1. Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies
The Anglican Bishop of West Malaysia, Ng Moon Hing who is the current President of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, its General Secretary, Rev Dr Hermen Shastri and Rev Thomas Philips, President of the Malaysian Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) invited me to attend the event at the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies–Malaysia. IAIS pursues high calibre academic research on Islam in contemporary context, with the aim of elaborating ethical and intellectual principles of Islam and promoting interfaith dialogue.
IAIS had invited Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches to speak on “ Future of Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Prospects and Challenges.” Dr Tveit was in Kuala Lumpur to attend the General Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia. He was moderator of the Church of Norway - Islamic Council of Norway contact group and the same for the Jewish Congregation contact group. He also was a member of the Inter-Faith Council of Norway.
The host who presided at this important event was Professor Dr. Datuk Osman Bakar, now Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, and Deputy CEO of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies–Malaysia. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Prince al-Waleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, Washington D.C. When we met him before the meeting he recalled that he first participated in the Interfaith event in Kuala Lumpur organized by the Christian Conference of Asia in the seventies when I was the General Secretary. It was good to re-establish this link.
Dr Tveit in his address shared his experience in Christian-Muslim dialogue in Norway where the Christians are in the majority with Muslims as a tiny minority. The situation is the opposite here where the Muslims are in the majority. There are lessons to be learnt of dialogue between Christian-Muslim relationships. It calls for tolerance and respect of differences as we engage in building bridges of understanding between faith communities leading to a peaceful society.
2. High Tea with Anwar Ibrahim
Following this event the Christian group was entertained by Anwar Ibrahim, the Opposition Leader in the Malaysian Parliament to High Tea at his private residence for over two hours even though he was busily engaged in the campaigning in the Hulu Selangor bye-election immediately after our meeting.
At the outset he recalled his connections with the Christian community when he acknowledged my first meeting him in the “ceremah” or dialogue sessions in the home of the former Opposition Leader, the late Dr Tan Chee Khoon. He also acknowledged the assistance given to him when he first started Abim’s (Malaysia Islamic Youth Movement) school for drop-outs from ecumenical sources in the early seventies. He participated in a few CCA events subsequently.
Anwar Ibrahim had just returned from his visit to the United States and was promised support from the leaders there as well as other countries in his current Sodomy Trial. He is optimistic about his prospects of acquittal. He has furnished irrefutable medical evidence that the sexual act did not occur.
We dealt at some length about the use of the name Allah and he expressed his concern. We discussed other issues arising from the present political and religious situation in the country.
The group expressed their appreciation for his contribution to Malaysian politics and assured him of their support. An old friend from the early sixties, Goh Keat Peng, is the liaison person.
3. Prime Minister Najib Razak
The Christian Conference of Asia concluded its business officially and the Prime Minister, Najib Razak, met with the remaining less than one hundred delegates who were waiting to board their planes to travel home the day after it ended. Najib had returned from Japan early on that day of the event at the Grand Seasons Hotel which coincidentally also houses the offices of vocal Malay rights group, Perkasa.
At this encounter he narrated his 1Malaysia concept for religious and racial unity in Malaysia. I expected the PM to repeat his speech which he delivered to the Foreign Correspondents Club meeting in Singapore recently. I did not bother to change my flight to take part in this event.
Present were the newly-elected general secretary of the CCA, Reverend Dr Henriette T. Hutabarat Lebang, who is also the director of the Institut Telogi Gereja Toraja in Indonesia; Anglican Archbishop of Perth Roger Herft; and the Vatican’s diplomatic representative to Southeast Asia, Salvatore Pennacchio.
Malaysian Insider, an influential online news portal, reported that the Malaysian delegates “felt the words still rang hollow, and expressed doubts that Malaysia was moving from mere tolerance to acceptance and mutual respect as espoused by the prime minister.”
“Utusan Malaysia should be here,” the church leader said on condition of anonymity, referring to the Malay-language national newspaper.
The Umno-owned daily has been at the forefront of criticism against a recent Cabinet-endorsed committee to promote harmony and understanding among religions in Malaysia.
Another local church representative noted that the PM’s speech steered clear of mentioning religion, and focused instead on the social and economic elements to promote unity and mutual understanding among communities from diverse backgrounds.
‘There’s a place under the Malaysian sun for everybody’,” the church leader said, citing the PM, but he appeared skeptical of Najib’s sincerity in his own message.
“He may say this here but he likely says something else in front of a different audience,” he pointed out.
“He’s got to add substance to his stand,” he added, noting that as a Malaysian delegate, he was hoping to hear “something more tangible” from the PM.”
4. Interfaith Project for Reconciliation in Sri Lanka
Preman Niles in his D T Niles lecture at the General Assembly traced the development of CCA from the beginning of a Movement of Friends to the Movement of Movements to the present stage of Movement of Churches. There is always the danger of institutionalizing any movement. There is also the risk of having a movement which is cut off from the churches.
Perhaps the time has come for Christians to partner people of other faith communities to engage in a common project of service to the whole human community. Increasingly we find ourselves as a Christian community in a human community which is religiously diverse and including those who do not hold any religious conviction. We then link up into a network of local projects/programmes for mutual enrichment and support and then seek further linkages regionally and globally.
One such effort is for me to work with Bhante Dr K Gunaratne, a Sinhalese Buddhist who is resident in Singapore for over ten years. We met one another in the Inter-Relgious Organisation in 1995. When he was engaged in a relief mission last year at the conclusion of the Civil War in Sri Lanka I decided to join him to visit the Internally Displaced Persons camp for the Tamil Tigers undergoing re-education.
We have now moved on to establish an Education Center for enrichment classes including English and Computor classes for upper secondary students. It will also provide interfaith education and reconciliation initiatives. Located in Vavuniya which has a Tamil majority in the north we will enhance the dialogue programme which is already in existence among different religious leaders in the community.
Bhante Gunaratne made a special trip to Kuala Lumpur to meet with the church leaders from Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankans in diaspora from Australia, United Kingdom and the United States. It was a time of clarification of the project which aims to engage in the process of reconciliation between the Sinhalese and the Tamils and moving forward to a new future for the country.
5. Good Samaritan Metroplitan Community Church
Delegates to the CCA General Assembly were dispersed in small groups to different churches in the city for the Sunday Worship Services. I posted the notice introducing Good Samaritan Metropolitan Community Church (GSMCC) for them to register so that the logistics could be arranged.
A group of eight chose to attend the Good Samaritan Metropolitan Community Church which was organized a little over two years ago. Within the group were a Pastor from the Uniting Church in Sydney, Australia, CCA staff responsible for the programme of HIV/AIDS, two journalists from India and Pakistan.
The journalist from Pakistan filed her report of the visit to the Church. I was surprised it was published in the Conference Daily newsletter the following day.
Naveen quoted Pastor Joe Pang: “This Church welcomes absolutely everyone - regardless of their gender, race, denomination, religion, sexual orientation and cultural background. The Church contains a diverse group of members including people from the “gay community.” We aspire to be a church of diversity. We believe in the power of love and healing” says Pastor Joe. The discrimination we face due to our sexual orientation makes us feel isolated. We ask the churches to hear our story, but we often refused a listening ear” he further added.
Pastor Joe ended by saying: “ We are glad CCA participants attended our worship. We pray with you and support the theme of the Assembly: Called to Prophesy, Reconcile and Heal.”
6. Personal Notes
My relationship to the Christian Conference of Asia was early in my ministry in the beginning of the sixties. I was invited to attend the 3rd General Assembly in 1964 in Bangkok. Early I had met the founder, D. T. Niles of Sri Lanka of what was then known as the East Asia Christian Conference. He was a leader with great charisma of the Methodist Church in Ceylon and became the first General Secretary of EACC. He took the liberty to select the members of the Continuation Committee and I was included in his list and was elected to that office. In the 5th Assembly which met in Singapore I was elected General Secretary in 1973 and served till 1985. The name was changed to the Christian Conference of Asia since then
I have made many friends since I was related to CCA and made new ones till today. A General Assembly is an occasion to renew and form friendships in the ecumenical movement. The meeting is a time to review the ecumenical programme and to chart new directions of mission and service for the churches in Asia.
We look forward to another five years of witness and service to the people in Asia by individual Christians, member churches, and CCA.
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