Sin's Double Standard
A recent Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research poll found that the public would not accept politicians involved in sex scandals being appointed to senior government positions (The Star Online, 4-2-09).
"People tend to expect leaders to hold higher moral standards than ordinary folks. Hence, they should be free from both sex scandals and corrupt practices," commented Transparency International Malaysia president Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam in response to the poll. He added that the poll was a reflection of the moral and religious values of our society and was thus important in the election of politicians.
Soon after the poll results were released, the Elizabeth Wong scandal broke out when indecent photographs of her were distributed to the press and circulated on the Internet. A PKR member, Wong - the Bukit Lanjan state assemblyman and Selangor state executive councillor - has offered to resign from all her positions for the sake of her party and the coalition Pakatan.
In the midst of the furor, media discussions of the scandal - on print and online - were thick and juicy. One sidewalk commentator said, and rightly so, that if the issue was about a corrupt practice, the talks wouldn't come near to this intensity.
Furthermore, most of the time, politicians caught in the centre of sex controversies have resigned from their public positions to avoid intense media scrutiny and save themselves from further public shame.
Contrast this with those caught in corruption scandals who usually escape their ordeals unscathed. Why is this so? Is it because the public tend to judge a person's morality more by their sexuality than other forms of wrongdoing, such as corruption and cheating?
Lee Wee Min thinks the judgement is based on both - sexuality and other forms of wrongdoing. However, the area of sexuality stirs a different level of interest, which the media capitalises on and it therefore results in greater awareness, says the Executive Director of Focus on the Family, Malaysia.
"It is just like advertisements we see on billboards and magazines. The majority of these advertisements have a sexual appeal and that seems to draw more attention," he says. He is thankful that the Malaysian society still embraces a measure of traditional Judeo-Christian values in areas relating to family life, for instance the sanctity of human life, the traditional marriage as the union between a man and a woman, and the importance of strong bond between family members. He cites the Chua Soi Lek extra-marital affair and Elizabeth Wong case as examples of the importance placed on such values.
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| "I think the problem sometimes is not the darkness but that our light is not shining bright enough." |
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But as Christians, all wrongdoings - whether sexual or corrupt in nature - are equal sins. Wee Min opines: "As far as the Bible is concerned, a sin is a sin regardless of the type or intensity. A wrong is a wrong as God's standard is the plumbline. Sins of any kind do not please Him and separate us from Him. We therefore need to come before Him, acknowledging our sins and accepting Jesus Christ as our Saviour who is capable of forgiving us and setting us right with the Father."
Leaders are expected to hold high moral standards (based on the Merdeka poll). Christian leaders are held to even higher standards, "probably because people know that the God whom we worship and so often speak and talk about is the Holy and Righteous God," says Wee Min.
"As servants and saints of the Living God, the onus is on us to be the light that shines on the hill and the salt of the earth. We often complain that societies are getter darker and darker with the kind of atrocities done by humankind," he laments.
"I think the problem sometimes is not the darkness but that our light is not shining bright enough."
The plea is for Christians, especially leaders, to jealously guard their hearts, for from there springs their conduct and all actions.
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