Police must stay out of politics

Recently, by a sheer act of incompetence in the handling of policing duties, a 14-year old citizen died in a police shooting.

A police corporal is charged for second degree murder, defined as a non-premeditated killing, resulting from an assault in which death of the victim was a distinct possibility.

They may call it collateral damage internally, though!

But, in classical and religious proportions, only the scapegoat is cursed for the failure of the system. One individual has to be sacrificed for the failure of the many.

But, at least someone is being charged in this case. In the Teoh Beng Hock (left)  case and the Kugan case , the jury is still out on what really happened.

And, while the ‘illegitimate\’ IGP (I argued, as did many others, that he should accept responsibility and resign for the failure of his staff to follow due diligence and procedures before being trigger-happy) continues to serve the nation, his senior officers continue their merry ways!

Take the Police CID Chief in Sarawak. He has decreed that the \”term ‘Allah\’ is not only a reserved word in Sibu, but an illegal word to use in the recent ‘buy-elections!\’

By the way, for those who do not read newspapers, both the chief minister and deputy chief minster of Sarawak, to their credit, have already said that \”the word ‘Allah\’ has been used by the locals since centuries ago, and is not an issue!\”

So, why is this police officer politicising this, while even the chief minister does not think it is a big issue?

Feudal societies need to rule by force because they do not have well developed civic or moral protocol.

But, every Sibu citizen who votes knows all the issues related to ‘Allah\’, perhaps much more than the police, as it already applies to Sibu and their own neighbouring natives.

Only in the peninsular and within the neo-colonial mindset of the ‘enforcers\’ is the ‘Allah\’ issue a sensitive one, from all that I have heard from the Sarawakians themselves.

The fact is that in Sarawak, within some families who are inter-ethnically and inter-religiously married, I hear that even pork, or beef and chicken are all served on the same table without overt religious or spiritual concerns!

The extended family definition of a community of relatives within a longhouse context is truly a multi-ethnic and multi-religious, celebrating their diversity.

Common values

Therefore, why is it that Peninsular Malaysians cannot have a community with similar values?

In fact we did have them in the early 60s and 70s. Don\’t we know that such values are caught and never taught?

Thinking critically about this ‘value enforcement syndrome,\’ the Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute, the NGO I have been involved in for the last five years, seeks therefore to mobilise the Malaysian community of Christians to get more involved in the public spaces of life, especially in five areas of common interest, namely:

• Mobilising an integrity agenda
• Upholding the Federal Constitution
• Realisation of a Bangsa Malaysia
• Excellence in education
• Protecting and preserving the green environment

Therefore recently, when a very well known Malaysian (a colonial minded one) urged a bishop in west Malaysia to make a statement about the Sibu elections and to mobilise Christian support for one party or the other, I protested.

Thankfully and rightfully, the Bishop Dominique of Sarawak had said very clearly that \”the church should not be dragged into the elections.\”

This is an area wherein our national public space theology is weak and the BN\’s theology maybe non-existent, or at best problematic. Sarawak does not need our muddy brand of politics which mixes race and religion in the powder keg of emotions.

Ketuanan Melayu is currently the UMNO\’s brand of public space theology; but which seriously compromises even Muslim theology. This is because, even in Muslim theology, as in Christian or Jewish theology, there is no one other than the Lord God who is Almighty. He is all powerful and all knowing.

Therefore, when he created Man in his image and gave him the human faculties of rationality, conscience and self-respect, how can anyone submit and reduce this to anything other than the highest respect for both God and Man?

Imposing one set of particular and earthly values over other humans whom God created in his own image as well, is at best sacrilegious.

I do understand that 53 percent of the Sibu voters are Christians. I do also understand that it may appear imperative that Christians not compromise on the issue of the use of ‘Allah\’ for the sake of Bahasa speaking Christians of Sabah and Sarawak.

That is an important issue which the Church in Malaysia will not compromise on, I believe. But, it is not of particular and specific concern of Sibu Chinese Christians because they may only worship in Mandarin and or English.

It is a national issue of utmost importance because the federal government and their agents have insisted that the Bahasa Malaysia speaking Christians cannot use this term!

Therefore, the police officer is only appearing to come within the shadow of such shameful thinking and acting! But, is he also acting for the Agong, who is his head of service and state?

The police and the military serves the entire governance of Malaysia. They must understand and operate under the laws of the country which is governed by the Federal Constitution!

Stay calm

I appeal to all who are concerned to stay calm. The secular-sacred is a false dichotomy which is the relic of a particular ontology and epistemology. For most Muslims, Christians, and Jews the sacred is the all encompassing whole; and anything and everything else is only a subset.

There is no ‘secular\’ outside the framework of the sacred; and, almost by definition. Therefore, we can separate and understand good governance as a system of observance of the laws of both man and God; without any need for branding or name-calling.

Public space can and must be guided by specific values and virtues which are universal and commonly shared by all. Unique or narrow worldviews cannot be imposed upon others carelessly without regard for the feelings and issues within the local context.

Let us therefore not impose Peninsular Malaysia\’s corrupted ways into Sibu; let us instead respect them for their culture and their ethnicity and give them due regard for their diversity from which we too can learn to celebrate! May God bless Malaysia!