In the midst of trials and tribulations, time to pray for national healing

Mar 14, 2014

Anil Netto
When it rains, it pours. Except it hasn’t been raining for a while. But it is still pouring … On the heels of the news on March 7 that the Federal Court had reserved its judgment on the application for leave by the Catholic Church to review the Appeals Court decision in favour of the Home Minister’s ban on the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the HERALD, the nation has undergone a trying spell.

Of course, the case itself has been hitting the news around the world for months now.

The following day, in the space of 24 hours, Malaysia made more headlines across the world with all kinds of grim news.

On Friday, March 7, wire services reported that even Ultraman has not been spared. The Malaysian government has banned the Malay edition of an Ultraman comic, because it contained elements that could undermine public security and societal morals. It was speculated that the reasoning behind this was the comic’s use of the word ‘Allah’ to describe the Japanese superhero.

On the same day, the Court of Appeal found Anwar Ibrahim guilty of a sodomy charge, overturning his previous acquittal by the High Court. This decision effectively barred Anwar from contesting in the Kajang by-election on March 23. (Karpal Singh is due to face sentencing on March 11 on a charge of sedition.) Critics complained about the “unholy haste” in which this case appeared to be brought forward and rushed through.

Then just after midnight on Saturday, March 8, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board vanished without a trace from radar screens. The tragic circumstances were compounded by the mystery surrounding the plane’s disappearance. Families, relatives, friends and colleagues in a string of countries are mourning the loss of their loved ones and we reach out to them in solidarity.

In the backdrop to all this serious news, Malaysia has been experiencing a prolonged dry spell — perhaps unprecedented in recent times. Spare a thought for the folks in Selangor and KL undergoing the trials and tribulations of water rationing – two days with water and two days without. It should make us all the more determined to appreciate the gifts of Nature and to protect our precious forests, hills, water catchment areas, streams and rivers. Over in Penang, fires have broken out on the hills of the island, almost simultaneously, probably due to the same dry spell. The water level at the various dams has dropped. All this, very likely, a sign of global warming and climate change — which many of us continue to ignore.

Then there is the matter of all that corruption, cronyism and illicit outflows of funds, draining the country of its wealth and resources. Even as certain well-connected tycoons and politicians grow fabulously wealth through their sweetheart crony deals and rampant corruption, ordinary people have to cope with stagnant real wages and the Barang Naik syndrome. Over in Sarawak, the Penan, one of the most marginalised groups in the country, watch helplessly as unnecessary dams inundate their once pristine forests and native customary land. To compound the suffering of the common people, our public health care system remains under-funded and increasingly overstretched.

In the midst of all these trials and tribulations, we can take assurances from the promises of the Beatitudes (Matthew Chapter 5)

5 Blessed are those who mourn, they shall be comforted.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for uprightness: they shall have their fill.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be recognised as children of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

11 Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account.
Conversely, in Luke Chapter 6:

24 But alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now.

25 Alas for you who have plenty to eat now: you shall go hungry. Alas for you who are laughing now: you shall mourn and weep.

Finally, it might be helpful to pray for healing for the nation: At times like this, when things seem to be going all wrong for so many, we have to pray for healing and reconciliation for our nation.

We have to pray for greater integrity in leadership and for the growing tumour of corruption to be rooted out.

We have to pray for wiser policies, for fair and just decision-making.

We pray for cleaner elections in the future.

We pray for a fairer distribution of the nation’s resources.

We pray for the healing of broken relationships:
… between ourselves and God, so that we do not continue to emphasise the material at the expense of the spiritual

… between ourselves and our neighbours and the wider community, for the healing of the broken
bonds of community solidarity

… between ourselves and Nature, that what was once meant to be in harmony as in the ‘Garden of Eden’ will one day be restored the way God wanted it to be.

Finally, we pray for the wisdom and courage to act as stewards of Creation and to uphold the rights of the marginalised and the downtrodden.