the old is gone, the new has come!

In a few hours time, 2006 would become history for us; 2007 awaits us.
Let me wish you God's Blessings for the new year - blessed in order to bless others.

As to the past and as to what is to come, I am reminded of a good prayer of the Christian Tradition:

Lord,
Grant me the serenity to accept
what I cannot change
Courage to change
what I can
Wisdom to know the difference.

when silence is not golden

Troubled by what I have been reading about the intended toll rates raise, I asked myself what else may I possibly do other than pray. I suppose not all of us would not be too affected by the raise - for now, not that we are all terribly rich, perhaps we have not come to the point of experiencing financial crisis. But I think of the majority poor. This is not just one of the 'increases' in their expenses in the year to come, they will have to pay more for the petrol (therefore more for the costs of public transport and other subsistence items) and perhaps more for water too and maybe electricity tarrifs too. Life is only getting tougher than they need to bear. I fear that the circle of the poor may be widening in the days to come at the rate of the happenings.
I decided to give my signature on an online petition against the raise since I would not be able to participate in the peaceful demonstration organised by the NGOs and Opposition Parties on the 31 Dec and 7 Jan. Why have I come to the decision? More than thoughts of the hardship it will cause to a large portion of the people, Elizabeth Wong lets us understand more why we cannot agree to the reason given for the raise and why we need to make our objections known. Check this out:

http://elizabethwong.wordpress.com/2006/12/27/charade/

If I erred I hope I was so for the greater good, justice, integrity and compassion that I hope to see in our government and our society.

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me

This is a belated "Blessed and Merrry Christmas" for those who believe Christmas to be on the 25th December. A Blessed and Merry Christmas for those who subscribe to Christmas being over 12 days from the 25th December.

When we celebrate Christmas, we are reminded that the year is winding up and a new year is dawning. The different and various pre-Christmas gatherings and Christmas gatherings remind me of the much needed peace in many different parts of the world, close to my heart - The unrest in the middle-east, the ongoing suffering of the Dafur people, the victims of flood in the southern part of Malaysia,the growing dissatisfaction over the hiking up on toll rates and petrol price, the victims of earthquake in Taiwan and you will add to the list I have begun. At the micro level, I am reminded of those suffering in silence and aloneness over loss of loved ones, failed relationships, betrayal, failed or failing career and enterprise, uncertainty of the future due to the political and economical instability of our country. As a Malaysian, i do view the year to come not to be one which holds out much hope and promises especially for the poor and the marginalised. Yes, i may sound rather negative but let the unfolding of the reality judge.
Be that as it may, i think of the spirit of Christmas and asked, how i may respond to the reality of the dawning year that is faced us.
The word "Peace" was repeated in so many carols/songs and prayers said and heard over Christmas but I like the song most which says, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me..."

Peace to you this Christmas and the year to come.

When our prayers compel us to action

"Prayer is communication and communion with God." So I shared and taught those in my Bible Study Classes and those in close contact with me. I truly believe this to be a very if not the most important thing in life. Life is naught without a relationship with God, from whom all good things come. In the course of our learning the Bible together, I had the opportunity to share what I read about what others say about prayer. One of which is 'pray in a manner as if only God can help you but also work with all that is within you power as if no one else can help you except you'. Now , does that statement bear contradictory messages? So I think of the prayers of the Hebrew people held as slaves in Egypt; God heard their cries; God called Moses and told him that He heard the cries of the people; Moses was to be answer to the people's cries, part of the answer, of course. I thought of fasting and prayer of the people who faced the threat of total culling and I think of Queen Esther- who became part of the answer to the people's prayer and fasting. I think of Daniel daily prayers and I also think of his making his stand not to partake in the what he believed to be God-betraying activities. These are some examples we read and see the 'connection' between prayer, our decision and action. More than not, we read of prayer to God coupled with our initiative and/or action. This is our faith- trusting God and trusting God to give us the resources to do that which is within our power to do what we believe is God-honouring.

How do we feel about what is happening in our country? The diminishing respect for the laws. The alarming increase of crimes including heinous crimes which suggests connection with those in power (the Mongolian model case); the demolishment of the homes of the people (the Kampung Beremban squatters' plight), the 'how to spend RM600M in 6 weeks'(by the PM, Malaysiakini 29 Nov), the judiciary which has lost its independence, and the list goes on. How may we relate our prayers to what is happening right at our doorstep (apart from what is happening in our designated 'mission fields').

May we consider how on the one hand,we may pray with all our heart as if only God will save our country of the mess of the growing lawlesslness and injustice and on the other, do all that is within our power to do what we can to save our country? Malaysian church is faced with an acute challenge to respond. Our silence sometimes can be so loud, loud with her message of indifference or irrelevance or timidity/fear. What do you think? Perhaps for some of us, our prayer which moves us closer to the heart of God must move us to do something about what we see to be wrong. Perhaps as a church, representative of God's presence in our society, our prayer needs to take the form of our acknowledging the wrongs and injustice in our society. Perhaps for some of us who are in places of influence to teach and make known the truths about the wrongs that we see. Perhaps our prayer needs to take the form of taking the side and helping those who have suffered oppression without fear.

True prayers bring us close to the heart of God, One who hears the cries of the oppressed; One who detests injustice and corruption, thereby, compels us to do something with our attitude towards the oppressed and powerless, compels us to action.

Teflon- Self-preservation, communal-destruction?

When I was younger, my older brother and I talked about some the conflicts that we faced in our home. He told me what he knew of Confucius' teaching about one's attitude towards hindrances that stand in one's life journey and that is, one needs to learn from the water in the stream. It flows around the rocks, stones or any obstacle that stand in its way instead of dashing against them. That way, one circumvents the hard-knocks and still could continue moving towards one's direction/goal.
As I grew older, I faced with God-knows the kinds of trials which inevitably leave their marks on me. A friend of mine recently advised me to apply 'teflon'- do not let the marks stick. Both my brother and friend care for me, I believe. They do not want me hurt. I pondered over their caring and sound advice.
But, wait, should I apply the same advice when faced with evils in our society? Should I apply the same advice when faced with corruption that will eventually destroy the society? Should I simply move along like the stream, let the stone/rock be, and move along, live and let live? Should I apply teflon towards the experiences in life?
My fear is, what would such approach to life do to me in the long run? Would I too become like the rock or stone that causes undue hardship in the lives of others and expect them to just flow along like the stream does and I remain as the harmful rocks and stones? Or should I expect them to apply teflon whenever I harm or injure or hurt them? Would I become so?
I need to think carefully lest I become an abuser myself and expect others to accept my abuses and act strong. That would be destructive! Could it be that evil is perpetuated in this way?

from inside to outside to inside to outside

I am still thinking very much about what happened at the recent UMNO General Assembly. I do not like the thoughts of what will become the 'tanah tumpahnya darahku'(literally means, land upon which my blood is shed).The lingering question in my mind- 'what happened?' What has been happening in the lives of our leaders? How have they gotten to where they are now? Have they come to a irreversible state, in terms of the important principles in life and to service? 3 possible reasons we may consider-
1. Lack of self-examination
2. Lack of accountability amongst the leaders and with regards to others, especially those whom they are accountable to.
3. Lack of "Kepercayaan Kepada Tuhan"(fear and belief in God)(?)

I guess it is always easy to see and critique others. It could have been me. I remind myself that my day to day decisions have and will be the character building blocks in my life, of which i cannot neglect and pay no heed to.
I need others in the community to hold me accountable and vice versa. As a member of the community, i am beginning to see the indispensable responsibility on my part to hold my leaders accountable in a constructive fashion. Francis Fukuyama writes of how responses from the community form the norms in a society in his book, 'The Great Disruption'.There is a complex and dynamic interplay between an individual's and collective decisions which will form the character of the society and members therein. Richard Niebuhr (The Responsible Self) writes of the "Responsible Ethics" wherein members of a certain context need to continually ask the question 'what is going on' in order that they be responsibly interacting with the situation at hand with a goal of arriving at a decision which would be for the common good. Might we need to begin doing that at different levels and platforms within the mosaic of our community/society?

when leaders choose to abdicate

The recent UMNO General Assembly was a demonstration of leaders abdicating their responsibility to provide good governance. This we see in

1. The Prime Minister's speech that forced on racial/religious divide in a multi-racial and multi-religious society. He also displayed a crude disregard for the highest law of the country, namely, the Federal Constitution.

2. The ministers of the UMNO party employing seditious words that aroused racial disharmony.

3. The Education Minister wielding 'keris' (a malay dagger) in a civil meeting held within a civil society met by taunting words from the other ministers,'when is he going to use it?' Can or should we expect our school children to accept a minister of Education's uncivil behaviour?

4. The MCA and MIC MPs failed to be the conscience within our government in the particular incident when they chose to keep silent about their collegues' inappropriate not to mention uncivil behaviour.

This is an abdication of positions of power and responsibility. Such leaders only invite vote of no confidence by the people who had voted them to their positions unless the leaders do something drastic to assume responsibility and give respect which is long overdue, to their voters. Voters, what kind of persons are you going give your vote to? Who,would you like to see governing our country? Decide wisely not only wi$ely!

learning from maimonides

It is most interesting to read Maimonides, one of the foremost Jewish philosophers during the medieval times. He lived through one of the painful persecutions of the Jews by the moslems. Maimonides, a Rabbi whose devotion to the Torah can be read from his commentaries the misneh Torah, amongst others.He disguised as a moslem and courted deep friendships with the moslems draws my attention. Accordingly, he participated in the Yassin prayers said during fasting month. He was later found out, by which time he had located himself in a place which is free from the moslem persecution (Maimonides, A Biography by Solomon Zeitlin,1935, 94).

"Thou shall not bear false witness..." is one of the commandments within the Decalogue would have been a commandment Maimonides had been very familiar with. Would his disguise and participation in islamic prayers and holding out as a moslem been a deception which amount to bearing false witness? Misleading? Yet, Maimonides' interaction with the situation of his time and the Torah he devoted himself to, is very interesting. His letters to the Jews in Yemen who underwent bitter persecution revealed his staunch stand on Judaism.
I thought I read in the life of this great rabbi a deep understanding of the Torah (deontology) that had enabled him to appropriate same teleologically for a greater goal which is enshrined in the Decalogue, which is, preserving life(?)

in the beginning

Life is filled with choices and decisions.
While in the supermarket, my friend exclaimed that there are simply too many choices before us - which brand of toothpaste to pick? In hawker centres, I have walked from one end to the other, wondering what I should eat for dinner.
Some decisions are more significant than others; some have greater implications than others.
Decisions matter. Much that we like to think that our decisions are private matters or individual preference, we soon realise that it is not. When my friend chose the more branded toothpaste, beside money matters, it also meant that she had contributed to the profit the toothpaste company is making. If she has other commitment, her decision would have some small implications on her budget and therefore the discharge of her commitment. Perhaps I have exaggerated but...imagine the example in a macro scenario.

So I begin, just like I took the many first steps in my life and now, to blog. I do not know how this blog will turn out but I look forward in anticipation. I hope to put in concrete terms some of my mind-rumblings over the choices and decisions we make day after day, wanting to remember that the moral and ethical concerns I/we can (and ought to) reason over- why? Because I live in a community... My decisions bear upon the community of humankind- my constant question is- how does my decision bear upon the community?