World Without Borders

This morning, as I sat browsing the internet, I came across an article regarding the Schengen Agreement. This treaty was signed by five of the EU countries in 1985. In this treaty, these countries have agreed to abolish border checkpoints at the borderlines of these respected countries.

Usually, when we travel by land to a neighbouring conutry, we will approach a checkpoint plaza (similar to a toll plaza) upon reaching the international border. At this plaza, we will then be requested to submit our passport for stamping purposes. If you travel by car to Singapore very often, you will understand this regulation.

However, when crossing borders between the countries under the Schengen Agreement, there will not be a border checkpoint. Instead, one can just cross over into the neighbouring country, just like driving from Selangor to Perak.


The picture above was taken at the Italy-Switzerland border. It shows motorists queueing up at the border checkpoint, waiting for their passport to be verified and stamped, before advancing into Italy. This is a normal procedure when one wants to go into a foreign country by land.


The picture above shows a visible border between Belgium and The Netherlands (Holland). X marks the line. The NL abbreviation represents the Holland side, whilst the B abbreviation represents the Belgium side. One can simply cross over without having to submit their passport.


The above picture is another example of a checkpointless border. The right-hand side of the road is The Netherlands, but the left-hand side of the road is actually Germany.

A few weeks back, my colleague, Tee Chin Kuen (Ken) offered me a ride to the LRT station. Whilst in the car, we talked about having been in England. And then, he said to me,

"Actually, we can travel anywhere around the world freely. There shouldn't be such things as passports. There shouldn't be borders."

This set me thinking. Initially, there were no visible boundaries. One can travel in and out of a territory freely. It was only after a series of wars and conquers, were then led to the existence of boundaries. And, as tense arose between two rivals, checkpoints came into existence. Invisible boundaries were becoming visible and concrete by the day.

As if that was not enough, travelling papers (passport) were introduced to filter out nationalists, extremists, and revolutionists of national threat. Once filtration was done, one country was booming, whilst the other was headed towards depression.

When a nation of a certain country faces depression, he seeks to travel to the land that booms. Once migration becomes tense, visas were introduced to limit migrations.

When one wants to enter a country, he will be asked,

"What is your purpose of entry? Have you been to this country before? How long will you be in this country? Do you have an accommodation?"

In the old days, the Arabian Peninsula was one single territory. There were no boundaries. It was only after World War I did the boundaries began to emerge. What were once districts/counties became independent nations; Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, U.A.E., Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority. Each of these countries compete and conflict with one another, eventhough they were once a singular nation.

I have a dream. I dream that one day the Muslim countries will unite, and the boundaries between these countries will open, and the nations within it can travel freely from one country to the another. Not only the Muslim countries, but to all places in this world.