When the provocative cow’s head protest took place last month, the Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) was among the first to issue a statement of condemnation.

When opposition aide Teoh Beng Hock died during a graft investigation in July, the CCM’s youth section came out with a strongly-worded statement.

And when Perak descended into political chaos after the Barisan Nasional toppled the Pakatan Rakyat government in February, council members joined the chorus calling for fresh state elections.

These are not “Christian” issues, but the CCM — an organisation of the mainstream Protestant churches — considers them as issues of social responsibility.

It is not the only church body that has become socially conscious and vocal. The Catholic church has long been active in such issues.

“I think it augurs well for moral responsibility. This is a responsibility of our faith,” said Reverend Hermen Shastri, secretary-general of the CCM.

Christians make up about 9 per cent to 10 per cent of Malaysia’s 27 million people.

Their active political voice adds a new dimension to a political landscape which already has many players. Political parties are the most active, but civil liberties groups and bloggers have emerged as another force.

However, until recently, non-Muslim religious groups have rarely been active in political activism other than a few Catholic churches.

“This will definitely have an impact on politics. We may describe the activism as activities by churches, but churches are made up of members, and voters,” said political analyst Khoo Kay Peng.

The church’s political voice emerged just before the general election last year.

Shastri said it started with seminars for parishioners to discuss issues such as religious freedom.

“We felt then that Christians must be more aware, and must hold elected representatives accountable,” he said.

This culminated with an open letter by the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) ahead of the election, asking them to vote for candidates whose policies “reflect God’s standard and Christian values”.

The CFM is the umbrella body of the Catholic church, the CCM and the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, which groups the evangelical churches.

Churches also invited election candidates to address their members.

Reverend Sivin Kit, of the Bangsar Lutheran church, believes that the activism arose because the political atmosphere in the last few years had created unease.

He said it was triggered by the refusal of the civil courts to hear cases where the rights of non-Muslims were affected by Islamic law. This includes cases of deceased Muslim converts whose families were caught in a tussle with the Islamic authorities over funeral rights.

The civil courts, instead, sent these cases to the Syariah courts.

“That was the start,” said Sivin.

The government’s initial response was unfavourable. Last year, the Home Ministry sent a warning to the Catholic church after its newsletter, the Herald, carried articles on current affairs and politics.

However, representatives from the government have since then participated in dialogues organised by the CCM. Shastri said representatives from the MCA had taken part. So have officials from the Election Commission, which also held voter registration in the churches.

The CCM Youth recently held a dialogue with Umno Youth.

Originally published in The Straits Times, September 26 2009

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