An Amazing Great Political
Breakthrough Election – Pastor
Law Hui Seng (Taiwan, 21/10/18)
What do
you think of the recent just concluded Malaysia once in five years
parliamentary election on 9th May, 2018? I call it amazing because I strongly believe
God is involved. I call it great because
for the first time in 61 years the majority of the different races and even the
people of different religions could be so united in saying no to the former
ruling party coalition, despite the odds of gerrymandering in the newly drawn
constituencies for the national election and mighty machinery and resources
available to the last ruling party coalition.
I call it a breakthrough because ever since independence there had not
been any change of ruling power. Most
importantly, it is in every sense a breakthrough as so many people said it was
impossible for a power change but it happened on the 9th May. A much awaited smooth transfer of political
power had happened. A change that we are
so proud of as it will bring hope for a better future. A change that gives birth to a new Malaysia
that inspires the rakyat to move on
with a greater confidence. Malaysia
becomes new not only because a new batch of leaders with new mentality and
mindset has taken over the ruling power, but more so, these new leaders will
bring about changes in substance.
Especially changes in fundamental systems and policies which are more
just. It definitely brings about new
hope and direction for many years to come.
The Surprising Element
The long
awaited breakthrough finally came about.
Most of us could not believe it for many reasons. Even a lot of us Christians had prayed for
God to do justice, remove corruption and greed, cleanse our nation from the
power of darkness, and lots of other things, we did not think the power change
would happen. Privately, I even told
people the chance of changing the ruling power is at least 80% to 90%. In my circle of friends, most of them
disagreed with the percentage. I always
told them this time round, the whole political scenario in the country was very
different because of the Mahathir factor.
He would unite most of the former opposition parties. I even said in private to these close
friends, if there was a change in power it had to involve the surprising
element. That was
the top leadership of the last ruling power did not expect the power change
would happen. They had
made all the efforts to counter every expected attack and arrow shoot at them
from all sides. I tend to believe that in view of the extreme old age of
Mahathir, they did not expect him to be such a powerful factor (you may
disagree). What could such a 93 years
old man do? (This was very much a prevailing general comment in the newspaper in
the months leading up to the election) How could he make a difference in the
national election as to the effect of bringing down the ruling party? I believe this was one of the most unexpected
elements. May be they just expected
Mahathir and his new party would just win a few seats only and that was all.
Another Surprising Element:
Tremendous Negative Effects of GST
I
believe another very unexpected factor that brought down the last ruling power
was the deep negative effects of GST.
When it was first materialized, most sensible people commented that it
was something necessary and most countries are practicing it and our country
needed it. Most people, especially
economic experts, bankers and the like said it was well justified. However, my
argument was if the government could survive with all kinds of taxes before the
introduction of GST, how she could not survive without it. There must have been a lot of abuse of power
and mismanagement of peoples’ money.
When GST
was introduced, my common sense told me it was a political suicide for the
ruling power. It would become such a
powerful factor that it would be a straw that brought down the ruling power. It would make most of the citizens in Malaysia
to feel the deep pain in financial limitation.
We suddenly found that our monetary value shrunk and our purchasing
power was reduced significantly. Everyone
was hit by it. We felt the economic pain which touched our ‘nerve’. It awakened us to vote for change and went
for an alternative ruling coalition which might be more responsible.
GST made
the poor suffered even further and even the most uneducated could experience
the economic pain. I felt the pain
too. I even took steps to buy less
things and exercised my thriftiness. I
tightened my belt. May be the last
ruling power expected the economic pain the rakyat
would experience. However, I think they
miscalculated in the fact that the rakyat felt the pain so deeply. The pain was so deep
that it overcame all the good measures taken by the previous government to
counter the negative effects of GST. The
pain was a great uniting force to mobilize a great majority of the voters to
vote against the ruling power.
Other Factors
Other factors
such as the hot national issue of
corruption (the number 1 enemy of Malaysia); 1MDB mismanagement of fund; the
great unequal treatment of different races owing to unjust government policies;
no freedom of religion (the forbidden usage of the word Allah; and etc);
nepotism and cronyism; the rich got richer and the poor got poorer; safety and
security of peoples’ lives (the missing pastor Raymond Kho was unaccounted for)
and property are stake; harder for people to find jobs and made ends meet owing
to slow economy and countless number of other issues, are affecting the voters
and caused the great majority of us to say no to the previous ruling
power. I personally believe that all
these voice down to a national leadership crisis. We were not confident with the politicians
and government at different levels. As
the top level leaders did not set a high level of integrity and honesty and of
great moral characters, there developed a great confidence crisis. The great majority of the rakyat saw the nation was heading no way
if the last leadership were to continue.
Sarawak Parliamentary Election
Analyzed
In
Sarawak, beside the above factors, the indigenous people are very much bothered
by the issue of land acquisition, though the land is under the management of
Sarawak government. A lot of lands were
acquired for personal gain. Indigenous
people were very unhappy as they lost their court cases on the disputed
acquisition of lands. More and more lands were acquired and passed on to the
rich entrepreneurs at a low price in the name of development. A lot of empty promises were made and not
fulfilled. I heard from the long house
folks that building of roads and supply of electricity were promised but it
took the ruling power many long years to fulfill. Some were not fulfilled at
all. I also observed that the internal
strife, tensions among the leadership and struggles in certain ruling parties
had caused eroded support for the ruling power.
Disunity was a heavy price for these parties which lost their
seats. Sarawak rights as a nation
forming Malaysia were greatly eroded (throughout the last decade) was also a
great factor that contributed to the dissatisfaction towards the ruling power. Of
course there were a lot of other accumulated factors which contributed to the
Chinese and indigenous people not voting for the last ruling power. (I believe
the political tsunami that happened among the indigenous people and the Chinese
in Sarawak will continue to reach its height in the coming Sarawak election,
which will be held in about 2 years’ time). All these combined factors had
caused the ruling power to lose 12 significant parliament seats from Sarawak
and this had contributed to the change of power to the Harapan Coalition.
God’s Factor
As a
disciple of Jesus, I pray for Malaysia and really asked the almighty God to
come in and intervene and restore peace, justice and prosperity. I prayed for God to remove all the corrupted
politicians in His timing for more than 15 years. I prayed that every since before year 8th
March, 2008 parliamentary election. In
the 5th May, 2013 parliamentary election, a lot of us were
disappointed as there was no change of ruling power though the opposition front
at that time scored a greater number of voting percentage than the ruling
power. I even told a Yang Berhormat after the 8th
March election that it was not God’s timing yet. God being sovereign, He knows what is best
for every human being and every country in this world since He is the creator
of the universe and He created the earth.
Apostle Paul even said in the letter to the
Romans in chapter 13 that God put the kings and ruling power (the government)
at the throne and the people were to obey the government of the day. Then,
the implication is God can also remove the ruling power if He put it
there. Nobody, no king, no military
might, no government is more powerful than God.
God has the sovereignty and control over all things and beings He
created. He is the King of kings. Who
dare to challenge God? Therefore, if we are the politicians and the governing
power of the day, we need to be answerable to God in the usage of the political
power which is entrusted by the people. Politicians need to be humble before God,
whether they are Christians or not. Only
fear of God can empower him to distant himself or herself from greed and
corruption, dishonesty, hypocrisy, self-centeredness, and all kinds of
immorality. Only fear of God can empower
one to rule with justice, peace and compassion.
If one is not afraid of God’s punishment for one’s mistakes, sins, or
unrighteousness, one can do anything when one has the power. We are familiar with the term ‘absolute power
corrupts absolutely.’ On the other hand,
when one fears God, God will bless one with wisdom, like King Solomon to rule a
country.
In the
Old Testament, I notice that whenever Israelites and kings sinned against God
of Yahweh in idol worship, moral decadence, and after countless warnings by
prophets that went unheeded, God’s discipline and punishment would come on them
in the form of downfalls for both the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom in
the hands of the foreign empires and being put in exiles in the foreign lands
like Babylon and Assyria. I strongly
believe that it is the same today if any ruling power does not fear God. God will send His messengers to come and
correct the repeated mistakes, sins and unrighteousness, after repeated
corrections that yield no repentance, then, God will remove the power. For those of us who do not subscribe to this
belief, you may like to produce your own analysis for the downfall of the
ruling power.
This
time, on the 9th May, this year, God heard the great cry of His
children in Malaysia and also His children in other parts of the world for
Malaysia, and He decided to intervene and brought down the ruling power by a
peaceful election. This is God’s
timing. Whatever theology you may
subscribe to and you may choose to disagree with me, I strongly believe that
Christian prayers from all denominations had really contributed to the almighty
God hearing our prayer.
What Can we contribute to the New
Malaysia?
The most
unexpected political breakthrough is very precious to all of us citizens of all
races and religions. We must treasure it
like a new baby being born (a new Malaysia) and it is to be nurtured with love
and care and grow into maturity in all aspects of its life. Do you agree?
How to help this baby to grow? I strongly suggest that, since we voted
in the new ruling power, we must do our part to empower this new Malaysia to
grow. I pray that you agree with me on
this.
I call
this new Malaysia a new born baby because in many aspects the new government
needs to start all over. We need to
start all over because some of the present public institutions have been
damaged and much neglected owing to human weaknesses and moral decadence. The new government needs to work extra hard with
great sincerity in these important institutions of democracy and national
life. I believe the following institutions
and national life aspects need to be given top priority.
Firstly,
one of the most fundamental aspects of
democracy, that is the separation of powers needs a redress; the institutions
of judiciary, government and the parliament need to work independently. It is a tough issue as the independency of
each institution has not been honored for too long and the whole Malaysian
constitution does not seem to advocate separation of the 3 powers. Tedious tasks that involve amendments of
laws will take a long time to achieve the ideal.
Secondly,
as a nation which makes up of different races and people professing so many
different religions and living with such different cultures, we need to be
united and move forward together. At the
moment, unfortunately, when it comes to major social, political and economic considerations,
race and religion factors are still rated as very high in priority in the
political agenda for party politics and even national life. When it comes making policies, race is still
a major factor of consideration. For
example, a certain group of politicians which belong to a certain race still
feel insecure about the government recognizing Unified Examination Certificate
of a certain community in the public education institution. Our politicians of
all races and religions must work hard to pursue interest of all races, not
just a certain politician of a certain race pursuing the interests of his or
her own race. We are still divided along racial and religious lines. How can we be more
united is a great challenge to our new government.
Thirdly,
our natural resources like our lands and rivers, mineral resources, and the air
space need more thorough and far-sighted planning that involve equal
distribution of wealth among all races and people from all strata of our
society so that our economy is sustainable and self dependent in long
term. We can do a good job if we work
harder at practicing meritocracy as widely as possible. Our neighbor, Singapore, is good example in
this respect.
Fourthly,
since manpower and intellectual ability will determine how well we are going to
survive as a nation, we really need to look into doing education that will
produce the brightest people (and keep them) to run our country. By all means, curb the brain drain. When it comes to
education, our politicians should not compromise on giving our people the best
quality and resources.
Fifthly,
steps need to be taken to return the original rights to the nation of Sarawak
and Sabah. The agreements signed when
these two nations participated in the formation of Malaysia need to be honored. I believe these two
nations, given the rights to manage our own resources; we can eventually become
an advanced and prosperous country like Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and
Japan. I had been to the
first three countries in the last twenty odd years and I see prosperous they
are.
Bearing
all these important aspects in mind, as disciples of Jesus, we can play important
roles in nurturing this new Malaysia. I
would like to propose the following suggestions and ideas.
Nurturing a New Malaysia
In
Malaysia, Christianity is only made up of about 9% of 33 million populations. Islam occupies about 60%. Muslim population is growing not only
biologically but also in terms of conversion.
It means Islam propagates and converts the non-Muslims. For Christianity, all efforts of all the
different denominations combined in our outreach and missions, our growth is
always between 9% and 10%. It has been
maintained in that range for more than 20 years now. At least, ever since I became a pastor back
then. Even in Sarawak, with a population
of 2.7 million, the only state with Christian majority of about 42%. The percentage is maintained between 40% and
42% also for more than 20 years.
In such
a religious environment, what can 9% Christian population do? We must thank God for the great effort of our
former missionaries coming from all over the world. They had done their best and left a great
spiritual heritage with us. I can say it
most passionately for the case of Sarawak.
For most denominations here, with the political climate we have now, we
are growing stronger in terms of many new churches from all denominations which
have been built. Be it at the national level, or at the state level, we can
definitely make a difference for Jesus in terms of nurturing a new Malaysia. I pray that God in the person of Jesus
Christ, in His mercy, will empower us to do the followings:
Firstly,
as united prayers from all denominations have made such a powerful impact, we
must persevere and pray for the above good changes to happen in His
timing. Let us pray that no changes will
happen at the expense of another race.
Let us pray that our politicians both from the ruling power and the
opposition to become more and more matured; and they always focus on the needs
of the rakyat in particular and the
national interests in general. By all
means, our prayers pursue God’s will be done in Malaysia for all races.
Secondly,
though different denominations have different doctrinal stands, we must by all
means work together through our top leaders like bishops, archbishops and
presidents to express our Christian stands on religious, social, economic and
political issues and matters on improvement of our national policies. There can be unity in diversity. The present
inter-denominational platforms like the Council of Churches Malaysia, National
Evangelical Christian Fellowship, Sarawak Association of Churches and Sabah Association
of Churches can be further enhanced and mobilized to come together to pray and
building a close relationship among the top spiritual leaders so that they are
united to build bridges with the government to participate in the nation
building in terms of proposing holistic policies.
Thirdly,
I suggest the respective denominations to form their fellowship of elected
state assembly men and women, and the members of parliament to sit down with
assigned pastors for bible studies and prayer so that they are trained in
discipleship and grow in Christian maturity.
They are equipped intentionally to stand against temptations of greed,
corruption and all forms of immorality.
They will become great models for the rakyat to emulate.
Eventually, through the close relationships among the top spiritual
leaders, they can use the above platforms to call for an annual convention for
all our elected Christian politicians.
One of the important purposes of this convention is definitely to find
ways and means to contribute to our national building. The other purpose can be
for sharing of common ideas and interests, mutual support and understanding,
and working towards a greater solidarity among all elected Christian
parliamentarians and state assembly men and women.
Fourthly,
churches of different denominations must look into producing scholars who are
well-versed in Islam so that we can have meaningful cooperation with Muslim
scholars and their top spiritual figures to work on both Muslims and non-Muslims
to live together peacefully long term.
Scholars and top spiritual figures of both sides must build bridges with
one another so that we reduce our misunderstanding about each other’s religious
teaching and religious conflicts among our followers to the minimum. If we do not do this preparation now, when
there is a religious conflict, it might be too late. When damages are done, repairs may be
difficult to do.
Fifthly,
Christian spiritual figures and Muslim spiritual figures must be encouraged to
sit down and fellowship with one another on different religious occasions. We are doing this now. It can still be further
enhanced so that it is practiced as often as possible, and at a greater scale. They must be seen to do so, so that our
followers can see the fellowship before their eyes, be it through media
publication or life telecasts through televisions and internets. When the top spiritual figures of both religions
are seemed to relate to one another in harmony, our followers will
emulate. If we can visit one another and
share our lives together, the chances for religious conflict to happen in
Malaysia will be reduced to the very minimum.
Conclusion
How this
new Malaysia is going to be does not depend absolutely on those elected
politicians only. They are elected to
serve the rakyat and the nation as a
whole, in a parliamentary democracy like Malaysia. They are flawed human beings, they are not
perfect, and they will make mistakes. No
matter how brilliant, capable and powerful they are, their ideas are limited,
their influence cannot penetrate every corner and society in Malaysia. They need the rakyat to support and cooperate to implement their national policies. They may devise laws to check on us but they
themselves are also very much under laws.
Therefore, the church as a whole can complement the government by
obeying her in implementing all the just policies. Areas where the government goes wrong, the church
must be courageous enough to voice out for the betterment and well being of the
overall rakyat. The government, on the other hand, should be
humble enough to listen to the voice of the church.
