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Sunday, August 17, 2014

Conflict And Dispute Resolution 101



UPDATE NEWS : The PM returned home last nite around midnite.


Here is something really simple. Yet too many millions of people ignore this simple truth and end up destroying their own lives and impacting the lives of their neighbours.

Why is it that throughout the world the common law or civil law is so successful? From Japan to Korea, China, India, Africa, Europe, the Americas the law still can provide a useful and workable mechanism to solve disputes and determine some better curse of action. Our country too still can function because we uphold the same system of common laws (based on the British system). Of course there are abuses of the law but the abuses are by crooked people. The law itself is quite robust. Plus if a law is not so good, then the laws can be changed to something better. Laws are not written in stone. They can be changed if the need arises.

Law requires procedures. Real tangible evidence must be presented. 'My grandfather heard from his grandfather' is not evidence. Then there is procedure to collect evidence, verify evidence and present the evidence. All this results in a workable system. That is why the law provides a useful and workable method to resolve disputes.

In government and politics we have the vote. Talk all you want, scream all you want - that is your right. But on one fine day go to the Ballot Box and cast your vote. He who gets the most number of votes or seats wins. And should get to rule - with immediate effect.  There should not be any need to wait for the high tide, the low tide or the moon to rise in the sky.  We are also happy with the process, only citizens are voters, there is a tried and tested voting system. 

Of course in the PKR party their voting pocess is taking five months with no end in sight. And they have kicked out a main contender. As I said, there are abuses by people but minus the crooks and the frauds, the system itself is still robust.  Again this is a good workable system. It is an effective means to resolve political differences. We can accept the Ballot Box as a means of resolving differences. 

Lets go over to science, technology and engineering. I call that "the realm of Allah", 'the true Islam'. The Quranic haatu burhanukum inkuntum saadiqeen at its maximun. It means 'bring your proofs if you are indeed truthful'.

Science, technology and engineering depend 100% on proofs and truths. 

For example "Tensile strength is defined as a stress, which is measured as force per unit area. For some non-homogeneous materials (or for assembled components) it can be reported just as a force or as a force per unit width. In the SI system, the unit is the pascal (Pa) (or a multiple thereof, often megapascals (MPa), using the mega- prefix); or, equivalently to pascals, newtons per square metre (N/m²)."

The precise language of science and mathematics. So lets say the roof of the stadium collapsed. Then say the roof of the mosque also collapsed. Material failure is suspected. So the engineers take samples of the steel that was used and test them.  Then they can confirm or rule out that material failure was the cause. Why? Because there are precise, accepted scientific methods to resolve disputes. The science and the maths itself does not lie. (Only people can manipulate the process, like the PKR elections).

Hence this is also why modern human life has become so easy and comfortable. Because of science, maths and technology. To me this is the real Islam. We simply cannot go back to the Stone Age ok. No way.

OK now lets come to nightmares. What if there is no method at all to solve a dispute. What happens then? 

Before that - what does it really mean? Can there be a situation at all where a dispute cannot find a solution?

What does it mean if a situation arises where "there are absolutely, completely, totally no methods at all to settle disputes". 

The answer is very simple : the dispute or conflict is not part of any earthly reality. It is not real. It is without any real proof. So it cannot be resolved. 

Here are some examples. At what speed does Superman fly? At the speed of light? Less than the speed of light? I think we all enjoy watching the make believe of Superman movies. But do we need to argue with our neighbours about Superman the Movie character? Do we need to hate our neighbours who may not enjoy Superman? Do we become suicide bombers over Superman? Of course not.

We cannot prove anything about Superman. What we believe about Superman would be just that - a blind belief or blind faith. No proofs needed. There is no way to resolve any dispute over belief in Superman based on proofs or logic. It has to be irrational.

If you tell your kids about Santa Claus surely you know that one day your kids will grow up and not believe in Santa. But what if they continue believing in Santa? And start hating their neighbours who do not believe in Santa? There is no way to resolve their beliefs because there is none. It is not based on evidence or reason. It is simply a belief that you taught them.  They may need serious counseling.


What about those who say "My god died for YOUR sins". Come again? How do you prove that?  What if a Hindu or a Buddhist asks what do you mean by "your god died for my sins"?  Can you provide any real proofs? Obviously you cannot. So it simply becomes "take it or leave it".  Or the more malignant  "Either you are with us or you are against us." 

Sin? What exactly is a sin? Do you have any proof for 'sin'? Can you describe it or quantify it? Tak boleh? So what exactly is a sin?

What about those who insist "My prophet rode on a magical steed from here to heaven. He took off from this spot. So because of that this place is very "holy" to me". Ok point taken but how do you prove that to a Christian or a Jew?  Can you provide any real evidence? There is none.

So how do you handle such matters  where there is no evidence or even logic available to resolve disputes?  You can have your interfaith dialogues, you can sit down intelligently around a table and discuss these things. But how exactly do you resolve them? Mana ada mechanism? Tak ada mechanism.

I am compelled to write this because a few weeks back I witnessed a conversation where a Muslim professor said that "the language of heaven is Arabic". Another person, a Muslim lawyer said 'no the language of heaven is not Arabic'. It became a 'yes it is' versus 'no it is not' situation.  

So a small disagreement developed. There was a larger reason for that discussion which I am not at liberty to repeat here because I was party to the discussion. 

But my point is this - what is the mechanism to resolve such disagreements and disputes? There is none. What proof do you have that the language of heaven is Arabic, Chinese or Tamil? There is none.

So my suggestion is this - when we deal with issues that cannot be rationally explained, that cannot be proven to exist in reality, it is best to leave them out of the public domain. Especially the public domain involving State authority. This means the police, prosecution, judicial and penal power of the State. And dont use taxpayers funds to support such matters.

Because these are faith issues. People do believe in them but there is no way of providing solid proofs for these beliefs. When you cannot provide solid proofs or tangible proofs for your beliefs it means that whenever disputes arise over such issues, there is no dispute resolution mechanism.

The only dispute resolution will be :

i.   the State will send you to jail
ii.  I will send suicide bombers to blow you up

I hope the security people will read this carefully. 

What is happening now in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Xinjiang, Mindanao, South Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, maybe Egypt and other places is because of a failure to keep such beliefs inside the home. These beliefs should not be paraded in the public domain at all. Because you have absolutely no proof that 'your god died for my sins, that your prophet ascended to heaven on a magical steed, that your god made the land holy and then gave the land to you' and so on. 

Take these beliefs out of the public domain and we can save Malaysia.

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