 I believe many fail to see that our God wants to be merciful to our nation. This is my hope.
As we celebrate and review our country’s 50 years of nationhood, and with the general elections round the corner, it does seem that we are caught between problems and positivism.
Problems indeed abound. Before the older generation of the 80s has got a chance to forget the Bank Bumiputra fiasco, the Perwaja Steel scandal, new scandals emerge over a huge development in Port Klang, and the National Service purchases, and now the latest bad news is the Judiciary debacle.
Then there is the “malady of positivism”. With rumours of elections round the corner, the Government and media are sure to churn out the “good stuff ” about the nation, and how other nations should emulate us. Sure, there is much to celebrate, and to be grateful for. I am proud to be a Malaysian, but I have no plans to die blind.
Recently, a senior Public Accounts Committee official lamented about having the right to highlight and query without the right to prosecute. This is but one of the many sad testimonies of our lack of political will to put things right in our country. Furthermore, in this modern day and age, one can still be detained for one’s religious belief. It is small wonder that William Backman bemoans that Malaysians can be so taken up with “Malaysia Boleh” when we are actually close to becoming “Malaysia bodoh”1. I don’t agree with the spite in which it is said, but an “outside perspective” can be sobering.
We are naïve to think that if we don’t talk about it, all is well – we Malaysians are becoming well known for solving problems this way.
The Church is caught in between.
What are we to do? Amidst the myriads of solutions, one stands out - straddled between problems and positivism, I believe the Church must be prophetic. And part of the Micah’s prophetic message is to “do justly” and “love mercy” 2.
It’s obvious what to “do justly” means. May the Church continue to speak out against, inter alia, lack of transparency, abuse of public funds, and corruption. But the prophet implores us at the same time to “love mercy” – this to me is the missing key. To love mercy is to move away from “blind positivism” and at the same time, refusing to stand with naysayers. This delicate balance is not easy to achieve.
I believe many fail to see that our God wants to be merciful to our nation. This is my hope.
We have won the war against communist insurgency, we are rich in natural resources, hardcore poverty is set to be eliminated by 2010, the income divide has been narrowed, we have a fairly impressive GDP, survived the Asian financial crisis – understandably Joseph E. Stiglitz describes us as the “Malaysian miracle”.
So not only is there hope, but there is much hope for our country.
Someone once asked Mother Teresa how she could remain undaunted by the enormity of the task. She replied that she used subtraction. Every time she cared for a destitute person, she was subtracting from the despair and adding to hope.
Every time you and I do a good deed, speak a good word, and propagate whatever good we see in our nation, we contribute to the “math of subtraction” – this is to love mercy and to be prophetic. Let us do just that… there is indeed much hope for our land.
1 Article “While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry” dated Nov 15, 2006
2 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (Mic. 6:8, NKJV)
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