Imagine

If only the governments of 1,400, 2,000 and 3,500 years ago also saw what Umno sees today. How nice this country would be. It would be a beautiful country undivided by people believing in so many religions.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there're no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one.

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one.

(John Lennon)

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Now imagine this.

Imagine if 1,400 years ago, the Mekah government had introduced the Internal Security Act, the Sedition Act, the Societies Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Printing Press and Publications Act, the Police Act and all those many Acts that exist in Malaysia, today.

Under these Acts, no citizen may gather in groups of more than four people without government permission. No citizen may publish books or periodicals without a permit. No citizen may utter any statement that may make the people turn against the government and the established system as inherited from their ancestors before that. No citizen may oppose the government or say anything perceived harmful to the government. No citizen may reveal the shortcomings, excesses, transgressions and wrongdoings of the government. In short, no citizen is free to talk or act in any way that the government does not like.

Imagine if that happened 1,400 years ago. Then the man they call Muhammad would have been prevented from talking and spreading what the government then considered as lies and harmful to the established system. He and his band of followers would have been arrested and thrown into jail. The established order would have been saved and would not have been perverted by the teachings of this man called Muhammad who claimed that his message came from God.

And if they had also done the same 2,000 years and 3,500 years ago, there would be no Jews, Christians and Muslims in the world today. And, today, the world would be a peaceful place. Malaysia too would be a peaceful place. There would be no Jews, Christians and Muslims in Malaysia. Every Malaysian would be a follower of just one religion. Malays, Chinese and Indians would share the same religion and would not be divided by so many religions like they are today.

No wonder those people in Umno defend laws such as the Internal Security Act, the Sedition Act, the Societies Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Printing Press and Publications Act, the Police Act and all those many Acts that exist in Malaysia, today. Umno says these laws maintain peace and stability in Malaysia. If only the governments of 1,400, 2,000 and 3,500 years ago also saw what Umno sees today. How nice this country would be. It would be a beautiful country undivided by people believing in so many religions.

Umno realises what those people of 1,400, 2,000 and 3,500 years ago did not realise. The Internal Security Act, the Sedition Act, the Societies Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Printing Press and Publications Act, the Police Act and all those many Acts that exist in Malaysia are good laws. These laws unite people and keep them together. These laws prevent irresponsible people from dividing the citizens.

If only they realised this 1,400, 2,000 and 3,500 years ago. Today, we would all be one people of one religion and not divided by so many religions. But the governments of 1,400, 2,000 and 3,500 years ago failed to see this. And they failed to introduce laws such as the Internal Security Act, the Sedition Act, the Societies Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Printing Press and Publications Act, the Police Act and all those many Acts that exist in Malaysia, today.

And that is why we are so divided, divided by many religions that were allowed to flourish and were not nipped in the bud in the early stages before they spread and became popular. The Internal Security Act, the Sedition Act, the Societies Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Printing Press and Publications Act, the Police Act, and all those many Acts that exist in Malaysia could have prevented this, 1,400, 2,000 and 3,500 years ago.

And that is why Umno wants all these Acts to be maintained. Umno realises that allowing citizens too much freedom is bad for the country. It divides the people. And this was proven when 1,400, 2,000 and 3,500 years ago the governments of that time did not introduce these laws which would have prevented all these new religions from emerging, thus dividing the people like how they are divided today.