Saturday, December 05, 2009
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.
In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian sea,
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up and follow Thee.
O Sabbath rest by Galilee,
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
The silence of eternity,
Interpreted by love!
With that deep hush subduing all
Our words and works that drown
The tender whisper of Thy call,
As noiseless let Thy blessing fall
As fell Thy manna down.
Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.
In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian sea,
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up and follow Thee.
O Sabbath rest by Galilee,
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
The silence of eternity,
Interpreted by love!
With that deep hush subduing all
Our words and works that drown
The tender whisper of Thy call,
As noiseless let Thy blessing fall
As fell Thy manna down.
Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Has undergraduate education lost its way?
Has undergraduate education lost its way?
WHAT ARE WE TO DO
By TAN SRI LIN SEE-YAN
Tan Sri Lin See-Yan forwards the poser of how people educated in some of the finest and smartest global universities are responsible for some of the financial problems since 2000.
THE excesses since 2000, especially the latest financial meltdown from Wall Street to the city of London, and from Paris and Frankfurt on to the other end of Asia, Tokyo, have broken the public trust. Madoff-proof is the new by-word. Yet, those responsible are educated in some of the finest and smartest global universities. It just doesn’t make sense. What went wrong?
I know it’s always difficult to generalise. So, let me pick the best – Harvard University. Also, I happen to know more about the goings-on at this university than any other. I have been associated with it through a number of formal Harvard appointments as an active alumni since 1993, both at the university in Cambridge and in Asia.
As I see it today, Harvard’s challenges are not unique – they are as relevant to us in Malaysia as they are to the best British, French, German and Japanese counterparts.
Harvard College (its undergraduate wing) has an overarching role to educate students to be independent, knowledgeable, reflective, and creative thinkers with a sense of social responsibility.
Towards this end, it provides students with the knowledge, skills and habits of mind to enable them to enjoy a lifetime of learning and to adapt to changing circumstances. It does all this through repeated reaffirmation of its commitment as America’s oldest university (since 1638) to a liberal education in the arts and sciences.
Harvard strives to be the best in many things; it often succeeds. Yet, over the years, it has allowed its key mission to drift; from education towards increasingly, stakeholder satisfaction, developing more and more as an international brand, and assuming the role of an education market-enterprise: i.e. from harvard.edu to harvard.com, so to speak. Mind you, Harvard remains consistently the first-rate world-class research university.
Developmentally, youngsters at ages 17-23 are ripe to become immersed in life of the mind, and to draw energy and inspiration from their evolving independence. And, as they begin to shift the burden of responsibility from dependency on parents to caring for themselves and society. Yet, it would appear universities seem oblivious to the opportunity to shape their lives.
Why this drift?
Relentless competition for research excellence has produced a university system optimised for research. Of course, this brought untold prestige and prosperity through scholarly discoveries and scientific inventions. But, I think, at a price to the real quality of undergraduate education. For example, there are no KPIs (key performance indicators) for effectively imparting knowledge and inculcating committed habits of mind to make students wiser and productive adults. University structures rarely consciously promote responsible citizenship and an obligation to leave the world a better place.
Professors are rewarded for academic excellence. But no marks for helping students find meaningful lives, and a sense of their eventual place in society. Simply put, no one was looking at the big picture.
No one was monitoring for systemic failure – from the students’ point of view. T.S. Eliot (Harvard class of 1909) wrote in the Hollow Men: “Shape without form, shade without colour. Paralysed force, gesture without motion”. Herein lies the entrepreneurial challenge to the rest of world: How to capture the creativity of top US research universities, like Harvard, without importing their aimlessness as well.
What universities forgot
It is not that the great universities have been complacent. Indeed, over the years, deep and profound changes have taken place; viz. curriculum: now certainly richer, deeper and broader, but without clearly identifiable ideals; grading: now more disciplined even though grade inflation still exists but grades are now more credentials for employment and graduate schools, rather than instructional feedback from teacher to student; extra-curriculum activities have become broader and more diverse with competition going beyond the required intellectual undergraduate ideals; unfortunately, they are now greatly motivated by eventual materialistic incentives.
In the process, I think great universities including Harvard have forgot their basic job: to turn restless 17- to 19-year-olds into stable 21- to 23-year-old adults; to help them grow-up; learn who they are; search for a larger purpose in life; and leave university as better human beings.
The only trouble is that the greater the university, the more intense is market competition for faculty, students and research funds. Increasingly, at the university level, there is less serious talk of developing good character, of building personal strength, integrity, kindness, cooperation and compassion. Indeed, so totally has the goal of scholarly excellence overwhelmed the university’s education role that they forgot both aims need not be in conflict. It is not a zero-sum-game.
Curriculum reform
The answer must lie mainly in curriculum reform. Education should be more than what we learn. Pedagogy in the world’s best universities is often good; also, often not so good. Frankly, with age, we only remember the brilliant teacher but not what he actually taught.
“Education is what is left after all that has been learnt is forgotten.” (James Conant, Harvard president, 1933-53). At Harvard, the undergraduate mission remains largely intact: to transform teenagers, whose lives have been so structured by their families and schools, into adults with the learning and wisdom to take responsibility for their own lives and for civil society.
The intent is to reflect this idealism in any new curriculum in order to realise their potential – they won’t be able to (and can’t) get it anywhere else. Fortunately for Harvard, its strength lies in having the best students, first-class faculty and excellent research.
Emphasizing strength of character and scholarly excellence, the new curriculum is intended to help students understand complexities of the human condition, challenge them with issues that are disturbing in society, come to grips with the basic questions of life, and fit seamlessly into its multi-talented, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-national student body. In the process, the idea is to turn dependent adolescents into wiser adults.
Dignity, honour and responsibility
In my view, restoration of the right balance between scholarly excellence and its education role requires developing in students a philosophy of life that brings dignity, honor and responsibility to oneself.
For Malaysia, this means helping them to believe in themselves as individuals, and not to see themselves first as members of any identity group. This simply entails creating community out of diversity. The building of self-understanding and confidence in one’s own principles remains key to the educated person and leader we all want to emerge from our universities.
Within this context, universities have proceeded to redesign curriculum that includes seven basic requirements: (i) more flexible purposeful-course requirements; (ii) written and oral communication; (iii) foreign language; (iv) quantitative skills; (v) basic science; (vi) moral reasoning; and (vii) specialisation.
Hopefully, to be able to engage the increasingly complex world, new graduates should by then have the ability to compose a literate and persuasive essay, know-how to interpret a famous humanistic text, capacity to link history to the present, understand foundation science and scientific methods to unravel mysteries of the real world, and enough quantitative reasoning to sharpen analysis of problems.
In essence, tomorrow’s world will not accept graduates not knowing the difference between a gene and a chromosome. Or, not familiar with select Nobel Prize winning works in literature. The building of confidence involves a capability to speak cogently, persuade others, and reason on moral and ethical issues. They are also expected to know how to collaborate with others on divisive issues, and to engage each other.
Balance between the sciences and humanities
After World War II, the sciences and humanities became the foundation for curriculum thinking. The sciences were regarded as the transforming force, while the humanities were seen as both the conserving element and the secular instrument for moral uplift. In the US at least, the power of the disciplines has since become overwhelming; they have become increasingly autonomous and self-justifying.
There is little choice in this. Students will need to know how to use disciplines outside their academic context; indeed, to put a “human face” on whatever they learn. They must appreciate the global context and temporal depth of the human experience. And, develop and build capacity to analyse without being intimated by the disciplines.
Like it or not, science will grow in stature. As a practical matter, the basic understanding of science and technology is a crucial element of being an educated person.
At the same time, how can universities nurture and inspirit the humanities especially when humanists today feel increasingly marginalised? Critics retort the humanities have lost their way by indulging in obscure post-modern theorising about race, gender and class. Such tensions are easily exacerbated by the growing emphasis on science. This leaves humanists feeling more and more neglected. This should not be.
New advances in the sciences offer possibilities of prolonging human life, destroying human life, transforming human life artificially in ways that challenge the very meaning of what it is to be human.
With such a prospect, traditional focus of the humanities on questions of value, of meaning, of ethics, is now more important than ever before. Unfortunately, they do not lend themselves to testable theories or to empirically verified results. If we are to make sense of the thrusts life-sciences place upon us, we need a society in which scientific advances are made to serve humane purposes.
Obita dictum
Any meaningful reform is complex and difficult. Former Harvard president Derek Bok compared just such an exercise in his time to moving a cemetery. But I cannot see a higher priority than this awesome task at real undergraduate reform.
Our world is shaped by leaders, good and bad – even the mediocre. They say we get the leaders we deserve. Yet, leaders develop their thinking, their ideas and beliefs, their biases, attitudes and capacities for change, including their advisors, at the universities. Let’s give our future leaders a fair shake. We all deserve better.
Former banker Dr Lin is a Harvard educated economist and a British chartered scientist who now spends time promoting the public interest. Feedback is most welcome. Please email to
starbizweek@thestar.com.my.
WHAT ARE WE TO DO
By TAN SRI LIN SEE-YAN
Tan Sri Lin See-Yan forwards the poser of how people educated in some of the finest and smartest global universities are responsible for some of the financial problems since 2000.
THE excesses since 2000, especially the latest financial meltdown from Wall Street to the city of London, and from Paris and Frankfurt on to the other end of Asia, Tokyo, have broken the public trust. Madoff-proof is the new by-word. Yet, those responsible are educated in some of the finest and smartest global universities. It just doesn’t make sense. What went wrong?
I know it’s always difficult to generalise. So, let me pick the best – Harvard University. Also, I happen to know more about the goings-on at this university than any other. I have been associated with it through a number of formal Harvard appointments as an active alumni since 1993, both at the university in Cambridge and in Asia.
As I see it today, Harvard’s challenges are not unique – they are as relevant to us in Malaysia as they are to the best British, French, German and Japanese counterparts.
Harvard College (its undergraduate wing) has an overarching role to educate students to be independent, knowledgeable, reflective, and creative thinkers with a sense of social responsibility.
Towards this end, it provides students with the knowledge, skills and habits of mind to enable them to enjoy a lifetime of learning and to adapt to changing circumstances. It does all this through repeated reaffirmation of its commitment as America’s oldest university (since 1638) to a liberal education in the arts and sciences.
Harvard strives to be the best in many things; it often succeeds. Yet, over the years, it has allowed its key mission to drift; from education towards increasingly, stakeholder satisfaction, developing more and more as an international brand, and assuming the role of an education market-enterprise: i.e. from harvard.edu to harvard.com, so to speak. Mind you, Harvard remains consistently the first-rate world-class research university.
Developmentally, youngsters at ages 17-23 are ripe to become immersed in life of the mind, and to draw energy and inspiration from their evolving independence. And, as they begin to shift the burden of responsibility from dependency on parents to caring for themselves and society. Yet, it would appear universities seem oblivious to the opportunity to shape their lives.
Why this drift?
Relentless competition for research excellence has produced a university system optimised for research. Of course, this brought untold prestige and prosperity through scholarly discoveries and scientific inventions. But, I think, at a price to the real quality of undergraduate education. For example, there are no KPIs (key performance indicators) for effectively imparting knowledge and inculcating committed habits of mind to make students wiser and productive adults. University structures rarely consciously promote responsible citizenship and an obligation to leave the world a better place.
Professors are rewarded for academic excellence. But no marks for helping students find meaningful lives, and a sense of their eventual place in society. Simply put, no one was looking at the big picture.
No one was monitoring for systemic failure – from the students’ point of view. T.S. Eliot (Harvard class of 1909) wrote in the Hollow Men: “Shape without form, shade without colour. Paralysed force, gesture without motion”. Herein lies the entrepreneurial challenge to the rest of world: How to capture the creativity of top US research universities, like Harvard, without importing their aimlessness as well.
What universities forgot
It is not that the great universities have been complacent. Indeed, over the years, deep and profound changes have taken place; viz. curriculum: now certainly richer, deeper and broader, but without clearly identifiable ideals; grading: now more disciplined even though grade inflation still exists but grades are now more credentials for employment and graduate schools, rather than instructional feedback from teacher to student; extra-curriculum activities have become broader and more diverse with competition going beyond the required intellectual undergraduate ideals; unfortunately, they are now greatly motivated by eventual materialistic incentives.
In the process, I think great universities including Harvard have forgot their basic job: to turn restless 17- to 19-year-olds into stable 21- to 23-year-old adults; to help them grow-up; learn who they are; search for a larger purpose in life; and leave university as better human beings.
The only trouble is that the greater the university, the more intense is market competition for faculty, students and research funds. Increasingly, at the university level, there is less serious talk of developing good character, of building personal strength, integrity, kindness, cooperation and compassion. Indeed, so totally has the goal of scholarly excellence overwhelmed the university’s education role that they forgot both aims need not be in conflict. It is not a zero-sum-game.
Curriculum reform
The answer must lie mainly in curriculum reform. Education should be more than what we learn. Pedagogy in the world’s best universities is often good; also, often not so good. Frankly, with age, we only remember the brilliant teacher but not what he actually taught.
“Education is what is left after all that has been learnt is forgotten.” (James Conant, Harvard president, 1933-53). At Harvard, the undergraduate mission remains largely intact: to transform teenagers, whose lives have been so structured by their families and schools, into adults with the learning and wisdom to take responsibility for their own lives and for civil society.
The intent is to reflect this idealism in any new curriculum in order to realise their potential – they won’t be able to (and can’t) get it anywhere else. Fortunately for Harvard, its strength lies in having the best students, first-class faculty and excellent research.
Emphasizing strength of character and scholarly excellence, the new curriculum is intended to help students understand complexities of the human condition, challenge them with issues that are disturbing in society, come to grips with the basic questions of life, and fit seamlessly into its multi-talented, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-national student body. In the process, the idea is to turn dependent adolescents into wiser adults.
Dignity, honour and responsibility
In my view, restoration of the right balance between scholarly excellence and its education role requires developing in students a philosophy of life that brings dignity, honor and responsibility to oneself.
For Malaysia, this means helping them to believe in themselves as individuals, and not to see themselves first as members of any identity group. This simply entails creating community out of diversity. The building of self-understanding and confidence in one’s own principles remains key to the educated person and leader we all want to emerge from our universities.
Within this context, universities have proceeded to redesign curriculum that includes seven basic requirements: (i) more flexible purposeful-course requirements; (ii) written and oral communication; (iii) foreign language; (iv) quantitative skills; (v) basic science; (vi) moral reasoning; and (vii) specialisation.
Hopefully, to be able to engage the increasingly complex world, new graduates should by then have the ability to compose a literate and persuasive essay, know-how to interpret a famous humanistic text, capacity to link history to the present, understand foundation science and scientific methods to unravel mysteries of the real world, and enough quantitative reasoning to sharpen analysis of problems.
In essence, tomorrow’s world will not accept graduates not knowing the difference between a gene and a chromosome. Or, not familiar with select Nobel Prize winning works in literature. The building of confidence involves a capability to speak cogently, persuade others, and reason on moral and ethical issues. They are also expected to know how to collaborate with others on divisive issues, and to engage each other.
Balance between the sciences and humanities
After World War II, the sciences and humanities became the foundation for curriculum thinking. The sciences were regarded as the transforming force, while the humanities were seen as both the conserving element and the secular instrument for moral uplift. In the US at least, the power of the disciplines has since become overwhelming; they have become increasingly autonomous and self-justifying.
There is little choice in this. Students will need to know how to use disciplines outside their academic context; indeed, to put a “human face” on whatever they learn. They must appreciate the global context and temporal depth of the human experience. And, develop and build capacity to analyse without being intimated by the disciplines.
Like it or not, science will grow in stature. As a practical matter, the basic understanding of science and technology is a crucial element of being an educated person.
At the same time, how can universities nurture and inspirit the humanities especially when humanists today feel increasingly marginalised? Critics retort the humanities have lost their way by indulging in obscure post-modern theorising about race, gender and class. Such tensions are easily exacerbated by the growing emphasis on science. This leaves humanists feeling more and more neglected. This should not be.
New advances in the sciences offer possibilities of prolonging human life, destroying human life, transforming human life artificially in ways that challenge the very meaning of what it is to be human.
With such a prospect, traditional focus of the humanities on questions of value, of meaning, of ethics, is now more important than ever before. Unfortunately, they do not lend themselves to testable theories or to empirically verified results. If we are to make sense of the thrusts life-sciences place upon us, we need a society in which scientific advances are made to serve humane purposes.
Obita dictum
Any meaningful reform is complex and difficult. Former Harvard president Derek Bok compared just such an exercise in his time to moving a cemetery. But I cannot see a higher priority than this awesome task at real undergraduate reform.
Our world is shaped by leaders, good and bad – even the mediocre. They say we get the leaders we deserve. Yet, leaders develop their thinking, their ideas and beliefs, their biases, attitudes and capacities for change, including their advisors, at the universities. Let’s give our future leaders a fair shake. We all deserve better.
Former banker Dr Lin is a Harvard educated economist and a British chartered scientist who now spends time promoting the public interest. Feedback is most welcome. Please email to
starbizweek@thestar.com.my.
Monday, September 28, 2009
The Faisal Cup
The Faisal Cup is a football tournament initiated by Harvest Centre Bhd, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as voice for freedom and against discrimination of refugee children. It is to be played by various refugee education centers yearly. The 2006 inaugural tournament will feature teams from ABIM, Malaysian Care and Montessori New Covenant Community.
The Faisal Cup is a 7-a-side football and netball tournament created and organized by Harvest Centre Bhd. to give underprivileged and urban poor children a chance to play in an organized game.
The Faisal Cup began in 2006 after the tragic loss of one of our students, Faisal, who drowned while trying to retrieve a football he saw floating in a nearby river.
The Faisal Cup was then initiated to ensure that children from impoverished and disadvantaged backgrounds have an opportunity to train and participate in organized sport while developing the discipline and self-confidence they need to become responsible world citizens.
The Harvest Centre also runs Malaysia’s first Montessori school for 122 marginalised children, half of them are of Rohingya children from Myanmar who are denied basic education in Malaysia which doesn't recognise nor accept refugees.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Malaysia O Tanahairku
Malaysia oh tanah airku
Tanah tempat tumpah darahku
Negeri elok amat kucinta
Yang kupuja sepanjang masa
Sawahmu terbentang meluas
Tumbuh-tumbuhan hijau merendang
Bukitmu lurusnya terbentang
Tak jemu mataku memandang
Sungguh indah di Malaysia
Negeri yang kaya raya
Tempat pusat berniaga
Terkenal di seluruh dunia
Malaysia negeriku Malaysia
Pusaka tinggalan moyangku
Tetap sentosa hidup merdeka
Malaysia tanah airku
Tanah tempat tumpah darahku
Negeri elok amat kucinta
Yang kupuja sepanjang masa
Sawahmu terbentang meluas
Tumbuh-tumbuhan hijau merendang
Bukitmu lurusnya terbentang
Tak jemu mataku memandang
Sungguh indah di Malaysia
Negeri yang kaya raya
Tempat pusat berniaga
Terkenal di seluruh dunia
Malaysia negeriku Malaysia
Pusaka tinggalan moyangku
Tetap sentosa hidup merdeka
Malaysia tanah airku
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Keller on Liberal Democracy
"Human communities should be completely inclusive, open to all on the basis of our common humanity... All that is required for such community life is that each person respects the privacy and rights of others and works for equal access to education, jobs and political decision-making for all. Common moral beliefs are not necessary, it is said in a "liberal democracy"
...Liberal democracy is based on an extensive list of assumptions -- a preference of individuals to community rights, a division between private and public morality, ad the sanctity of personal choice. All of these beliefs are foreign to many other cultures. A liberal democracy is based then on a shared set of very particular belifes.
Western society is based on shared commitments to reason, rights and justice, even though there is no universally rcognized definition of any of these. Every account of justice and reason is embedded in a set of some particular beliefs about the meaning of human life that is not shared with everyone. The idea of a totally inclusive community is, therefore an illusion. Every human community holds in common some beliefs that necessarily create boundaries, including some people and excluding others from its circle...
...Any community that did not hold its members accountable for specific beliefs and practices would have o corporate idntity and would not really be community at all. We cannot consider a group exclusive simply because it has standards for its members.
Is there then no way to judge whether a community is open and caring rather than narrow and oppressive? Yes there is. Here is a far better set of tests:
Which community has beliefs that lead its members to treat persons in other communities with love and respect- to serve them and meet their needs? Which community's beliefs lead it to demonize and attack those who violate their boundaries rather than treating them with kindness, humility and winsomeness?"
-- Timothy Keller, "Community Can't Be Completely Inclusive" in The Reason for God, Belief in an Age of Skepticism.
...Liberal democracy is based on an extensive list of assumptions -- a preference of individuals to community rights, a division between private and public morality, ad the sanctity of personal choice. All of these beliefs are foreign to many other cultures. A liberal democracy is based then on a shared set of very particular belifes.
Western society is based on shared commitments to reason, rights and justice, even though there is no universally rcognized definition of any of these. Every account of justice and reason is embedded in a set of some particular beliefs about the meaning of human life that is not shared with everyone. The idea of a totally inclusive community is, therefore an illusion. Every human community holds in common some beliefs that necessarily create boundaries, including some people and excluding others from its circle...
...Any community that did not hold its members accountable for specific beliefs and practices would have o corporate idntity and would not really be community at all. We cannot consider a group exclusive simply because it has standards for its members.
Is there then no way to judge whether a community is open and caring rather than narrow and oppressive? Yes there is. Here is a far better set of tests:
Which community has beliefs that lead its members to treat persons in other communities with love and respect- to serve them and meet their needs? Which community's beliefs lead it to demonize and attack those who violate their boundaries rather than treating them with kindness, humility and winsomeness?"
-- Timothy Keller, "Community Can't Be Completely Inclusive" in The Reason for God, Belief in an Age of Skepticism.
Merdeka?
31st August has passed.
There was nothing to look forward to, as there was neither celebration nor commemoration, apart from some silly deadlines to meet. My fellow Malaysians were apathetic about it anyway. There is no good reason to remember our homeland nor our past, nor to speak of it on that day, they say. There's nothing to be thankful for.
Being in a different country can possibly turn us into a) keen participants and explorers of our host culture, that we ignore our past, b) melancholic guardians of our previous culture that we form ghettos against our host culture.
While I like New Zealand, her majestic Taranaki and Whanganui, her social structure and institutions, its social mannerisms and language, nice state highways and easy traffic, its church's intellectual and social heritage. Deep inside, I still miss the not-so-beautiful Bukit Besar and the brown Terengganu river, the polarised and incohesive Malaysian society, the inefficient and under-resourced social institutions, its uncivilized society filled with violence and bad manners, crazy traffic with exorbitant toll and bad drivers, the Malaysian church with its bad theology and misplaced piety. The Star and The Malaysian Insider are still more appetizing than the NZ Herald or the Dominion Post.
An overseas education has blessed me in many ways, opening various doors of opportunity to gain new experiences, learn new knowledge and skills, think in new ways, meet many different people and cultures, exposed to various ideas and worldviews, read good (and bad theology) and live a very comfortable lifestyle.
Instead of being bursting into thanksgiving, it is more tempting to yearn for more. More experiences, more knowledge, more travel, more blessings, more money, more opportunities. These blessings together with our ambition, can sometimes hide us from sensing God’s purpose and call in our lives.
Being called unto salvation and placed in the Malaysian church and society throughout my upbringing, and the call to contribute to its interests, has somehow taken a second place. Somehow, being born and raised for 17 years by my whanau (extended family), local school, community and the church has no significance. Where do I belong and return to, who are my family, where do I toil and witness, became irrelevant. My whanau, kaumatua and whakapapa, whenua, maunga and awa became a distant memory and insignificant past.
History and memories that shaped who I am today are expunged from my consciousness, for joys of exploring the new land and its culture. The new land, with its promises of a better future, greater opportunities for self-development, more satisfying career and quality of life has become more real.
The promises of the future can often compete with the stillness of God’s voice for a deeper and broader life purpose. It can also be mistaken as God’s call. Many individuals see the opportunity for emigration to a better land, as God’s calling and blessing, while to return to a homeland or to a lesser land, is like martyrdom to Timbuktu, selected only for the few special ones except for occasional holidays to satisfy the craving for cultural delicacies.
Of course, some will be called to be witnesses to their new land, like Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Esther, Daniel and Paul. In our globalised world, where mission is from everywhere to everywhere, the idea of the first world call to the third world is no longer true. New social and economic migrants, international students and travelers can be a blessing to the countries and churches that they end up in, especially in the post-Christian west. To ignore the task of reevangelising the first-world and revitalizing the western church, due to narrow nationalism, assumption of a Christian west or plain indifference, is neither faithful to the works of Christ.
It is therefore a huge task, for international and migrants to reexamine our lives and to rediscover God’s calling. Our identity, rooted in Christ, the gifts that he has blessed us with, and the contexts that we are placed in, would largely determine where are we most called to be ministers of the Gospel.
It takes sacrifice, to turn away from our idols, to dedicate our lives to Christ and to follow Him to the ends of the earth. After all this world is not our own, we are just passing through.
There was nothing to look forward to, as there was neither celebration nor commemoration, apart from some silly deadlines to meet. My fellow Malaysians were apathetic about it anyway. There is no good reason to remember our homeland nor our past, nor to speak of it on that day, they say. There's nothing to be thankful for.
Being in a different country can possibly turn us into a) keen participants and explorers of our host culture, that we ignore our past, b) melancholic guardians of our previous culture that we form ghettos against our host culture.
While I like New Zealand, her majestic Taranaki and Whanganui, her social structure and institutions, its social mannerisms and language, nice state highways and easy traffic, its church's intellectual and social heritage. Deep inside, I still miss the not-so-beautiful Bukit Besar and the brown Terengganu river, the polarised and incohesive Malaysian society, the inefficient and under-resourced social institutions, its uncivilized society filled with violence and bad manners, crazy traffic with exorbitant toll and bad drivers, the Malaysian church with its bad theology and misplaced piety. The Star and The Malaysian Insider are still more appetizing than the NZ Herald or the Dominion Post.
An overseas education has blessed me in many ways, opening various doors of opportunity to gain new experiences, learn new knowledge and skills, think in new ways, meet many different people and cultures, exposed to various ideas and worldviews, read good (and bad theology) and live a very comfortable lifestyle.
Instead of being bursting into thanksgiving, it is more tempting to yearn for more. More experiences, more knowledge, more travel, more blessings, more money, more opportunities. These blessings together with our ambition, can sometimes hide us from sensing God’s purpose and call in our lives.
Being called unto salvation and placed in the Malaysian church and society throughout my upbringing, and the call to contribute to its interests, has somehow taken a second place. Somehow, being born and raised for 17 years by my whanau (extended family), local school, community and the church has no significance. Where do I belong and return to, who are my family, where do I toil and witness, became irrelevant. My whanau, kaumatua and whakapapa, whenua, maunga and awa became a distant memory and insignificant past.
History and memories that shaped who I am today are expunged from my consciousness, for joys of exploring the new land and its culture. The new land, with its promises of a better future, greater opportunities for self-development, more satisfying career and quality of life has become more real.
The promises of the future can often compete with the stillness of God’s voice for a deeper and broader life purpose. It can also be mistaken as God’s call. Many individuals see the opportunity for emigration to a better land, as God’s calling and blessing, while to return to a homeland or to a lesser land, is like martyrdom to Timbuktu, selected only for the few special ones except for occasional holidays to satisfy the craving for cultural delicacies.
Of course, some will be called to be witnesses to their new land, like Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Esther, Daniel and Paul. In our globalised world, where mission is from everywhere to everywhere, the idea of the first world call to the third world is no longer true. New social and economic migrants, international students and travelers can be a blessing to the countries and churches that they end up in, especially in the post-Christian west. To ignore the task of reevangelising the first-world and revitalizing the western church, due to narrow nationalism, assumption of a Christian west or plain indifference, is neither faithful to the works of Christ.
It is therefore a huge task, for international and migrants to reexamine our lives and to rediscover God’s calling. Our identity, rooted in Christ, the gifts that he has blessed us with, and the contexts that we are placed in, would largely determine where are we most called to be ministers of the Gospel.
It takes sacrifice, to turn away from our idols, to dedicate our lives to Christ and to follow Him to the ends of the earth. After all this world is not our own, we are just passing through.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Alpha and Omega
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying
Behold the tabernacle of God is with men
He shall dwell with them and they shall be His people
And almighty God will be with them
He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes
There shall be no more death
Neither sorrow, nor crying, and no more pain
The former things are all passed away
He that sat upon the throne said,
“Behold, I make all things new”
He said unto me, “Write these words
For they are faithful and true”
It is done (4 Times)
He is the Alpha and Omega
The Beginning and the End
The Son of God, the King of Kings
Lord of lords, He’s Everything
Messiah, Jehovah
The Prince of Peace is He
The Son of Man, Seed of Abraham
Second Person in the Trinity
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Meritocracy and Nazism
"There are three responses to this. Firstly, who decides what counts as ‘success’? I don’t remember having had any say, for example, in the designation of the position of CEO at BAE Systems as being ‘successful’. It seems an odd sort of system that regards the chief of a global murder machine as offering anything valuable whatsoever. But then meritocracy is not democratic, and so what we may class as socially desirable is ignored.
Secondly, and less dramatically, meritocracy simply doesn’t do what it says on the tin. The assumption is that it avoids the inequalities which wealth and Old Boy contacts bring about, but this simply isn’t so. A child born into a middle-class family has infinitely more chances of ‘getting on’ in this world than a child born into a working class family. (As may now be clear, however, this in itself is not saying much). Middle-class families tend to have lots of books around, they teach their children to read before they go to school, they take them to museums, they teach them how to ‘talk properly’, they know how to play the system if their child is in trouble: they equip their child, that is to say, with the cultural equivalent of money because they have the money to do so in the first place.
Finally, and most importantly, meritocracy is a form of fascism. Its logic is as follows: the natural inequalities of body, race, ability, and so on are equated with what an individual deserves to receive from life in general. If you’re intelligent, white and ruthless, it’s likely you’ll go far in the world; if you’re black, disabled and have a low IQ, you deserve, the system tells us, to live a life of poverty. There is only one logical step between this and the Nazi approach to the Jews: meritocracy merely condemns to wretchedness people who fail to meet bureaucratic standards; the Nazis killed them." -- Daniel Hartley
Secondly, and less dramatically, meritocracy simply doesn’t do what it says on the tin. The assumption is that it avoids the inequalities which wealth and Old Boy contacts bring about, but this simply isn’t so. A child born into a middle-class family has infinitely more chances of ‘getting on’ in this world than a child born into a working class family. (As may now be clear, however, this in itself is not saying much). Middle-class families tend to have lots of books around, they teach their children to read before they go to school, they take them to museums, they teach them how to ‘talk properly’, they know how to play the system if their child is in trouble: they equip their child, that is to say, with the cultural equivalent of money because they have the money to do so in the first place.
Finally, and most importantly, meritocracy is a form of fascism. Its logic is as follows: the natural inequalities of body, race, ability, and so on are equated with what an individual deserves to receive from life in general. If you’re intelligent, white and ruthless, it’s likely you’ll go far in the world; if you’re black, disabled and have a low IQ, you deserve, the system tells us, to live a life of poverty. There is only one logical step between this and the Nazi approach to the Jews: meritocracy merely condemns to wretchedness people who fail to meet bureaucratic standards; the Nazis killed them." -- Daniel Hartley
Friday, August 07, 2009
Allah-free Bible
"We want to make the Muslims our friends. We are not there to defeat them in a battle or an argument. We want them to come to Christ," he said. "This is the practical reality we have to bow down to, although theologically it may be unnecessary."
Should Christians in Malaysia stop calling God Allah? If so, Fernando said, it would be for reasons other than accurate translation. "The only advantage is to avoid outrage," he said. "I can't see any other advantage." -- Ajith Fernando
Should Christians in Malaysia stop calling God Allah? If so, Fernando said, it would be for reasons other than accurate translation. "The only advantage is to avoid outrage," he said. "I can't see any other advantage." -- Ajith Fernando
Inclusivism Frenzy
A Church of England book published this week says bald and overweight people should be regarded as worshippers with "special needs" alongside the blind, the deaf and worshippers in wheelchairs. The advice is an attempt to make churches more friendly to newcomers and therefore increase attendance at services.
The book, Everybody Welcome, warns that bald people could be "in trouble from those overhead radiant heaters some churches have unwittingly installed" and that special arrangements may need to be made for people who are overweight. "Some pew spaces and chairs are embarrassingly inadequate for what is known in church circles as 'the wider community'," the book says.
Also, consideration should be given to recovering alcoholics who want to receive communion wine, it suggests, and for those who "find loud noises from organs or music groups distressing".
The Church's drive also includes ideas such as encouraging worshippers to make eye contact, to smile and to remember people's names. - The Telegraph
The book, Everybody Welcome, warns that bald people could be "in trouble from those overhead radiant heaters some churches have unwittingly installed" and that special arrangements may need to be made for people who are overweight. "Some pew spaces and chairs are embarrassingly inadequate for what is known in church circles as 'the wider community'," the book says.
Also, consideration should be given to recovering alcoholics who want to receive communion wine, it suggests, and for those who "find loud noises from organs or music groups distressing".
The Church's drive also includes ideas such as encouraging worshippers to make eye contact, to smile and to remember people's names. - The Telegraph
...........
"[the church], for example, is more concerned with being inclusive than being the church. We do not have the slightest idea what we mean by being inclusive other than some vague idea that inclusivity has something to do with being accepting and loving. Inclusivity is, of course, a necessary strategy for survival in what is religiously a buyers' market." - Stanley Hauerwas
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Athanasius on the Incarnation
God knew the limitation of mankind, you see; and though the grace of being made in His Image was sufficient to give them knowledge of the Word and through Him of the Father, as a safeguard against their neglect of this grace, He provided the works of creation also as means by which the Maker might be known. Nor was this all. Man's neglect of the indwelling grace tends ever to increase; and against this further frailty also God made provision by giving them a law, and by sending prophets, men whom they knew. Thus, if they were tardy in looking up to heaven, they might still gain knowledge of their Maker from those close at hand; for men can learn directly about higher things from other men.
Three ways thus lay open to them, by which they might obtain the knowledge of God. They could look up into the immensity of heaven, and by pondering the harmony of creation come to know its Ruler, the Word of the Father, Whose all-ruling providence makes known the Father to all. Or, if this was beyond them, they could converse with holy men, and through them learn to know God, the Artificer of all things, the Father of Christ, and to recognize the worship of idols as the negation of the truth and full of all impiety. Or else, in the third place, they could cease from lukewarmness and lead a good life merely by knowing the law. For the law was not given only for the Jews, nor was it solely for their sake that God sent the prophets, though it was to the Jews that they were sent and by the Jews that they were persecuted. The law and the prophets were a sacred school of the knowledge of God and the conduct of the spiritual life for the whole world.
So great, indeed, were the goodness and the love of God. Yet men, bowed down by the pleasures of the moment and by the frauds and illusions of the evil spirits, did not lift up their heads towards the truth. So burdened were they with their wickednesses that they seemed rather to be brute beasts than reasonable men, reflecting the very Likeness of the Word.
(13) What was God to do in face of this dehumanising of mankind, this universal hiding of the knowledge of Himself by the wiles of evil spirits? Was He to keep silence before so great a wrong and let men go on being thus deceived and kept in ignorance of Himself? If so, what was the use of having made them in His own Image originally? It would surely have been better for them always to have been brutes, rather than to revert to that condition when once they had shared the nature of the Word. Again, things being as they were, what was the use of their ever having had the knowledge of God? Surely it would have been better for God never to have bestowed it, than that men should subsequently be found unworthy to receive it. Similarly, what possible profit could it be to God Himself, Who made men, if when made they did not worship Him, but regarded others as their makers? This would be tantamount to His having made them for others and not for Himself. Even an earthly king, though he is only a man, does not allow lands that he has colonized to pass into other hands or to desert to other rulers, but sends letters and friends and even visits them himself to recall them to their allegiance, rather than allow His work to be undone. How much more, then, will God be patient and painstaking with His creatures, that they be not led astray from Him to the service of those that are not, and that all the more because such error means for them sheer ruin, and because it is not right that those who had once shared His Image should be destroyed.
What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father Who could recreate man made after the Image.
In order to effect this re-creation, however, He had first to do away with death and corruption. Therefore He assumed a human body, in order that in it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for this need.
--Athanasius "On the Incarnation"
Three ways thus lay open to them, by which they might obtain the knowledge of God. They could look up into the immensity of heaven, and by pondering the harmony of creation come to know its Ruler, the Word of the Father, Whose all-ruling providence makes known the Father to all. Or, if this was beyond them, they could converse with holy men, and through them learn to know God, the Artificer of all things, the Father of Christ, and to recognize the worship of idols as the negation of the truth and full of all impiety. Or else, in the third place, they could cease from lukewarmness and lead a good life merely by knowing the law. For the law was not given only for the Jews, nor was it solely for their sake that God sent the prophets, though it was to the Jews that they were sent and by the Jews that they were persecuted. The law and the prophets were a sacred school of the knowledge of God and the conduct of the spiritual life for the whole world.
So great, indeed, were the goodness and the love of God. Yet men, bowed down by the pleasures of the moment and by the frauds and illusions of the evil spirits, did not lift up their heads towards the truth. So burdened were they with their wickednesses that they seemed rather to be brute beasts than reasonable men, reflecting the very Likeness of the Word.
(13) What was God to do in face of this dehumanising of mankind, this universal hiding of the knowledge of Himself by the wiles of evil spirits? Was He to keep silence before so great a wrong and let men go on being thus deceived and kept in ignorance of Himself? If so, what was the use of having made them in His own Image originally? It would surely have been better for them always to have been brutes, rather than to revert to that condition when once they had shared the nature of the Word. Again, things being as they were, what was the use of their ever having had the knowledge of God? Surely it would have been better for God never to have bestowed it, than that men should subsequently be found unworthy to receive it. Similarly, what possible profit could it be to God Himself, Who made men, if when made they did not worship Him, but regarded others as their makers? This would be tantamount to His having made them for others and not for Himself. Even an earthly king, though he is only a man, does not allow lands that he has colonized to pass into other hands or to desert to other rulers, but sends letters and friends and even visits them himself to recall them to their allegiance, rather than allow His work to be undone. How much more, then, will God be patient and painstaking with His creatures, that they be not led astray from Him to the service of those that are not, and that all the more because such error means for them sheer ruin, and because it is not right that those who had once shared His Image should be destroyed.
What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father Who could recreate man made after the Image.
In order to effect this re-creation, however, He had first to do away with death and corruption. Therefore He assumed a human body, in order that in it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for this need.
--Athanasius "On the Incarnation"
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Tinggal Sertaku
Kidung Jemaat No. 329 : Tinggal Sertaku
Judul Bahasa Inggris : Abide with Me
Lirik
Dikatakan bahawa orang yang dapat menghadapi kematian secara realistik akan dapat mengharungi kehidupan ini dengan rasa berguna dan dengan penuh percaya diri. Hal tersebut menjadi kepercayaan juga bagi seorang pastor Inggeris yang kurang dikenal, Henry F Lyte, ketika beliau menulis teks untuk kidung ini pada tahun 1847, sebelum menjelang kepergiannya. Setelah itu, kidung ini menjadi kidung pilihan bagi orang-orang dimana-mana dalam masa kesedihan dan tekanan yang dalam.
Henry F. Lyte lahir di Scotland pada 1 Juni 1793. Dia bersekolah di Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, dan menjadi anggota Gereja Anglican seumur hidupnya. Semasa hidupnya, dia dikenal sebagai orang yang lemah secara fizik akan tetapi kuat dalam iman dan spiritual. Kesehatannya secara terus menerus terancam oleh asma dan tibi.
Walaupun dalam kelemahan fizikal, beliau adalah orang yang bekerja tidak kenal lelah dan membangun reputasi sebagai seorang penyair, pemuzik dan pendeta. Dia selalu mengatakan ungkapan ini: “adalah lebih baik menjadi lelah dan letih daripada habis tak berguna ” (rust out). Dimanapun melayani, beliau sangat dicintai dan dikagumi oleh jemaatnya.
Selama 23 tahun hidupnya, dia melayani di daerah gereja pinggiran yang miskin, di antara komuniti nelayan di dataran rendah Brixham, Devonshire. Pada tahun-tahun inilah kesehatannya makin memburuk secara drastik dan terpaksa mempertimbangkan tempat yang lebih panas di Itali. Pada khotbah terakhir 4 September 1847 dengan orang miskin pinggiran yang dilayaninya, dia terkesot-kesot untuk dapat berdiri di podium dan berbicara seperti orang yang sekarat. Pada perjalanan ke Roma, Itali, beliau akhirnya meninggal di Nice, Perancis dan dimakamkan disana pada 20 November 1847.
Lyte dipercayai menuliskan lirik dari kidung ini beserta muziknya tidak lama setelah hari minggu terakhirnya di Gereja Brixham. Kidung ini jarang dipakai di England sampai ketika pertama kali diterbitkan dalam buku “Lyte’s Remain” pada 1850. Ketika diterbitkan di Amerika oleh Henry Ward pada tahun 1855, kidung ini ditandai dengan kalimat: “kidung ini ditujukan untuk dibaca, bukan untuk dinyanyikan”.
Ketika kemudian Willian Henry Monk membaca lirik kidung ini, karena tergerak hatinya beliau kemudian menggubah muziknya yakni Eventide, untuk lirik tersebut, yang kononnya diciptakan dalam setengah jam. Muzik ini terinspirasi oleh keindahan dan kemegahan matahari terbenam walaupun beliau belum pernah mengalami kesedihan yang dalam. Itulah muzik yang kita dengar hingga kini. William Monk adalah juga pengarah muzik dan pemain organ di King’s College, London.
Henry Lyte menulis kidung ini berdasarkan penampakan Yesus kepada dua murid dalam perjalanan menuju Emmaus dalam Injil Lukas . Dalam Luk 24:29 tertulis: Tetapi mereka sangat mendesak-Nya, katanya: “Tinggallah bersama-sama dengan kami, sebab hari telah menjelang malam dan matahari hampir terbenam.” Lalu masuklah Ia untuk tinggal bersama-sama dengan mereka.
Diadaptasi daripada cerita kidung blog HKBP Serpong
Sunday, June 07, 2009
The Monks Did It
Chris Armstrong wroteSurely evangelicals who are sampling these medieval wares would benefit by moving beyond a piecemeal, �consumer� approach to medieval Christianity into a more systematic, in-depth study. Beneath the surface of now-trendy medieval practices, and amidst that era's wrong turnings and corruptions, lies a rich vein of spiritual, intellectual, and practical resources. I can think of at least nine facets of medieval faith and life that we can stand to learn from today:
- their willingness to engage in spiritual disciplines
- their theologically grounded devotional and even "mystical" practices,
- their high valuation of tradition handed down in texts,
- their passionate search for theological knowledge (fides quaerens intellectum--"faith seeking understanding"),
- their moral seriousness, expressed for example in the lists of "deadly sins" and "cardinal virtues,"
- their adaptation of classical learning to Christian theology (which paved the way for the birth of modern science and continues to provide a model for Christ-culture engagement today),
- their deep affection for the doctrines of creation and incarnation, issuing (for example) in many profoundly spiritual treasures of Western art and literature,
- their high valuation on eternity over temporal life, and the "art of dying well" (ars moriendi) that developed from this commitment, and
- their insistence on works of charity (fides caritate formata--"faith formed by love").
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Miroslav Volf and David Martin
Credits to Sivin for this engaging video.
"Professor Miroslav Volf sits down with David Martin, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, to discuss the state of faiths in the world today and whether the "secularization thesis" is proving accurate."
Friday, May 29, 2009
Abide with Me
Dalam Alkitab tertulis begini, "Manusia yang pertama, yakni Adam, menjadi makhluk yang hidup," tetapi Adam yang terakhir adalah Roh yang memberi kehidupan.
Yang datang terlebih dahulu adalah yang jasmani, bukan yang rohani. Yang rohani datang kemudian. Adam yang pertama dijadikan dari tanah, tetapi Adam yang kedua berasal dari surga.
Orang-orang dunia ini adalah seperti Adam yang pertama, yang dijadikan dari tanah, tetapi orang-orang surga adalah seperti Dia yang datang dari surga. Sebagaimana kita sekarang adalah seperti Adam yang dijadikan dari tanah, maka nanti kita akan menjadi seperti Dia yang dari surga itu.
Maksud saya, Saudara-saudara, ialah: tubuh yang dijadikan dari darah dan daging, tidak dapat masuk Dunia Baru Allah; dan tubuh yang dapat mati tidak dapat menjadi abadi. Perhatikanlah rahsia ini: Tidak semuanya kita akan mati, tetapi kita semuanya akan berubah.
Hal itu akan terjadi tiba-tiba dalam sekejap mata, pada waktu trompet dibunyikan untuk terakhir kalinya. Sebab pada waktu terdengar bunyi trompet itu, orang-orang mati akan dihidupkan kembali dengan tubuh yang abadi, dan kita semuanya akan diubah. Tubuh kita yang dapat mati ini harus diganti dengan tubuh yang tidak dapat mati, dan tubuh yang dari dunia harus diganti dengan tubuh yang dari surga.
Kalau tubuh yang dapat mati sudah diganti dengan tubuh yang tidak dapat mati, dan tubuh yang dari dunia sudah diganti dengan tubuh yang dari surga, pada waktu itu barulah terjadi apa yang tertulis dalam Alkitab, "Kematian sudah dibasmi; kemenangan sudah tercapai!"
"Hai maut, di manakah kemenanganmu? Hai maut, di manakah bisamu?"
(1Co 15:45-55)
Semoga Berjumpa Lagi, Uncle Lui
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Medical Education in Malaysia : A reflection
Everyone wants to be doctor
Every year we hear about many students applying for medical schools and scholarships through various means. The government, being the major provider of medical education through public medical schools and overseas scholarships, is usually put at fault when high achieving students fail in their application into state-funded medical education for various reasons. These high achieving students often lament that their peers with lower academic credentials are given advantage over them due to the affirmative action policies of the government.
While no government in the world can guarantee public medical education for every aspiring student, a pro-affirmative policy will definitely reduce the chances of non-beneficiaries obtaining a place in a state-funded program. One therefore has to increase one’s chances of scoring a place through an arbitrary selection process, based on rough guidelines such as the following:
Every year we hear about many students applying for medical schools and scholarships through various means. The government, being the major provider of medical education through public medical schools and overseas scholarships, is usually put at fault when high achieving students fail in their application into state-funded medical education for various reasons. These high achieving students often lament that their peers with lower academic credentials are given advantage over them due to the affirmative action policies of the government.
While no government in the world can guarantee public medical education for every aspiring student, a pro-affirmative policy will definitely reduce the chances of non-beneficiaries obtaining a place in a state-funded program. One therefore has to increase one’s chances of scoring a place through an arbitrary selection process, based on rough guidelines such as the following:
a) Do outstandingly well not only to qualify for public medical school, but superiorly, at the top of the class and region;
b) Exhibit strong leadership qualities and special skills through involvement in co-curricular activities at state and national levels;
c) Possess flawless communication skills in Malay and English in a collegial setting;
d) Be able to articulate opinions on various socioeconomic and political issues, besides showing appreciation of local culture and norms;
e) Have access to some well-known political parties and figures to support one’s application.
Thus, for the average student who does not benefit from affirmative action, it is very challenging to gain a place in state-funded programs. However, they have a reason to rejoice with the recent liberalization of private education in Malaysia in the last decade. Many aspiring students who failed a place in the public sector may be able to pursue medical education and career inside and outside the country. It is a popular career choice for many Malaysians of all ethnicities, as a medical career does not only promise social mobility but also a stable income and social prestige. With greater affluence and increasing accessibility for private medical education through various twinning and private programs, the demand has increased dramatically.
More medical schools are opened not only by private institutions, but by state-owned institutions as well. The overwhelming popularity of medical education has been exemplified by the opening of various colleges, including ones which are dubious. State governments lobby for the opening of medical school campuses, medical schools are used as political and economic tools to reward different regional communities, like the recently Terengganu state university. Newer urban communities aspire to have the prestige of a medical school like the Cyberjaya, Iskandar Developmental Region and Kuala Lumpur Education City. To meet the fierce demand for medical education insufficiently provided by domestic providers, state scholarships seek not only to fund medical education for students from traditional providers like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India and Egypt, but also lesser known and somewhat questionable ones like Indonesian, Ukrainian, Russian, Czech and Polish institutions.
Sustainability
I am no economist. But I have a deep nagging fear that the Malaysian health system may not be able to absorb a steady stream of fresh medical graduates into the workforce. Health workers are not mass-produced workers for the system, but they are more of apprentices who require ongoing training and supervision from their seniors. Would they therefore gain adequate and appropriate post-graduate medical education?
Beside, with a health budget of RM8.7 billion (from 2006 figures), 6.33% of the national budget, health spending per capita is a meagre RM327. I wonder whether the government would be able to consistently increase its spending on healthcare to employ more doctors annually, not considering those who are already underpaid and overworked. With an increasing influx of graduates, would we be able to pay our doctors reasonably comparative to other developing countries, and would we be able to provide adequate ongoing training and supervision? The thought of the Phillipines, where doctors have to go overseas as nurses haunt my dreams.
With the proliferation of private healthcare providers due to a poorly coordinated dual health system, leeching off public medical consultants and medical officers, are we seeing junior doctors bloating our underinvested public health institutions, providing less than optimal care to our populace?
The justification for excessive and unsustainable training of medical students is the shortage of medical staff, repeated often by government officials and ministers of health. Tun Dr Mahathir’s ambitious Vision 2020 with a doctor-populace ration of 1:500 has perhaps driven the craze for the mass-production of medical graduates to achieve a so-called “developed nation status”. But to aspire for such unrealistic figure within a short time without proportionate increase in GDP per capita healthcare spending comparative to other OECD, is perhaps an exercise of self-delusion. Without an economy resilient and strong enough to support an extensive health system, a hyperinflated model of healthcare would mean few things; underpaid, overworked and undertrained staff.
Cheap measures to prevent these underpaid and overworked staff namely by bonding them with an almost-lifetime bond of 10 years (for basic training) and another 8 years (for postgraduate training) may work in the short term to prevent them from escaping the system that treats them with equal dignity with a factory machine. But until and unless there are systemic reforms in the public healthcare funding, recruitment and delivery of service, we are deluding ourselves of a “developed status healthcare” boasting only of our holy ratio of 1:500, but unable to deliver a system that effectively engages with the health of the nation. We will only be able to boast of thousands of health slaves providing for the people, but we may not be able to deliver a system that is well-funded, well-equipped, well-trained, well-coordinated and well-delivered to the people. Our noble intentions of serving the people would bear no fruit, as we may lose public confidence in the long run due to suboptimal services.
Thus, a brave systemic reform in Malaysia is sorely needed.
Friday, May 15, 2009
JPA Scholarships
The controversy regarding the JPA scholarship has emerged again, with a few alleged top scorers complaining of not getting overseas scholarship despite getting more A1s. From my limited knowledge, they were given a local scholarship instead. They were upset that their peers who obtained less A1s were given an overseas scholarship. Without knowing whether they are applying for the same course (note that medical scholarships have higher academic requirements than other courses) or whether the SPM subjects that they took correlates with the course that they are applying for, we can’t make any conclusion and therefore place our trust in our beloved champions of our respective races (be it MCA, DAP or MIC), ironically in the midst of a new political climate.
The JPA scholarship is indeed a prized scholarship within the medium to lower class non-bumiputera students who aspire for an overseas education. Since the cap on SPM subjects has been taken away in 2000, more students are taking more subjects in order to improve their chances of scoring as many A1s as possible to secure that scholarship. Like myself, many of them do not know that other scholarships and financial assistance do exist to help them further their studies elsewhere.
Many of them like myself many years ago, may have not been exposed to academia well enough to appreciate the wide variety of undergraduate courses available, be it of liberal arts or the sciences. We were just told by our teachers, parents, seniors and friends that the only way to go is JPA. And the only way to get it is to eat our Pelangi textbooks and regurgitate them out into the exam paper, besides going for tuition classes for every subjects that we are taking from the best tutors in town (nevermind that they suck in teaching at school).
It is also interesting that there is a growing sense of entitlement for those scholarships, with many claiming that they deserve that scholarship. Not any type of scholarship but an overseas scholarship for their many A1s, regardless of their co-curricular achievement, communication skills or socioeconomic background. This is particularly reflected in Sdr. Lim Kit Siang’s call for automatic grants for students achieving 9A1s and above. “Why must deserving students BEG for scholarships?” our politicians lament.
While it is probably a political suicide not to harp this issue among the non-bumiputera community, I feel that it is a bit too much to promote a sense of entitlement. The very people who are championing the removal of some special rights, are the very people who are advocating a new form of rights; “the Special Rights of 9A1s”. This right should be served by the nation by drawing upon the almost unending national reserves, regardless of the economic crisis nor pure common sense. As long as these rights are served and the money invested on tuition classes brings returns, anything goes.
Without putting a check, an unhealthy sense of entitlement may justify the removal of the 20% allocation for Sabah and Sarawak students and students with special needs, who may not necessarily meet the 9A1 mark to be entitled for this right. Perhaps students whose parents earn less than RM1500, who can barely afford to gain 10A1 may have to give way for their peers who get 13A1s, 14A1s, 15A1s or more, in the ever increasing competition to fight for the limited number of scholarships, all in the name of the Holy Meritocracy. With the trend of increasing A1s, thanks to the rat-race kiasu mentality of some urban middle-class Malaysians, the poor and the disadvantaged may be marginalised.
Who cares for the poor and disadvantaged? They are lazy and too bad they have learning difficulties, says some. Personal responsibility and hard work is the key to success, and certainly the passport to gain the “Special rights of the 9A1”. The survival of the fittest is the way to go, who cares about bad genes, post-colonial displacement, socioeconomic disparity, urban-rural divide and unequal opportunities?
The JPA scholarship is indeed a prized scholarship within the medium to lower class non-bumiputera students who aspire for an overseas education. Since the cap on SPM subjects has been taken away in 2000, more students are taking more subjects in order to improve their chances of scoring as many A1s as possible to secure that scholarship. Like myself, many of them do not know that other scholarships and financial assistance do exist to help them further their studies elsewhere.
Many of them like myself many years ago, may have not been exposed to academia well enough to appreciate the wide variety of undergraduate courses available, be it of liberal arts or the sciences. We were just told by our teachers, parents, seniors and friends that the only way to go is JPA. And the only way to get it is to eat our Pelangi textbooks and regurgitate them out into the exam paper, besides going for tuition classes for every subjects that we are taking from the best tutors in town (nevermind that they suck in teaching at school).
It is also interesting that there is a growing sense of entitlement for those scholarships, with many claiming that they deserve that scholarship. Not any type of scholarship but an overseas scholarship for their many A1s, regardless of their co-curricular achievement, communication skills or socioeconomic background. This is particularly reflected in Sdr. Lim Kit Siang’s call for automatic grants for students achieving 9A1s and above. “Why must deserving students BEG for scholarships?” our politicians lament.
While it is probably a political suicide not to harp this issue among the non-bumiputera community, I feel that it is a bit too much to promote a sense of entitlement. The very people who are championing the removal of some special rights, are the very people who are advocating a new form of rights; “the Special Rights of 9A1s”. This right should be served by the nation by drawing upon the almost unending national reserves, regardless of the economic crisis nor pure common sense. As long as these rights are served and the money invested on tuition classes brings returns, anything goes.
Without putting a check, an unhealthy sense of entitlement may justify the removal of the 20% allocation for Sabah and Sarawak students and students with special needs, who may not necessarily meet the 9A1 mark to be entitled for this right. Perhaps students whose parents earn less than RM1500, who can barely afford to gain 10A1 may have to give way for their peers who get 13A1s, 14A1s, 15A1s or more, in the ever increasing competition to fight for the limited number of scholarships, all in the name of the Holy Meritocracy. With the trend of increasing A1s, thanks to the rat-race kiasu mentality of some urban middle-class Malaysians, the poor and the disadvantaged may be marginalised.
Who cares for the poor and disadvantaged? They are lazy and too bad they have learning difficulties, says some. Personal responsibility and hard work is the key to success, and certainly the passport to gain the “Special rights of the 9A1”. The survival of the fittest is the way to go, who cares about bad genes, post-colonial displacement, socioeconomic disparity, urban-rural divide and unequal opportunities?
Living Fully Until We Die
"The modern hospice movement is rooted in a much older idea of hospitality. Indeed, the term comes from the same Latin root as hospital and hostel. Places of hospitality were not confined to the Latin-speaking world, however. Greeks, Indians, Romans, early Christians, and Muslims all built places where pilgrims and travelers, particularly the sick, could rest and find care. In modern times, Christians showed their commitment to hospitality for the hurting by building hospitals and, at the end of the 19th century, the first institutions dedicated solely to caring for the dying. Called hospices, these institutions lacked the fully formed philosophy that would characterize the modern movement, they but did offer inspiration to the movement's founder, Dame Cicely Saunders.
Saunders established the first modern hospice, St. Christopher's, in 1967. Located in London, St. Christopher's was the result of Saunders' experience treating dying people, her belief that people could flourish even as they died, and her sense of Christian call..."
Saunders established the first modern hospice, St. Christopher's, in 1967. Located in London, St. Christopher's was the result of Saunders' experience treating dying people, her belief that people could flourish even as they died, and her sense of Christian call..."
"Saunders also used St. Christopher's to show how religion could be integrated into the experience of dying. Her hospice was open to Christians and non-Christians alike but had, she said, a Christian foundation. She also claimed that treating physical pain gave patients freedom—a freedom she saw them use "in time for family reconciliations, in deepening relationships, and in all the sorting out of beliefs and memories that can help others say, with Pope John XXIII, 'My bags are packed—I can go with a tranquil heart at any moment.'"
Even after her retirement in 1985, Saunders actively promoted her movement as well as her beliefs about the intersection of faith and dying. She strongly condemned euthanasia. Hospice, according to Saunders, encouraged people to live fully until they died. Convinced that with modern drugs people need not die in pain, she claimed that euthanasia precluded the work of a good death—the reconciliation with mortality, with family, and with God that occurred as people died. "It is not for us to say that the suffering is fruitless," she wrote, "nor that there is nothing more for the patient to do or learn in this life." People were not the own masters, she claimed."
Sarah Johntone for Christianity Today
Thursday, April 02, 2009
He Waiata o Hemi'
He Waiata o Hemi
I came to Hiruharama (Jerusalem)
With a leather coat;
Now the coat is cloth (your gift/loan)
but the cuffs are still leather. (voluntary poverty)
Kua timata te mahi –
The work has begun.
There are beans growing
And Karl planted them;
There are pumpkins growing
And Heto dug the ground;
There are eels in the pot
And Peter caught them – Yes,
Kua timata te mahi–
The work has begun.
Ka whakaiti taku mana,
Ka whakanui te aroha –
As I shrink down to death
The love will grow greater.
The old kumara has to rot
For the young ones to get life –
When the hangi is ready (feast)
They dig them out of the ground,
The young ones red and strong,
but the old one is pulpy –
They throw him over the fence
With mildew round his neck. (kenosis)
He parapara iti,
The little seed in the ground
The all-but-nothing thing –
The soul that sleeps naked
In the arms of Te Atua – (God)
No good at all if the seed
Was wrapped in cellophane. (no possessions)
Because our God is dark
The blindness does not matter –
Because our God is silent
The deaf man gets no blame.
What can I do in the morning?
I can put on my coat;
I can make a cup of coffee;
And light a cigarette;
I can kneel down like a camel
On the grass beside the fence;
I can eat and walk and sleep;
I can pray for those I love –
Ko te aroha, i te Ariki –
When we love, it is the Lord –
And this dead man is permitted
To give with empty hands.
When we share our fags and blankets
Christ begins to shine –
Our flesh becomes the bread;
Our blood becomes the wine –
I am cowshit in the garden
So that the crops can grow –
Ko Ihu taku wai,
The Lord is my drink –
Ko Ihu taku kai,
The Lord is my food –
Ko Ihu taku moni,
The lord is my bank account –
Ko Ihu taku mana,
The Lord is my good name –
Ko Ihu taku aroha,
The Lord is my heart –
Ko Ihu taku mate,
The Lord is my death pain.
To be a dead goat
That the flies gather on –
The sun in his mercy
Can make the teeth shine.
Even our sins are His (He ‘became sin’ for us)
Let the new pain begin.
Arohanui, e pa.
Hemi
James K Baxter
I came to Hiruharama (Jerusalem)
With a leather coat;
Now the coat is cloth (your gift/loan)
but the cuffs are still leather. (voluntary poverty)
Kua timata te mahi –
The work has begun.
There are beans growing
And Karl planted them;
There are pumpkins growing
And Heto dug the ground;
There are eels in the pot
And Peter caught them – Yes,
Kua timata te mahi–
The work has begun.
Ka whakaiti taku mana,
Ka whakanui te aroha –
As I shrink down to death
The love will grow greater.
The old kumara has to rot
For the young ones to get life –
When the hangi is ready (feast)
They dig them out of the ground,
The young ones red and strong,
but the old one is pulpy –
They throw him over the fence
With mildew round his neck. (kenosis)
He parapara iti,
The little seed in the ground
The all-but-nothing thing –
The soul that sleeps naked
In the arms of Te Atua – (God)
No good at all if the seed
Was wrapped in cellophane. (no possessions)
Because our God is dark
The blindness does not matter –
Because our God is silent
The deaf man gets no blame.
What can I do in the morning?
I can put on my coat;
I can make a cup of coffee;
And light a cigarette;
I can kneel down like a camel
On the grass beside the fence;
I can eat and walk and sleep;
I can pray for those I love –
Ko te aroha, i te Ariki –
When we love, it is the Lord –
And this dead man is permitted
To give with empty hands.
When we share our fags and blankets
Christ begins to shine –
Our flesh becomes the bread;
Our blood becomes the wine –
I am cowshit in the garden
So that the crops can grow –
Ko Ihu taku wai,
The Lord is my drink –
Ko Ihu taku kai,
The Lord is my food –
Ko Ihu taku moni,
The lord is my bank account –
Ko Ihu taku mana,
The Lord is my good name –
Ko Ihu taku aroha,
The Lord is my heart –
Ko Ihu taku mate,
The Lord is my death pain.
To be a dead goat
That the flies gather on –
The sun in his mercy
Can make the teeth shine.
Even our sins are His (He ‘became sin’ for us)
Let the new pain begin.
Arohanui, e pa.
Hemi
James K Baxter
Monday, March 23, 2009
10 Ideas That Is Changing the World Right Now
Times Magazine mentioned that the New Calvinism is one of the coolest things in the world right now. I wonder how would John Calvin in heaven, respond to this article, together with contemporaries.
Mark Driscoll suggested a helpful comparison between the Old and the New Calvinism, stating why is it so powerful.
- Old Calvinism was fundamental or liberal and separated from or syncretized with culture. New Calvinism is missional and seeks to create and redeem culture.
- Old Calvinism fled from the cities. New Calvinism is flooding into cities.
- Old Calvinism was cessationistic and fearful of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. New Calvinism is continuationist and joyful in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
- Old Calvinism was fearful and suspicious of other Christians and burned bridges. New Calvinism loves all Christians and builds bridges between them.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Batu Penjuru Gereja
The Church's one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation,
by water and the word:
from heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.
Batu penjuru G’reja dan Dasar yang esa,
yaitu Yesus Kristus, Pendiri umatNya.
Dengan kurban darah-Nya Gereja ditebus;
baptisan dan firman-Nya membuatNya kudus.
Elect from every nation,
yet one o'er all the earth,
her charter of salvation,
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy Name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued.
Terpanggil dari bangsa seluruh dunia,
bertunggallah Gereja bertuhan Yang Esa.
Melimpah kurnia-Nya, esa baptisan-Nya,
esa perjamuan-Nya, esa harapan-Nya.
Though with a scornful wonder
men see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder,
by heresies distressed;
yet saints their watch are keeping,
their cry goes up, "How long?"
and soon the night of weeping
shall be the morn of song.
Dilanda perpecahan dan faham yang sesat.
Jemaat diresahkan tekanan yang berat.
Kaum kudus menyerukan, “Berapa lamakah?”
Akhirnya malam duka diganti terang cerah.
Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war
she waits the consummation
of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blessed,
and the great Church victorious
shall be the Church at rest.
Di dalam pencobaan dan perjuangannya
dinantikan zaman sejahtera baka.
Di mata tercerminkan Gereja yang menang
mencapai perhentian sentosa cemerlang.
Yet she on earth hath union
with God, the Three in one,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.
Gereja yang di sorga dan yang di dunia
bersatu dalam Tuhan, Ketiga Yang Esa
Ya Tuhan, b’ri anug’rah supaya kami pun
Engkau tempatkan juga kekal dirumah-Mu.
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation,
by water and the word:
from heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.
Batu penjuru G’reja dan Dasar yang esa,
yaitu Yesus Kristus, Pendiri umatNya.
Dengan kurban darah-Nya Gereja ditebus;
baptisan dan firman-Nya membuatNya kudus.
Elect from every nation,
yet one o'er all the earth,
her charter of salvation,
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy Name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued.
Terpanggil dari bangsa seluruh dunia,
bertunggallah Gereja bertuhan Yang Esa.
Melimpah kurnia-Nya, esa baptisan-Nya,
esa perjamuan-Nya, esa harapan-Nya.
Though with a scornful wonder
men see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder,
by heresies distressed;
yet saints their watch are keeping,
their cry goes up, "How long?"
and soon the night of weeping
shall be the morn of song.
Dilanda perpecahan dan faham yang sesat.
Jemaat diresahkan tekanan yang berat.
Kaum kudus menyerukan, “Berapa lamakah?”
Akhirnya malam duka diganti terang cerah.
Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war
she waits the consummation
of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blessed,
and the great Church victorious
shall be the Church at rest.
Di dalam pencobaan dan perjuangannya
dinantikan zaman sejahtera baka.
Di mata tercerminkan Gereja yang menang
mencapai perhentian sentosa cemerlang.
Yet she on earth hath union
with God, the Three in one,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.
Gereja yang di sorga dan yang di dunia
bersatu dalam Tuhan, Ketiga Yang Esa
Ya Tuhan, b’ri anug’rah supaya kami pun
Engkau tempatkan juga kekal dirumah-Mu.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Christians are (can be) the best Malaysians
1. We are called to be peace-makers, commanded by Jesus. We condemn war, persecution and injustice, in the Holy Land together with our Muslim cousins.
2. We care for the poor and downtrodden, disabled and orphaned. We provided for the needy and fought for social justice. We affirm the national affirmative action to eradicate poverty regardless of ethnicity.
3. We are the most ethnically diverse group in Malaysia, with congregations of many different ethnic groups, building bridges with each other. We also have high proportion of interethnic marriages.
4. We are a healed and healing community of Jesus, constantly freed from the sin of bitterness, hatred, anger and distrust as a minority, empowering us to love our neighbors, rulers and participate actively in nation-building.
5. We build bridges between religious groups, standing between the monotheistic official religion and the other non-monotheistic faiths. We empathize both with the role of the official monotheistic religion, in our memory of Constantinople as well as assuming a minority religion in the public square.
6. We pay taxes accordingly to the state, commanded by Scripture. We obey and pray for our Rulers before God. We respect the rule of law and the legal framework of the Constitution, and appreciate our equal democratic and civil rights.
7. We are willing to be sent to distant towns and villages, accepting lower wages and career advancement for the sake of the rakyat. Christians have a sense of calling, many choosing the path of downward mobility.
8. We do not separate the secular and the sacred, thus sharing a vision for a nation build upon religious and moral framework acceptable to all Malaysians. We agree with the first article of the Rukunnegara, that our nation should be God-fearing one.
9. We engage politically on the individual level by exercising our democratic rights and freedoms. Christian politicians of different political leanings, are active in nation-building, faithful to the Christian social vision.
10. We care for the alien as human beings with dignity; legal and illegal. We provide for their needs and ensure their welfare; physical, emotional, social and spiritual. Many immigrant church congregations are formed, serving the needs for the alien.
2. We care for the poor and downtrodden, disabled and orphaned. We provided for the needy and fought for social justice. We affirm the national affirmative action to eradicate poverty regardless of ethnicity.
3. We are the most ethnically diverse group in Malaysia, with congregations of many different ethnic groups, building bridges with each other. We also have high proportion of interethnic marriages.
4. We are a healed and healing community of Jesus, constantly freed from the sin of bitterness, hatred, anger and distrust as a minority, empowering us to love our neighbors, rulers and participate actively in nation-building.
5. We build bridges between religious groups, standing between the monotheistic official religion and the other non-monotheistic faiths. We empathize both with the role of the official monotheistic religion, in our memory of Constantinople as well as assuming a minority religion in the public square.
6. We pay taxes accordingly to the state, commanded by Scripture. We obey and pray for our Rulers before God. We respect the rule of law and the legal framework of the Constitution, and appreciate our equal democratic and civil rights.
7. We are willing to be sent to distant towns and villages, accepting lower wages and career advancement for the sake of the rakyat. Christians have a sense of calling, many choosing the path of downward mobility.
8. We do not separate the secular and the sacred, thus sharing a vision for a nation build upon religious and moral framework acceptable to all Malaysians. We agree with the first article of the Rukunnegara, that our nation should be God-fearing one.
9. We engage politically on the individual level by exercising our democratic rights and freedoms. Christian politicians of different political leanings, are active in nation-building, faithful to the Christian social vision.
10. We care for the alien as human beings with dignity; legal and illegal. We provide for their needs and ensure their welfare; physical, emotional, social and spiritual. Many immigrant church congregations are formed, serving the needs for the alien.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Doa Untuk Palestin dan Israel.
Konflik di Gaza baru-baru ini perlulah diinsafi oleh kita semua, rakyat Malaysia pelbagai keturunan dan agama. Keganasan terhadap umat manusia dan rakyat yang tertindas bukan hanya isu di kalangan umat Islam, tetapi isu yang menghadapi umat Kristian juga. Dalam hal ini, Cahaya Nusantara membawakan isu tersebut untuk dijadikan doa dan renungan semua.
"Dalam konflik ini, lebih daripada yang lain, keamanan dan keadilan berkait rapat. Penulis Kitab Mazmur menyebut kebenaran/keadilan dan keamanan bersama, “keadilan dan damai sejahtera akan bercium-ciuman.” (Mazmur 85:10). James pula menyebut bahawa, ‘orang yang mempunyai kebijaksanaan yang berasal dari atas, ia pertama-tama sekali murni, kemudian suka berdamai, peramah, dan penurut. Ia penuh dengan belas kasihan dan menghasilkan perbuatan-perbuatan yang baik. Ia tidak memihak dan tidak berpura-pura. Memang kebaikan adalah hasil dari benih damai yang ditabur oleh orang yang cinta damai!’ (Jas 3:17-18)."
Teruskan baca
"Dalam konflik ini, lebih daripada yang lain, keamanan dan keadilan berkait rapat. Penulis Kitab Mazmur menyebut kebenaran/keadilan dan keamanan bersama, “keadilan dan damai sejahtera akan bercium-ciuman.” (Mazmur 85:10). James pula menyebut bahawa, ‘orang yang mempunyai kebijaksanaan yang berasal dari atas, ia pertama-tama sekali murni, kemudian suka berdamai, peramah, dan penurut. Ia penuh dengan belas kasihan dan menghasilkan perbuatan-perbuatan yang baik. Ia tidak memihak dan tidak berpura-pura. Memang kebaikan adalah hasil dari benih damai yang ditabur oleh orang yang cinta damai!’ (Jas 3:17-18)."
Teruskan baca
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