Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips. (Jeremiah 7:28)

One key casualty of a nation that has turned away from God is truth. This is because as those in power turn away from their mandate as stewards of the welfare of the people they serve, they turn towards the notion that their position is a right unto itself. The reins of power, given in order to serve, protect and advance the nation, now becomes the means to hold on to power and serve themselves. When that happens, God is pushed aside and those in power act as gods. Truth then becomes whatever they determine it to be. Truth is bent, molded and recast to serve the purposes of these gods.

From the many claims by historians and educationists that the BN government has been rewriting history in the history books that are taught in schools, the many sumpah ceremonies that those associated with BN have to perform to convince the public of their veracity, to this most recent incident accusing Christians of plotting to make Christianity the official religion of the country and consequently putting a Christian prime minister in Putrajaya, we see that lies and innuendos now dominate the national conversation and serve to turn public opinion against those who had opposed the ruling party.

In this country, those of us who care about truth find that coming to any reasonable conclusion is almost impossible because we lack access to facts, we no longer trust institutions entrusted to defend and protect truth and justice, and we have seen that people change their tune, even their testimony, seemingly without reason or cause. Truth has been banished into the dark. People have died under very suspicious circumstances and the verdict is inconclusive. High ranking police officials take pains to tell us that a video of a couple engaged in sex is genuine and then tell us to come to our own conclusions. A report by the World Bank of a serious brain drain in the country is dismissed as “useless and politically motivated” without any facts.

Perhaps on a broader basis what we can do is to try to identify those who try to hide the truth, who try to obfuscate it, and who try to deny the facts from coming to light.

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (John 3:20, 21)

The Freedom of Information Enactment Bill (Selangor) 2010 passed by the Selangor State Assembly serves as a shining contrast to BN’s love of secrecy, aided by the wide-ranging Official Secrets Act 1972 which even now hampers the effectiveness of Selangor’s bill. Penang, another state that is governed by Pakatan Rakyat is also following suit with its own FOI version which has been tabled for the first reading late last year.

While we may rightly protest when we are victimised by lies and innuendos we need to look beyond these battles to understand what the war is all about. We must act to bring truth into the light. We must not only repudiate those who “hates the light” as John puts it succinctly in chapter 3, we must also embrace and empower those who work to bring truth into the light. It is not enough to keep away from those who do evil, or criticize and protest against them; as God’s people we must also give attention to ensuring that truth keeps its properly place in the light. Because ultimately all truth is God’s truth.

Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. (Daniel 9:13)

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