Random Thoughts on Easter Monday Night

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This is a precious time.

Everyone else is falling asleep quietly. Elysia just poked her head up next to me :-) She will slip into her dreams soon (hopefully!)

The ambient music is vibrating … and I’m back with some random thoughts…

Nice to be refreshed by a decent shower, the temperature for the room is just right, I’m slowing down my breathing …

Read briefly on Canonical Theism earlier, looks like a proposal worth some energy especially as I foresee some extra discipline coming for at least 15 weeks while I’m teaching and facilitating the Church History Course in BLC.

Looking forward also to get back to my Master of Theology work which is long over due.

Funny that I got two emails today reminding me that I’m drawn to write more these days, from blurbs to essays, from research papers to whatever needs to be communicated.

Blogging is easier for me. Formal writing … now that takes more effort. But I do feel a sense of fulfillment upon any form of completion.

Human beings are such a strange lot. We shift and change so easily, we are so often undependable, and revolve so much of our lives on our own concerns, and opinions.

Anything, that’s about mercy, justice, and humility are bright little shinning lights that are exceptions, when it’s supposed to be the norm. But the world is not what is is supposed to be … the word “Sin” comes to mind.

But I wonder how many of us are trapped by merely a religious understanding of sin which tends to reduce it to religious observance, and then miss the real consequence of messing up our lives and the lives of others by our choices.

And it comes back to us anyway, whether we are the “sinners” or the ones “sinned against”.

The lead up to Good Friday focused the above themes a little bit more. Easter Sunday shone brightly the power and potential for transformation beyond my imagination.

The Election season was a special interruption for me, there’s still so much I have not managed to process through yet. I think it’s going to take more than the whole year. Some themes will reoccur in my lifetime.

For now, I’m still reflecting on the experience of “zero trust” which is so strange to the environment I am familiar with. The phrase “Politics is dirty” tends to write things off without stepping back to see what people are experiencing in the political process. One thing which struck me is the importance of “Trust”, and the lack of it which is so damaging for society in the long run. And dehumanizing for us as the players in this political theater if remained unchecked.

What is magnified in structures and institutions in the public draws me to think about the personal aspect again and again. We may be able to analyze from a distance, and talk our heads of in opinionated discourse. And the end of the day, what’s going on in public affects one’s personal life so deeply.

I still hear stories and comments which also tells me how for some there is brokenness which is hidden from the public perhaps in the long run will catch up on us. Especially if it’s unattended to. Maybe no one will ever know, no scandal for the papers to write on, no videos for any Youtube craze … but deep down we’re just less then we could have been no matter how many people look up to us.

But it is Easter Monday night … and I don’t want to just dwell on what’s hidden, and what’s broken, what’s sinful, what’s inadequate and what’s wrong.

New hope is here, new paths are possible, new life is available to inject in us a chance for an unknown which is bright, and even beautiful … still scary but not out of a sense of despair but out of a sense of anticipation for surprises, twists and turns of a life of faith, a journey of hope, and a pull of love … reflecting backwards no doubt, but moving forward … step by step.

Elysia is fast asleep now … dreaming maybe.I’m wide awake … centering.

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Take 6 LIVE – If We Ever

Take 6 … now they help bring a unique experience in voices!

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Random Links 235 ("Elections afterglow Edition")

After a break from more socio-political linking during the Holy Week, it’s time to return with fresh "Easter" energy!

‘Boycott the Newspapers!’ Online Petition

It starts today … join us :-) Check out this artistic renditions: Buy no lies! Boycott the local newspapers!

Anybody who is a consumer has the power to boycott. We are in reality empowering ourselves when we say to the mainstream media (MSM): “We refuse to buy into your lies. Therefore we’re not buying newspapers.”

Newspapers are enablers allowing Malaysia’s ancien regime to sustain its self-serving shaping of our world. We believe that civil society is informed enough to protest against being brainwashed by MSM disinformation.

Bitterness

One of the questions I had after the elections was how would the losing parties react.  A good yardstick was did they mean what they said before the election results that they are truly for the people? Calls by the new MPs like this one is refreshingly needed, will the one without position respond? Or how will they respond?

Lim vowed to work hard to win back the trust and support of the Batu voters.

I should say thanks to Lim for his concerns and willingness to serve. I am not sure who among my staff member called him to seek Gerakan’s assistance.

If Sdr Lim is willing and ready, I would like to invite him to assist Batu people. Our cooperation may contribute to better welfare of the residents. I hope he could serve regardless of ethnicity and status, and put aside political differences to fight for a better neighbourhood in Batu.

Siapa yang biadap sekarang

There was so much hoo-ha about Kit Siang’s episode in Perak, what’s going on in Terengganu is worse! These two are good comparative case studies for reference …

Short of Experience?

Some of the best one liners came out during the "ceramahs" … time will show how they play out in the new experience.

During the campaign period, Hannah Yeoh who won the Subang Jaya state seat in Selangor by a massive 13,851 votes, admitted "she was young and inexperienced in politics, but she drew cheers when she said she was ‘clean’."

"Yes, I do not have experience. I do not have experience in corruption."

The Mystery That Is Sarawak Politics

This mystery is still unfolding before our eyes.

Whether we like it or not, the politics of Borneo are a mystery to most of us here in the Peninsular. Despite the almost total sweep of the contested seats in both Sabah and Sarawak, I am pretty sure that Barisan Nasional (BN) would be making a mistake to assume that their position is secure there. I have been informed that voting trends tend to go along personality lines rather than party lines. So I reckon it would mainly be because that the dominant personalities happen to be part of BN parties (for now) that the BN gained the victory that they did in Sabah and Sarawak.

Poverty and the loss of indigenous land rights (which makes a mockery of Article 153 of the Federal Constituton) remains major problems in the Borneo states so there exists also a genuine fear of losing Federal support under such circumstances. Ethnic disparities and divisions, while very much hidden below the surface; can be in some ways more pronounced in the Borneo states than they are in the Peninsular due to the more identifiable ethnic categories in the various professions (sort of like pre 1969 Malaysia).

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