Generational End Game Another Tool Of The Fascist State

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"So we are actually not talking about children, we are talking about people who are 18 years old who can vote and in the Constitution, certain freedoms are guaranteed, that is they have the right to make a choice on smoking.”
- Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (BN-Padang Rengas)
You may be a smoker who will not be affected by this bill. You may oppose smoking and think this bill is a great idea.
However, let me be very clear, this fascist bill will have a deleterious effect on civil liberties and civil rights in this county. A country that is already failing on both issues.
National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM) president Dr M Murallitharan, said something really stupid. He said, “By not voting for the bill, you are the one who is promoting our next generation to become addicts.”
Really? So anyone who does not support the death penalty for drug smugglers is supporting drug smuggling?
Murallitharan delivered his memorandum to two members of a race-based party, Umno. Does this mean the good doctor supports race-based parties and discriminatory public policies?
Here is a bill designed by an older generation for an upcoming generation, which would face environmental, economic, social, racial and religious problems created and sustained by the generation before them.
And the best our current MPs can come up with is this bollocks bill?
How come these MPs do not want to have a generational end game for environmental issues? How come these MPs do not want to have a generational end game for racial issues?
How come these MPs do not want to have a generational end game for religious extremism, economic inequality, or corruption?
Instead, what these MPs want is to penalise an upcoming generation, to impose even stricter controls of freedom of choice, and you can bet your last ringgit, use this horse manure bill as a precedent to further impose control on a society which will suffer from the worst environmental, economic, social, racial and religious excesses of the generation that created this bill.
Power to stop and search
I have always said racial and religious extremism always goes for the low-hanging fruit. Why? Because they know nobody will oppose something that is at a distance and does not affect them immediately.
Look at the power that this bill – amended or otherwise – gives the state security apparatus.
For the grave offence of smoking, the bill gives the state security apparatus “power to access personal data that requires the user to give up the password on their devices; to open one’s bag; to stop and search a vehicle; and to forcibly enter one’s home for search and seizure, with or without a warrant, that includes body searches.”
Forget about privacy and individual liberty because the state security apparatus – for smoking mind you – “may” open any bags, packages or containers to examine any tobacco or vape products “for the purposes of this act”, without specifying any particular suspected offence.”
Does anyone really think we are talking about smoking here? Consider this - we know how discriminatory the system is. This allows the state to access information or harass people, based solely on the suspicion that a person is a smoker.
Imagine the kind of information that could be accessed by the state security apparatus on merely the suspicion of smoking, and imagine how the state could use this to harass people and they would have the legitimate means to do so.
And keep in mind that the political elites and the rich of society will be shielded from this law - as they are now by other oppressive laws.
What this law would target are poor and disenfranchised kids. They would target small businesses and whole ecosystems which revolve around larger governmental projects, which again would make corruption easier to sustain.
And please, spare me the bull manure about alcohol having a safe threshold. This bill is a test run for limiting the sale of other products that the religion of the state finds unacceptable.
And you can bet your last ringgit we will have people coming up and saying that if MPs do not support this bill, they are supporting alcohol addiction.
It is typical of the state of politics in this country. Instead of tackling issues head-on like corruption, floods, environmental devastation brought upon by corruption and mendacity, racial supremacy which is destroying the fabric of our society and religious extremism which is destroying our moral foundations, the state chooses to use this bill as some sort of achievement worthy of praise and emulation.
And the supporters of this bill blindly support it for vainglorious reasons.
Caring for the next generation
Let me be very clear. The generation this bill is supposed to save is going to live through an environmental disaster brought upon by the incompetence and corruption of an earlier generation.
They are going to have to grapple with racial and religious issues brought upon by a changing world order. They are going to have to live in a country where our public and personal spheres are practically nonexistent because of political and religious upheavals brought upon by the dereliction of duty by the older generation.
If you really cared about the next generation, you would end race-based parties. You would curtail the spread of religious dogma and promote a secular foundation, where every young person regardless of religious beliefs is protected.
You would propose and implement science-based legislation that would protect the environment. You would create an atmosphere through policy where corruption is considered anathema.
Instead, what this government is doing, and what MPs who are thinking of supporting this bill are doing, is removing choice and personal responsibility from the equation.
They are laying the foundation for the state to have total power over the choices a future generation makes.
I would use the term Orwellian, but even this term falls short. - Mkini
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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