Sunday, August 05, 2007

Theocracy or Not?

I refer to this article in TheStar. I must be missing something here.

Theocracy \The*oc"ra*cy\, n.
Government of a state by the immediate direction or administration of God; hence, the exercise of political authority by priests as representing the Deity.
Secular \Sec"u*lar\, a.
Of or pertaining to this present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to temporal as distinguished from eternal interests; not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly.
According to our dearest PM, we are not a theocracy, meaning that we are not a government directed by god. However, we are also not secular, meaning that we are not not a government directed by god. So, we are neither governed nor not governed by god. My silly little logical brain just cannot comprehend this logic.

I'm even more confused by the statement that secular nations only allow religions practised at home and not being able to build churches, temples, mosques. The only countries where any of these things are banned from being built are theocracies. Both statements cannot be true at the same time. We cannot possibly be neither nor both.

We are either theocratic or we are not, in which case we are secularist or we are not, in which case we are theocratic or we are not, in which case we are a secularist or we are not, in which case we are theocratic or we are not... (ad infinitum) ... This is what we call an infinite loop and it represents bad design and control within a software programme.

Unless of course, our PM has decided to invent a new form of government. The Pseudo Quasi Random Secularist Theocracy (PQRST)! He must be a genius for inventing this new form of government that does neither anything nor nothing at the same time. This must be the new Tao of government. I am impressed.

I give up! My brain cannot process anymore. It's currently 3 am here. Time to go to bed!

UPDATE@1950: I think that our PM probably meant that we have a very unique situation that does not fall squarely into any single definition. According to the article, he said that "This diversity has enabled us to live in peace and harmony. Let us continue with our own unique Malaysian way". The article goes on to say that "The Prime Minister said the country had progressed with its unique formula for 50 years and was now successful."

Well, that's probably why I couldn't understand what was happening. My logical mind is unable to comprehend this new style of government that neither is nor isn't theocratic or secularist. Goodness me. We are at the brink of something that the whole world has never seen before. The Secular Theocracy.

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