THE SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUES FACING MALAYSIA TODAY

There are several factors that contributed to the present-day sociological malaise in the world. In Malaysia, due to the fast-pace in development, privatization, globalization, affluence and trends, import of philosophical ideas and ideals from the West, religious ideology from the Muslim world, advancement of social media, and migration from the rural to urban center, there arises new challenges, new sociological issues staring at us in our face.

The church no longer can be concerned with JUST the spiritual; the saving of souls from the pit of hell to populate heaven but has to face seriously the social, the political, and the philosophical issues TODAY in order to stay relevant. More and more people are asking questions and desperately seeking for answers. While we need to constantly present the Gospel message of salvation of the souls we need to relook the broader implications of what is really within the salvific call of Christ as truly presented in the Word of God.

I am not saying that we abandon the most sacred of the dogma of our Evangelical-Pentecostal traditions, which is, personal salvation, healing, and the work of the Holy Spirit BUT to also include into our sacred beliefs the holistic approach to salvation – body, soul, and spirit, to also view afresh the social part of the Gospel message. Unfortunately, due to the long neglect of the Church, the governments and secular NGOs tries to fill in the gap in tackling the sociological issues; examples, caring for the fatherless and the widows, educating parents in parenting - all of which falls under the biblical understanding of discipling the nations. That, to me, is the Kingdom mandate of God to the church.

THE CAUSE IDENTIFIED

In a broad sense I think there are THREE MAJOR TRENDS affecting us today -

ONE: The Revolutionary Current of Nationalism & Elitist Patriotism. This give rise to polarization, segregation, migration, partiality, human rights violations, and protectionism.

TWO: The Deeply Entrenched Sex and Sexuality – easy access to pornography, vices, human trafficking, rapes, blurring the line of gender differentiation, abortions, unwanted pregnancies, and etc.

THREE: The Unconscious Infection of Postmodern Thoughts.

a. There is no absolute truth – that leads to only statistical morality and the abandoning of ethics (what we OUGHT to).

b. For Malaysians, we have to also deal with what I call post-colonial “cold-turkey” – a propensity to react towards everything Western, in particular, being talk down onto and told what to do. This is due to the history of British rule. BUT contrary, freely embrace the technology (media), branding and fashion in some ways, and the even leadership style (divide and rule – an “unsuspecting” form of apartheid, and heavy top down - no toleration for dissenting view).

All of these major currents and trends in our modern world will sooner later evolved OR translated into sociological issues and social ills. There are some major sociological issues facing Malaysia today that has reach alarming proportion. We can also call this systemic evil in our society.

A.     Human Trafficking

-          Refugees from neighboring countries (illegal immigrants). All kinds of abuses including selling them off the fishermen from other countries as slaves.

-          Sold into prostitution and sex slave

Human trafficking is a grave transnational organized crime which has been remarkably on the rise for the last decade. Malaysia is identified as a country of origin besides being a lucrative destination and transit country for traffickers to transport their victims. Concurrently, internal trafficking also occurs in Malaysia. Human trafficking is reported to be the second profitable business after drug cartel. It is an illicit clandestine movement and the nature of this crime imposes numerous security challenges and threat to a state and its people. The security of the people is poignant and human security is the vital core of humanity by enhancing human freedoms and human fulfilment. Human trafficking violates the freedom of a person and it is against human rights. The push and pull factors are determinants for such an illegal activity to operate globally. People become a prey easily due to circumstances and many are trafficked without their knowledge as human trafficking has many forms and the modus operandi vary from countries and destinations. Awareness is the key for people from becoming a victim.

In most cases, some of these victims migrate voluntarily and legally to Malaysia with an idea of a better employment compare to their poor stricken countries. These legal migrants are promised with contractual jobs along with decent pay and stay. However, they are subjected to deplorable conditions of involuntary servitude in the domestic households, and various sectors such as agriculture, food service, plantation, and fishery, industrial and at dangerous construction sites. Most women and children are forced to work in sweat shops, spas, masseurs, karaoke lounges, pubs, restaurants for commercial sex.

However, recent report illustrates that the traffickers have upgraded their spots to exclusive five-star hotels and karaoke joints where operating licenses are still issued for these outlets by ignorant authorities.

Since 2008 until May 31^st 2012, the enforcement agencies have made 694 human trafficking arrests where 518 were local and the rest were foreign nationals.

Sheila Devi Michael, Faculty of Arts & Social Science, University Malaya (sheilamike@gmail.com)

B.     Suicide

-          Broken homes, high level of stress, failure and shame culture

-          Betrayal and other factors

C.     Teen Pregnancy

-          High rate of teenage pregnancy will give rise to high frequency of abortions

D.     Divorce, Remarriage & New Family

E.     Social Media

-          Facebook culture, false self-image, and “cam-whoring”, selfie, hashing, etc.

-          Pornography and unhealthy activities.

F.      Brain Drain – Migration and/or Working Overseas

-          Due to racial polarization, religious extremism, and partiality (unfair treatment)

-          Racism, corruption – cronyism and nepotism

THE AFFIRMATIVE ACTIONS CONSIDERED

The church has to play a more positive role in combating these sociological issues facing Malaysia. I am glad that the church is now aware of her role. We have seen in various places the different churches engaging the community through acts of mercy and compassion-

-          Feeding the poor and social welfare.

-          Reaching out to Migrant workers

-          Program to tackle poverty

These are all noteworthy BUT the church should do more than putting on bandages when addressing sociological issue in Malaysia.

We need to consider –

1.      Leadership in combating human rights abuse, injustices, and corruption.

2.      Advocating key principles of right living – honesty and integrity, care and concern, and mutual respect, etc.

3.      Educating the community of faith on -

a.       Social reality – justice-seeking in a changing world, social needs and injustices, and capitalism in a global context.

b.      The Kingdom of God, Christian citizenship and natural law.

c.       Justice issues – human rights, the family, economic life, social exclusion, authentic development, war and peace.

4.      Modelling strong marriage, family, and parenting.

5.      Championing the poor, the neglected, the displaced, and the marginalized.

6.      Engaging with the relevant authorities in the formulation of policies.

7.      Bringing awareness with action plan on the major social ills – human trafficking (modern-day slavery), prostitution and vices, AIDS, poverty, addictions, domestic violence and child-abuse, drop-outs, teenage pregnancy, suicide, and health issues.

8.      Investing time and money on the next generation – the young people.

Within these purview we can initiate and spearhead many innovative programs and projects. There has got to be TWO MAJOR attitude –

1.      Willingness to invest in time, talent and finance

2.      Willingness to be involved on a long-haul.

(NOTE: This was presented at the recently concluded FGPlus Conference held in FGA Centre, Langkawi. The leaders came together for mutual sharing, fellowship and encouragement. And for this year's reflection we were looking at "the difficulties and challenges facing the church in Malaysia in the next five years.")

THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO IDOLATRY, RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS, AND A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY

READ 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Verse 20 - To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.

Paul’s philosophy is simple: “I have made myself a servant to all.” What do we understand by this in today’s context and in Malaysia?

We live amongst people with different religious persuasions, different ethnicity, different language and tongues and with different religious and spiritual celebrations and festivals thrown in through the year. Where do our Christian faith and testimony stand in such a diverse cultural differences and religious beliefs. We have such a potpourri of religious mixture, it’s hard not to offend if we take a hard stand and hard not to fall into religious syncretism and compromises if take the soft approach. How far do we go in tolerance or intolerance? How do the Christian church response responsibly and exercise Christian love without compromising our Gospel and our beliefs?

Malaysia is a pluralistic society - a classic example of not only multi-racial and multi-religious but also pluralistic. Pluralistic is the idea that people can and should live together without fighting, despite differences in race, religion, culture, politics, etc., and a situation in which people of different races, religions, cultures, politics, etc. should live together peacefully with respect, reverence, and tolerance in a society. Locally, we called this concept MUHIBAH.

Paul said that “to the Jew I became as a Jew - to those outside the law I became as one outside the law - to the weak I became weak”, his whole aim or goal is to win them for Christ. What do we understand by these words of Paul in relation to our situation? How far do we go to contextualize our Gospel message in order to stay relevant? These are difficult questions with no easy answers.

THEOLOGY & PRAXIS

(Spiritual responsibility and practice)

Malaysia registers one of the highest in public holidays attributed to religious festivals in Asia due to the large following of the Major Religions of the world. Penang is well-known as an island with a thousand temples. The annual Taipusiam is not only many decades long religious tradition but a growing phenomenon with each passing year. Idol worshipping, the occults, and animistic practices blended in with the interest of the paranormal and supernatural, all have large following in Penang. This is a religious, pluralistic potpourri Penang-style!

What is our perception of the “revival” of religious festivals and the ever present interest in the occult in our country? What is our respond? How do we deal with superstitious beliefs, fortune-telling, and consulting with the spirit world? Are Christians also caught in this web of deceptions? What are the dangers that lie ahead?

Galatians 3:1 - O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?

I believe that the church should begin to dialogue and engage in discussion on ways we can be relevant as a Christian in such a society. It would be good to articulate the negative attitudes as well as positive attitudes that a Christian may have or have living among people of such diverse background, culture, pagan beliefs and practices we consider as “demonic”, idolatrous and an abomination (hatred and dislike) to the Lord.

Some of the questions worth asking are: How do we conduct ourselves? How do we bear Christ Image? Is there a limit or a line drawn to our association?

So in the final analysis, can we change the community around us? Can we be truly Christ image-bearer? Can we carry Christ through our action, our attitude, and our speech? Can we be relevant in a pluralistic, multi-cultural Malaysia? Can we see revival through our action plan? Maybe, FOR A START we can take a positive action by showing one deliberate act of kindness at a time, one kind word to someone at a time, or one attitude of thoughtfulness at a time. I heard one Malaysian Cabinet minister who is a Christian at a leadership conference that I attended recently said this: Before we can be the change we need to act the change! It takes action. We, as Christians, need to take the first step in taking up spiritual responsibility and practice godliness.