Christianity is not just about myself. Politics is not just about other people.
This is the rallying cry of Goh Keat Peng who spoke at a recent forum entitled “A Christian Response to the Uncertainties in the Socio-Economic and Political Scenario in Malaysia” organised by the Independent Christian Renewal Society (ICRS). Far from being a mere crowd-rousing soundbite, Keat Peng’s summons to all followers of Jesus to get involved in what is commonly called “nation-building”, belies deep theological reflection. Without a doubt, anyone who knows his life story will appreciate that his reflections are borne out of a lifetime of service to the church in Malaysia and as a voice of conscience to his many friends in the political arena.
All too often, society views religion as something we do in private even if many of our symbols and practices are public. Of course, this state of affairs is not to be taken too lightly especially in a multi-cultural milieu such as ours. It is only right to moderate our expressions of faith, as we have too often been reminded of late by the chauvinism shown by some quarters in contentious issues such as religious conversions. However, the problem is that we have retreated into spiritual ghettos where we are content to have little involvement in the socio-political issues. Supported by neo-platonic thinking that divides the world into the physical vs. the spiritual, the temporal vs. the eternal, faith vs. reason, many Christians have a privatised spirituality that has no bearing on how one should participate in the political process. But is that the case in reality? Are we truly insulated?
“We pay taxes”, says Keat Peng, which is why politics touches each and every one of us. I think he’s just hitting us where we hurt to get our attention – he’s really telling us that by virtue of being part of this community, we share in its fortunes for better or worse. Which is why we need to be involved. Here is where Keat Peng is not mincing his words when he said “either you’re involved or get out, no point just ranting”. His point is undergirded by what he thinks the right answer should be to the question: “Who is a Christian?”. He put it emphatically that it’s not “just someone who is a member of a church”,but rather that being a Christian must make a difference to the community we are in. We must be people who reach out to those outside the church and is available to those who reach out to the church.
If you are convicted by this (as I was) and wanted to get involved, where do you start? All too often, when confronted with the messy reality of society and politics, we respond unhelpfully in one of three ways, according to Tricia Yeoh, who also spoke at the same forum: We get discouraged and retreat, we respond in anger or we run away from dealing with the situation. These are in fact the easy options – what is much harder, but is ultimately the narrow path that Jesus spoke of, is to respond in love. It is hard to love others whom we do not understand. Tricia cites Dr Chandra Muzaffar who suggested that this lack of understanding of the other is fundamental to our struggles with national unity. This would perhaps be as a good a starting point as any for many Christians, especially if, like me, you stand convicted of not doing enough to truly understand where our neighbours are coming from and what troubles them.
Along with that, Keat Peng stresses a need to understand the political process – the issues surrounding our public institutions such as the police, the judiciary and the civil service. Some express concern on the boundaries of the church’s involvement in politics, to which Keat Peng makes clear that he is not calling us to be involved in partisan politics, but rather to be involved in the political process, which is a much wider sphere. Again, this involvement is part of our concern for people because policies affect people. Knowing the political process will help us to get involved in shaping of these policies.
Tricia offered a few other practical tips. One is to start with educating and conscientising the local congregation, through organising events to raise awareness or even to broaden the scope of church teaching. In particular, she urged the listeners to invest in the younger members of the church by nurturing those who demonstrate an interest to participate, rather than discourage them from getting involved. As we take steps to get involved, we may feel at sea on where to begin but rather than build from scratch, Tricia suggested that we plug into the good work that is already being done by the various NGOs involved in various areas of social concern.
For my money (the event was free, by the way), the point to take away is that even if we are perplexed by the issues facing our country at this juncture it behoves us to examine ourselves to see what we can do and then to respond where we are. During the floor discussion, there was a quote from Fr Anthony Chan: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are, now”. Let it be so!
