An Inconvenient Love

An Inconvenient Love

Refugees are inconvenient. They take up the nation’s resources and they put nothing back into the economy. They don’t work and they live off charity.   Their dilapidated and small living conditions are conducive for viruses and infections.  Some are prone to a life of crime and violence.

The number of UNHCR registered refugees in Malaysia stands at 179,520. 90% of them are Muslims and the largest group are the Rohingya refugees which account for 101,500 of them.  The rest come from Myanmar Chin, Pakistan, Yemen, Somali, Afghanistan, Iraq and others. These are those that are registered with UNHCR. The actual numbers including those not registered are probably more. Some have estimated the numbers to be as many as 500,000.

I would not comment on the politics of immigrants and government policies as it is complicated and multi faceted – issues which include foreign diplomacy and border security. Instead I wish to write about why my church community decided to help the Rohingya by giving them food and other basic necessities.

In recent weeks there have been a lot of hatred aimed at the Rohingya community.  Much of the vitriol on social media shows the anger sparked by the Selayang wholesale market cluster. Although many have acknowledged that much of the noise come from cybertroopers with an  agenda, some are still understandably angry.  Much of the anger come from a sense of fear of the virus and the uncertainty of our future.  The economy is badly affected and many Malaysians have lost their jobs over the last 2 months and as companies struggle to survive even more will be unemployed. As a result of the pie getting smaller some have not even been able to get food or basic necessities. Where will people divert their anger to? The most vulnerable in society.  The Rohingya refugees.

 Christians however have a different outlook.  Driven by God’s obvious compassion for the poor, the foreigners, the orphans and the widows; Christians are compelled to care for them.  This group of four is what Christian philosopher Nicholas Wolterstoff calls “the quartet of the vulnerable.” The widow, the orphan, the refugee and the poor are mentioned in bits and pieces all over the Old Testament.  However it is clearly stated together in Zechariah 7:9-10

“This is what the Lord Almighty said: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor.”   We are told to show mercy and compassion to one another but specifically to the quartet of the vulnerable.  Why?

For one because God is compassionate to our struggles on earth.  It is often said in the Bible that God, the most compassionate sees and hear the cries of the widows, the fatherless, the foreigners (refugees) and the poor in our midst.  If that is what is on God’s heart, then should we not have compassion towards them as well?  Should we not share some of that with which God has blessed us, with these who do not have?

Secondly, we are reminded that we are to show mercy and give help to the quartet of the vulnerable because we too were once neglected like widows, unloved like orphans, oppressed like foreigners or refugees and needy like the poor. Christians have this doctrine of original sin. The believe that the tendency to evil is innate within man because of the original sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This sin within us is the cause of all the world’s troubles today which includes sickness and diseases, wars, hatred, divorce, corruption and even Covid 19.  We are proud and think we have no need for God in our lives.  We fight with each other and watch with envy and hatred when someone else receives blessings or does well. We find it easier to see other people’s errors and slow to own up to our own. We take what is not ours and we abuse the earth for our own selfish gains.

God looks down into time and sees our world of suffering and hears our cries and provides a solution.  He promises a Savior, whom the Jews know as the Messiah.  In the Old Testament, this Messiah or “the Promised One” was despised and rejected by men. He was to be “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53).

Justice had to be served. Somebody without sin had to be the ransom for our sins. Jesus Christ bore our griefs and carried our sorrows so that we can have a life without grief or sorrow one day.  He was neglected, unloved, oppressed and needy on the cross so that we don’t have to be. 

In short, we have received mercy and love out of sheer grace.  Jesus Christ on the cross was a  benevolent gift from God for us all. In light of this mercy and love lavished upon us, Christians are motivated to offer mercy and love to others who are neglected, unloved, oppressed and needy in our society. Be they Rohingya refugees or poor and hungry Malaysians, Christians are told to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly before our God. We do this by feeding and clothing the widows, the orphans, the refugees and the poor among us.

The third reason, we choose to serve the Rohingya refugees is because we are reminded that we too are on a journey towards heaven.  This life here on earth - filled with pain and suffering, oppression and hate, sickness and diseases is not our permanent home. We are refugees, awaiting our repatriation to a place where we will be with God forever. A place where there will be no more tears, sickness and diseases.  No more hate and oppression.  (Revelation 21:4)

This is why although inconvenient we choose to love. We choose to give food and aid because we who had little to offer have received much.  This is true even for us all as Malaysians of all religions.  God has been good to us all, we have been blessed with a  nation of plenty eventhough it had been abused by corruption.  God has given us much, why not share with those who are hungry among us eventhough they are different and inconvenient.

  

An Unrequited Love : A Non Malay Dilemma

“Because, if you could love someone, and keep loving them, without being loved back ... then that love had to be real. It hurt too much to be anything else.”

- Sarah Cross, Kill Me Softly

An unrequited love is perhaps the most painful of all but it makes it true and real because it is a love that receives little but is fiercely loyal and ferociously unwavering. That is perhaps what best describes my love for Malaysia. 

Born 11 years after Merdeka, I am a first generation Merdeka child.

Having been born and raised in Malaysia this is my home and I would not think of anywhere else to be buried then the place I have lived for over five decades.

When asked what I love most about Malaysia I would say like many others, her food. The variety and myriad of flavors and taste and colors actually reflect her peoples. Our rich mix of a variety of culture and languages is uniquely Malaysian. No nation in Southeast Asia can celebrate this diversity as we do here in Malaysia.

However, this diversity also comes with it some challenges. They include challenges of ethnic and religious relations. The result of these tensions culminated in the May 13, 1969 racial conflict in Malaysia.

Moving on from May 13, Malaysians learned to live with each other’s sensitivities, but never quite discussing or trying to understand the ethnic and religious differences.

Tolerance does not beget unity

In (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s vocabulary, he called this ‘tolerance between the races’. In his Merdeka speech in 2019, he said: “Malaysia was built on the foundations of tolerance, goodwill, mutual respect, the readiness of giving and sharing, selflessness and a desire to make sacrifices for the sake of the country.”

Indeed growing up in Malaysia, many of us have learned the art of dancing peacefully with one another.

There are boundaries for which we are not to discuss. For example: Article 153 of Malay rights and privileges is prohibited by law to be discussed. There are religious sensitivities which we as Malaysians grow up to respect of one another. Areas we don’t talk about because we respect and tolerate one another.

This is wonderful except that after 60 years, we don’t know each other very well. The next generations have grown apart with a suspicion of one another.

Because we have been told to tolerate, we accept the idiosyncrasies of each race without truly understanding and caring for each other. Tolerance, unfortunately, is not true unity.

Are non-Malays just tenants?

As the longest serving prime minister, Mahathir has shaped Malaysian social and political construct like no one else. It is in Mahathir’s Malaysia that Malays are told they are the rightful owners of Malaysia and non-Malays are but “guests.”

He says in his book, The Malay Dilemma: “Malays are the rightful owners of Malaya, and that if citizenship is conferred on races other than the Malays, it is because the Malays consent to this. This consent is conditional.” (Malay Dilemma, p126)

With this, it is forever incumbent upon the “other races” to understand their place. Non-Malays in Mahathir’s mind are not stakeholders in this enterprise called Malaysia. They are merely renters.

Renters know their place. They may decorate, they may make a living in the premise but nothing else. You do not have a say in the future or the major renovation of the property.

Unfortunately, this has been the position of non Malays in Malaysia and especially more so when power of the ruling elite of the independence Malay party lost its foothold.

A different narrative of Malaysia

There is another narrative that is of a more inclusive Malaysia. A less divisive Malaysia. A formula promoted by some royalties and the leaders of the recently collapsed Pakatan Harapan government.

In 2007, Perak’s Sultan Nazrin Shah himself, said: “Malaysians of all races, religion and geographic locations, need to believe beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they have a place under the Malaysian sun.”

This means that non Malays are not just renters but fellow stakeholders in the future and direction of this beloved nation.

While we are made to believe that the majority of Malays hate the Chinese and DAP, I believe that these are but the noisy minority who have a sinister political agenda.

Most reasonable minded Malaysians have learned to appreciate each other’s differences and like our food we merge into our own distinct culture and flavor. A Malaysian culture and formula.

Standing at crossroads

What does that look like? How do we get there? That is the question for our next generation of young leaders to answer.

We stand at a crossroad in Malaysia and it is time to ask seriously, “Who are we?” and “Who do we want to become?” A tolerant Malaysia with landlords and tenants or a Malaysia celebrating its unique differences where every Malaysian has an equal place under the Malaysian sun.

This reality cannot be more evident then in our current political scenario in the two governments that have taken its respective corners in the ring. Perikatan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan. They both stand for very different ideologies and will therefore shape very different futures for Malaysia.

Perikatan Nasional consist of mainly conservative Malays from UMNO, ex-UMNO or the religious wing, from PAS. Pakatan Harapan, however, except for Mahathir who was only recently added to lead for convenience, has a progressive agenda for a more inclusive Malaysia with her distinct Malaysian culture and flavor.

What would the future Malaysia look like?

My hope is that in this Malaysia, non-Malays will no longer be viewed as tenants but brothers and sisters with fellow Malaysians of all race and religion charting and fighting for the future of a better and brighter nation.

We must cease the fight for individual tribal agendas and work towards what is best for the future of Malaysia as one single entity.