What is your stand?

Someone emailed me today an article by Goh Keat Peng - What it takes to turn the national agenda around. Very well written. But I'm actually going to blog about his previous article, My Stand written the day after 3 people were arrested under the ISA.

I don't have the privilege to know Keat Peng personally (only heard him speak once at a FES function) but from the little I know he was a respectable and well known Christian leader until he decided to join the Reformasi movement in 1998 and became one of the founding members of KeADILan. He came under severe criticisms by other Christian leaders for taking part in partisan politics. After he left KeADILan, I haven't heard much about him until now.

What struck me about the article was its stark contrast to the response of the current Christian leadership in Malaysia to injustices and evil governance as illustrated by the press statement from NECF and a lack of one from CCM which I wrote about yesterday.

Here we find a man who has drawn a line in the sand. A line dividing good and evil. A man who is willing to make his stand on the side of justice irregardless of the consequences. A man who calls his fellow Christians to come down from the fence and make a similar stand because he knows our decision at this point in the history of our nation will affect the coming generations.

Please read another article 'Moving on Neutral' written last month. The following is an excerpt from the article.

In fact, the Christian leadership in the country has been so pronounced and prolonged in their silence that the signal is sent out LOUD & CLEAR to Malaysians of the various faiths and communities that the Christian Church is uninterested in the affairs of state, in lending its voice to issues of good governance.

In fact, other Malaysians have noted that the Christian churches are only interested in looking after themselves: their places of worship, building renovations, their rights, their bibles, what words they can use, and their burial grounds.

In fact, in pleading its understandable non-partisanship in politics, Christian churches have seemingly also held its peace and would not care to speak on critical matters concerning the equitable distribution of the nation’s resources, the status of state institutions, the state of the judiciary.

Bro Keat Peng, you are no small fry. To me you are a giant in times such as this. I pray you will continue to play your prophetic role within the Christian community in this country. I know. Prophets are often not welcomed in their own community.