A country whose population has been trained to accept the government’s word and to shun those who question it is a country without liberty in its future. — Paul Craig Roberts, American economist
By Dr Navin C Naidu
A “deep state” is defined as a body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy.
The swift rebuttal that a “deep state” is at work is accepted, lauded and paraded when tragedy pays a courtesy call upon organised government. It works because the governed are ready to accept whatever blather the intellectuals cough up.
According to Frederick Hayek, intellectuals armed with the power of the spoken and written word are naysayers and doomsday prophets “characterised by disillusionment with principles, disparagement of achievements, and exclusive concern for the creation of better worlds”.
In America, it is believed that 30 million government employees in municipal, county, state and federal agencies control almost 350 million of the population. That would mean 30 million government employees (deep state) are able to secretly manipulate and control the people (deeper state).
Ideally, the deeper state has the power of petition, protest, rally and revolt under the Jeffersonian principle of replacing or displacing a government that does not support life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It has not happened — yet.
When Egypt’s democratically elected government of Mohammed Morsi was removed from power in 2013 by the army, the deep state was mentioned as a reason for his fall. When anything goes wrong, a deep state becomes the inevitable reason, excuse and explanation.
Malaysia was also supposedly manipulated by a deep state when the PH government fell because some leaders fell asleep at the wheel of good conscience. Blaming the unknown always works when the unknowable cries for attention.
But the obvious question is what the rakyat is willing to do given the fact that they have the power to vote, or not vote at all. It must be noted that there is no known law or constitutional cure for this situation despite the intellectual hogwash bent on interpreting, not explaining, the law.
The deeper state became evident in the seldom used people power like the one that saw Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos fall without the ballot. But, are Malaysians conscious of the real power they hold? The ballot cannot necessarily be the solution.
There is growing evidence that the culture of envy sustained by a mortal fear of meritocracy is the reason why affirmative action policies are written into law as supposedly an antidote for social injustice, according to Helmut Schoeck in his “Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior” in 1987.
The deeper state can and should react through the applicability of non-violence and non-cooperation themes that the Mahatma unleashed upon the British Raj culminating in India’s independence. Four hundred million Indians indulged in the bandh (total shutdown) to jettison 300,00 Brits that were managing and siphoning India’s vast resources.
Whether Malaysians will be motivated to vent their thoughts, ideas and plans for good governance notwithstanding Sosma, Poca, and the Sedition Act is yet to be realised as a new generation begins to take stock of the situation while the geriatric elite exert power in government.
The deeper state spoke unequivocally, loudly, unerringly, clearly and convincingly on May 9 2018 when the BN government went into near eclipse by the PH agenda and mastery of the politics of the day. No Sosma, Poca or Sedition Act terrorised the rakyat’s preferences expressed as their votes.
Sabah and Sarawak have the luxury to put the realities of the deeper state into its proper perspective so that the people get more enlightened on the nuances of government and political science. This should begin as a compulsory secondary school subject. Our future is in the hands of the youth. They deserve proper training, not denial and preventing access to indispensable knowledge.
Sarawakians, rightfully owning all the natural resources must be cognisant of the Homestead principle which grants them ownership of unowned natural resources by performing an act of original appropriation. Native land rights lawyers must invoke the Bill of Bracery, too, under English law, that prohibited the buying and selling of pretended land titles cleverly concealed during colonisation.
Ultimately, the tyranny of the minority (government) is subsidised and balanced by the tyranny of the majority (the governed). People power is, inevitably, the deeper state of consciousness manifest as the contest between being and becoming.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
