Before we the 4th installment, I thought it would be nice to repost some of the comments in one blog post which I thought was helpful to get a wider input … Read on … (I’m keeping the words in blue as one of the invisible blue gang member 🙂 ) but for the comments let’s go for green.
From Christian Perspectives on Politics in Malaysia I
The phrase some people use is radical.Being a radical Christian is a good thing but in politics? The key issue is collision. Like Bersih, burning the Jalur Gemilang is not radical but outrageous and the particiants were not Christians.it’s better if Christians could limit combining forces with people who can’t seem to agree with our terms which is the way of peace, with no intentions to incite hatred when delivering the truth.
Are you by any chance suggesting that BERSIH advocates the burning of the Malaysian flag?
Are you saying that the participants of BERSIH did not include Christians? BERSIH comprises over 70 organisations including multiracial DAP and PKR as well as highly regarded NGOs like Suaram, Aliran, CIJ, DEMA, JERIT, SOS Penang, etc. and I’m more than 100% sure that there are Christians among them! Sue me if I’m wrong!
Are you also suggesting that only Christians love peace??? And BERSIH and everyone else incites hate???
Wow, I’m getting riled up at this over-generalisation and misinformed remark, and I’m not even Christian!
Edwin Paul,
Who told you it was Bersih participants who burned the national flag? Until now no one has been arrested for that.
I’m a Christian and I was there on 10/11 and so were many of my church members and even my pastor
What makes you imply that Bersih intended violence and incited hatred?
Med,
I’m just as riled up.
From Christian Perspectives on Politics in Malaysia II
I think every Christian has the right to speak up his mind despite it’s consequences but always for the good of everyone and the glory of God. For some believers, the church could be the only place to pour out their feelings and burdens regarding politics just like about their own personal problems.
Of course some believers dislike political sermons from the pulpit but I think most of us are actually directly or indirectly involved in it. I noticed that in my church whenever the pastor talkes about the political situation of our country from the pulpit, the sleepy-head members are actually wide awake.
As a Lutheran (Tamil) church goer myself, political subjects are common before or after church not to mention phone text messages on updates during the service ( which is inappropriate).
From Christian Perspectives on Politics in Malaysia III
Interesting interview 
I think that many who claim to be “apolitical” are actually by default “pro-government”. Can’t run away from this. That’s my 2 cents … now anotother 2 more cents!
If it is true that the Christian population is 9.1% (baserd on the 2000 census) and the Indian population 7.7%, the Christian population have a much bigger voice than the MIC and other smaller Indian based parties!!!
Of cousrse this is only if we are willing to unite for the many issues that we should have no problem agreeing on. Issues related to justice and human dignity are broad areas we should have no problem agreeing upon.
If we can’t, then it is a BIG shame. if we want to be non partisan, then I am sure we can be mature enough not to care who came up with a good idea / policy and whose name is more prominent if the cause is right and God is glorified since we will have to agree (happily or reluctantly) that the Kingdom of God comes before denomination or personal name
If the govt sees it important to allow MIC a voice (albeit a small one) because the percentage of Indian citizens are still significant (when they kind of unite …), how much more if the Christians unite for causes that are not just beneifical to Christians / Church but for the nation?
edwin paul,
juz outta curiosity, whr did u hear abt tis flag burning incident?
i was one among the many of the 10/11 bersih participants who was present at the “flashzone” of masjid jamek from the beginning until the end when we dispersed to march towards the istana. even when subjected to physical attacks by the gorilla enforcers of pdrm, i did not witness even one single ugly (or as u hv defined it, “outrageous”) incident such as tat of flag burning. on the contrary, one of the many epiphanies i had on tat eventful day was from observing the victims who stood resilient despite multiple blows at the receiving end of the teargas and water cannon. they had displayed tremendous restraint instead of giving in to retaliation by way of violence. and to these brothers from PAS, i salute them, for even under the most arduous of maltreatment, they did not buckle. it has certainly made a whole world of difference in how i view them and their religious faith now.
Oh come on Edwin, you can’t be that passive about this, can you? 😀
While I personally feel that public walkout and protests are something we need to work on, it being something in its infant stages here in Malaysia, something needs to be done and we can all contribute to it in our own way. The point here is, affirmative action must be taken to make sure that we get heard. But in our own way.
So some of us are frustrated with the political situation… Lets do something about it. Depending on what gifts the Spirit has blessed us with, we can do something to contribute to a cause that will benefit the country. The people in Bersih came together for a common cause by walking throughout the city to send a message. If you don’t want to protest, fine. But don’t sideline these people and imply that they’re not doing the right thing. Being patriots in their own little way, it would stupid of them to burn the flag. They defeat their purpose in doing so and suppose, no one who’s suffering for the country’s sake will do such a thing. Amen.
I think it was in reference to the roadshow by BERSIH in Batu Burok, Terengganu where a ceramah was supposed to be held. The crackdown was pretty bad too and the press focussed on an unknown individual who was caught on camera burning the flag. However, it was not mentioned who that individual was and how that person was affiliated with BERSIH plus the photograph was allegedly taken a few hours after things have settled down.
What the press didn’t mention though, at least until much later, was that 2 local residents were shot by plainclothes police officers; one in the chest and the other in the neck. And instead of investigating the officers for a possible unlawful discharge of a firearm in a public place, the 2 victims were charged for rioting instead. Go figure.
In fact, it kinda reminds me of what the Chinese government did after the 1989 Tiananmen protests. After sending in tanks and armed troops to break up the protest, and in the process causing quite a few deaths (the actual figure is still disputed, from a few hundred to a few thousand), the propaganda machine swung into action and the victims quickly labelled 土匪 (bandits) or 流氓 (rogues).
With their absolute control of the media, it wasn’t too difficult and the fact remains that in China today, most young people below the age of 25 cannot identify some of the more iconic symbols of that period like the photograph of the solitary man who stopped a column of tanks or the statue of the goddess of democracy. And for those that do know a bit about what happened, most of them are not aware that it originated in university campuses nationwide and are under the impression that it was a mob riot.
Apparently we learnt quite a bit from that. Of course this is a different age and the “culprits” would most probably be labelled 恐怖份子 (terrorist) today .. kinda like how, depending on which audience is being addressed, a Malayalee can be accused of being a Tamil Tiger and groups like BERSIH villified as being a Malay movement (hence implying that its none of our business).