Skip to content

Sivin Kit's Garden

Planting Seeds for a Better World

Menu
  • About
  • Church
  • Disclaimer
  • Education
  • Writing
Menu

Conversations with Dina Zaman

Posted on 6 May, 20106 May, 2010 by Sivin Kit

minsider_screenshot

I remember our conversations vividly.  Dina is such an energetic person so our time together at Starbucks passed quickly. Yesterday morning I was delightfully surprised over coffee at home (much cheaper!) that bits of our conversation made it into her article for the Malaysian Insider. What was memorable was that it wasn’t just a one way street interview kind of experience, it was extremely conversational, and I found myself reflecting through Dina’s own observations on the topics of mutual concern we had over life, faith, religion, politics, and even academics!

Anyway, the mark of a good writer is how they pick out what was the most essential and insightful to weave it into their overall focus of their final piece.  I think Dina lifted out of the treasure chest of words in our conversations the essence which motivates me personally to do what I do.

Here’s the excerpt on my segment, but read the whole piece for other conversations for the wider context and other conversations.

Pastor Sivin Kit is not an unknown name among Christians and Malaysians who engage in inter-faith discussions. I had heard his name before, bandied about among cultural activists, and we made contact on Twitter. His tweets on his thesis, congregation and family exhibit calm and a lot of love.

We finally met at Starbucks. To talk about our country, our faiths, our people.  A one-hour conversation over hot chocolate and a latte would not solve anything, but I wanted to know what he thought. From the cows’ head incident to Perkasa. what would a non-Muslim who would be considered a second-class citizen in the eyes of many think of Malaysia 2010?

“We do not know the real conversations outside, there must be more discussions on the ground,” Sivin said. “The good thing about such efforts is that there are people who want to engage, and to get to . the Malay heartland, we need to create a conversation with the imams, the penghulus. I do not want to assume that they, too, are not thinking about it.”

It was difficult to predict if Malaysia would “improve”, said Sivin, who added Malaysians needed to ask whether these debates were a fad. His thesis on Malaysian churches and social-political engagement was his own personal exploration of our motivations – what drove us to be who we are now?

“Our understanding of God should affect how we live with each other. If you take away hope, what do you have?”

A friend replied in an email to me with this observation, “It reads as if her article started off with a lot of hope after her conversation with Sivin.. then by the end after the various encounters, she almost sounds resigned and plaintiff.” What do you think?


Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Moved to Medium
  • The End | The Beginning
  • I Will be Back …
  • It’s Been a While …
  • GE13 Malaysia: Who to Vote for? (A Christian Contribution)

Recent Comments

  • Malaysia: Government Vows to Review Web Censorship Law After Protest · Global Voices on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • List of Participants in Internet Blackout Day! « #Stop114A on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • Join Us and Support Internet Blackout Day « #Stop114A on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • JB on Imagining My PhD Journey
  • Alex Tang on Imagining My PhD Journey

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

CALENDAR

May 2010
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  
« Apr   Jun »
  • Academics
  • Bangsar Lutheran Church
  • Beyond
  • Bible
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • Christian Year – Lent
  • Church
  • Conversations
  • Emergent/Emerging Churches
  • Events
  • Family
  • Five Sentences
  • Friends in Conversation
  • Fun stuff
  • Gracious Christianity
  • Ideas
  • Images
  • Leadership
  • Learning
  • Lists
  • Lutheran
  • Lutheran Church in Malaysia & Singapore
  • Malaysia
  • Meditation
  • Micah Mandate
  • Mission
  • Movies
  • Music
  • New Stuff
  • Norway
  • Norwegian Notes
  • Personal
  • Philosophy
  • Podcast
  • Preaching
  • Prezi
  • Project 365
  • Random Links
  • Random Thoughts
  • Random Tweets
  • Random Utterances
  • Religion
  • Resources
  • RoH Malaysia
  • Second Thoughts
  • Seven Series
  • Simple Steps
  • Spirituality
  • Technology
  • Theology
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • World
  • Worship
  • Writing

Archives

  • November 2020
  • November 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005
  • March 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005
  • December 2004
  • November 2004
  • October 2004
  • September 2004
  • August 2004
  • July 2004
  • June 2004
  • May 2004
  • April 2004
  • March 2004
  • February 2004
  • January 2004
  • December 2003
  • November 2003
  • October 2003
  • September 2003
  • August 2003
  • July 2003
  • June 2003
  • May 2003
  • April 2003
  • February 2003
  • August 2002

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Pages

  • About
  • Church
  • Disclaimer
  • Education
  • Writing

Social Media

© 2022 Sivin Kit's Garden | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme