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.