does not mean it did not happen. It just means Anwar cannot prove it did not happen. Makes sense, does it not?

I have actually read up quite a bit of the research done regarding the exodus (the event, not the book), the forty years wandering in the desert, the subsequent conquests and the creation of the nation of Israel, Joseph in Egypt, Noah and the flood, and much more, and there is absolutely no evidence of all these events ever happening. This, therefore, raises questions as to whether Genesis and Exodus are mere fabrications and fairy tales or historical facts. Evidence, or in this case the absence of evidence, points to the conclusion that these are myths and not historical facts.

And this raises serious problems for both Christianity and Islam. The story of Moses (and Noah as well, of course) has to be factual (historical and not mythical) because this is the very basis for the creation of the Hebrew religion. So, if there was no such thing as ‘Hebrews’ around 1,500 years BC (plus-minus 100 years) — meaning this ‘race’ did not exist yet then — and there were so such cities in existence yet at that time (as mentioned in the Old Testament) that the ‘Hebrews’ were alleged to have conquered 40 years after the so-called exodus, this debunks everything else that follows.

It is very critical for Judeo-Christianity-Islam that all these events did take place. If they did not and if the evidence proves they did not then, poof, Judeo-Christianity-Islam are based merely on myths and not on historical evidence. I mean, around 1,500 BC, Egyptian records, which go back 1,000 years before that time, do not report the exodus or about the existence of Hebrews in Egypt. And the so-called ‘Promised Land’ that the Hebrews were supposed to have reached was still Egyptian territory at that time.

Hence, how could the thousands of Hebrews (who did not exist yet) migrate to freedom when the territory they were supposed to have migrated to was still Egyptian territory? Furthermore, all the cities these Hebrews were supposed to have conquered also did not exist yet at that time and came into existence much later when these stories (that were supposed to have been orally transmitted) were recorded.

I mean, it is like someone writing a history book, say in the year 3,000, allegedly based on fact and saying that the Chinese first came to Malaya by the thousands in the 1100s during the time of the British and settled in Shah Alam when the British were not around yet in the 1100s and Shah Alam did not exist until after 1957 and before that was still just a jungle.

So, I do not share your Judeo-Christianity-Islam ideology (or your statue/ancestor worshipping ideology). Your ideology is different from mine and contradicts what I believe. And since our ideologies differ this gives me the right to curse, disparage or vilify you and to make fun of you and mock your silly ideology. This is how we settle our differences in ideology, whether political or theological. We show you how silly you are for believing in nonsense and for having a stupid ideology and we mock you for it.

Oh, and you Malays, Chinese, Indians, natives of East Malaysia, etc., who have abandoned the beliefs of your ancestors to become Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and whatnot are traitors and turncoats. You should be ashamed of yourself because I am sure your ancestors would be turning in their graves. How can you abandon your ancestors’ beliefs and start believing in myths?