Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.
– Andre Malraux, French statesman
In an obviously lucrative effort to hide the obvious, government builds unnecessary walls or rules or laws to maintain a weird sense of reality, and when they fall away, we’re left with a whole array of illusions. Beware and be wary of smoke and mirrors in every institutionalised belief system.
As non-consensual citizens, wards and subjects of the state, we are consoled by regulation, not innovation. Protesting is non-consequential. Cover-ups in government reflect the political right to sustain smoke and mirrors to distort and refract reality.
Needful and necessary legislation fails to pass muster because they disturb the rice-bowl of image consultants, puppeteers, propaganda pundits and spin doctors who are paid to do the very opposite of what is decent, dignified and developmental.
A discerning public, as whistleblowers, has built a powerful and potent mechanism to catch smoke and mirrors. Law reform is an insult to art. 162(6) Federal Constitution (FC) when judges look askance to the legislature instead of exercising their constitutional right to tweak unjust legislation.
When purpose is replaced by reason, excuse and justification for advancing weird politics, we see the thin edge of the wedge that divides, polarises and conquers. Laments and comments concerning unity become trite and fake. Politicians are invariably hard-wired to staying in power by any means deemed necessary
If people-centric politicians genuinely and honestly believe that they are willing to serve the nation, we will see rapid economic recovery and prosperity rise to greater heights. Blessed with fertile soil, we imported RM60 billion of food in 2022! Are we endorsing officially approved smoke and mirrors?
A vast majority of career politicians see smoke and mirrors as the perfect getaway. It’s a crying shame that they are unable to transform a crisis into an opportunity. There’s a psychological edge to this entire sordid mess.
Believe it or not, the Americans have dedicated March 29 each year to mark the National Festival of Smoke and Mirrors Day to celebrate magic!
It is said that the devil’s finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist. And when that trick becomes a political mantra, it’s the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end depending on one’s attainment of political maturity.
Legislation encourages the smoke and mirrors culture which tries uncomfortably to align itself with pseudo-theological persuasions. For example, ‘thou shalt not kill’ is now subjected to the criminal codes’ interpretation of the mental element (mens rea), and not merely the physical act (actus reus).
Smoke and mirrors laws saw the blinding light in Dr. Bonham’s Case (1610) when a licensing authority was adjudicated as having punishment power only for malpractice, and not for a medical practitioner’s failure to have a practise licence.
Bar associations, societies and councils should heed the essence of Dr. Bonham’s Case, and quit terrorising law graduates to pass the Bar examinations.
Dr. Bonhmam’s Case continues to be cited in the context of bias and judicial independence in cases across the Commonwealth. Admittedly and demonstrably, bias and judicial independence are the best illustrations of smoke and mirrors seen in the context and contours of executive appointment of judges.
Native courts, especially, should not be subservient to the executive and/or the legislature. Admittedly, the federal Attorney General has no authority to discontinue native courts’ proceedings under art. 145(3) FC, but it’s deeply disturbing to accept the constitutional misstep that his power to discontinue prosecutorial proceedings is a blatant usurpation of judicial power making art.121 FC a mockery of a constitutional treachery.
Native courts should be governed solely by de facto customary law (adat), and not by the compulsion of de jure legal positivism. Why not impose adat on legal positivism? It should not be deemed unthinkable since what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander.
The smoke and mirrors vanish in Article VIII of MA63 daring and urging the Borneo Territories to make a beeline to the finishing post of self-determination and self-government where federalism is synonymous with constitutional deception and a thorny affront to public international law.
Constitutionally protected guarantees like race and religion become smoke and mirrors in the deadly game of deception as if magic and illusions are pastimes for the intellectually dishonest, and the morally corrupt. An organic constitution should not be reduced to a synthetic one.
What kind of a culture are we nurturing? We are feeding a gradually growing heinous cult. Our laws, rules and regulations are impotent. Legal consequences are more relevant than moral consequences. Legal relevance emanates from moral reverence, but smoke and mirrors constantly gain primary prominence.
‘Never attempt to win by force what you can win by deception,’ advised Niccolo Machiavelli, and a people willing to enjoy the magic of deception have no claim or right to expect anything decent and dignified from their government.
Such people have inherited the right to perish in the constitutional convulsions that welcome political hurricanes as safe harbours. A majority voting in favour of one suspect political persuasion cannot be deemed a working democracy especially if theocratic propaganda and persuasions sway the votes.
It’s time to re-examine what constitutes a working democracy where race and religion are not seen as an anvil upon which national unity is to be forged.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
