Let’s agree to disagree

I’LL be frank in saying I do not at all agree with adding the Rukun Negara as the preamble to our Federal Constitution. There are five principles in the Rukun Negara – Belief in God, Loyalty to King and Country, Supremacy of the Constitution, the Rule of Law, and Courtesy and Morality.

Now, let us be honest – there are those who don’t believe in at least one of the five, and I am guilty of not upholding the fifth principle.

I will admit that when it comes to courtesy and morality, I tend to be cynical and snort with derision especially when it comes to covering politics.

The whole thought that the fifth Rukun Negara – translated as “Good Behaviour and Morality” – becoming a constitutional need for Malaysians to adhere to, just leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

It is bad enough that we have the moral authorities policing so many things, do we really want to make adultery and khalwat part and parcel of unconstitutional behaviour?

Plus, isn’t good behaviour and morality a subjective concept?

Would it mean that if I were to smoke in public next to an ashtray outside the court complex, it would be legal but because a person walking by saw it as “bad behaviour” it may be deemed unconstitutional?

At this point, I guess someone giving the middle finger in the middle of traffic might be deemed as committing an “unconstitutional” act if this motion goes through.

One can only imagine how many stand up comedians will be the victims of “unconstitutional” behaviour simply for calling out a heckler.

More seriously though, it is the first point of the Rukun Negara that I question, and I think Malaysians need to be honest with themselves as well with this one.

Do all Malaysians believe in God?

Because honestly, I have asked this same question since 2007. I do not believe that in our population of 30 million people, there is not a single person who is an atheist – a person who does not believe in God.

Thus, adding the Rukun Negara to the Federal Constitution, even as a preamble, would be attacking the rights of Malaysians to not believe – removing their right to basically say there is no God.

Instead of arguing for the Rukun Negara to be added to the Federal Constitution, there should be a movement to allow all minorities their right to believe whatever they wish – out of the purview of Islamic authorities, of course, since that has been separated into another category altogether.

And then there is a Catch-22 situation when it comes to our Federal Constitution and upholding the law. What if the law is unconstitutional?

Do we still uphold it because it becomes part of the Federal Constitution to do so by adding in the Rukun Negara, or do we challenge it as unconstitutional even if we have to uphold it?

Then, would challenging it become unconstitutional? Welcome to a Gordian Knot, or a syntax error in coding that creates an infinite loop.

Finally, let us talk about this concept of being loyal to king and