Look into my World and Speak up!

"How can you call this place earth? For me it's a big battle field, sometimes there are no guns, but too often I am killed... not by bullets but ignorance, by hatred discrimination, racism, inhumanity, pride..." (Poem by Susan Loone on the mind of refugees)

            In celebrating this Christmas, we enjoy having fun with friends and family. There's no wrong of being fun, enjoy and be merry. For whatever reason, Christians ought to be the happiest person in the world, for we celebrate the born of a Savior. But there are people who may not feel the same. Keep celebrating but be prayerful. Well, let me be clear of the motive of this note; this is for ALL. This is for those who possess a heart, lung and mouth. This is for a breathing human being. This is for those who care... care enough to lay an ear for the blind, care enough to dirt their hands for the poor, care enough to invest coins and papers called 'money' for the beggar. This is for those who have voice to speak up for the dumb... for the silenced voices.

            Let me skipped the history, dates and statistics. This is a brief testimony from domestic workers who worked in Malaysia with a dream in their mind for a better future, both for self-improvement and mostly for their unselfish reason; for the well being of their family. These testimonies are taken from Tenaganita, The Migrant Voices book, a women and migrant workers organization. Below is the introduction from Dr. Irene Fernandez, the director of Tenaganita;

"Malaysia's economic bloom and its growth to a newly industrialized nation has been brought about and sustained through the work and sweat of migrant workers... Thus, as a nation, we continue to rely on migrant workers to keep our economy going strong."

These are my summaries;

            Mohammad Faruk's testimony, 25, from Chartaki Nama Para Village, Kishor Gong in Bangladesh. He shared that he had work for 5 years at Cheras, Selangor. He gets less salary than the amount written in the contract. No double payment for working on Sunday. No annual leave. Work 12 hours per day. 3 months before his working permit expired, the company terminated him without his wages. Reported to the Bangladesh High Commission but no respond, 'Even if they listen, they would say that nothing could be done,' he said. When he went to address the Malaysian authorities, there was no respond either.

            He continued, 'If we go out, the police torture us... Are we not human beings, just because we are poor? Don't we all have the right to live in peace?’ In another chapter he said, 'Are we going to die this way? Though we look healthy physically but mentally we are so sick, it's unbearable.' [P.s: This is a mental torture- painful than any physical torture.]

            Niraj Bhattarai's testimony, 25, from Dharan, Sunsari in Nepal. He was detained in the KLIA jail for 10 days while waiting for his employers to come to take him. 'How many days do we have to wait without eating?’ he said. In regarding to their terrible living conditions, he shared, '10 people would sleep in one small cramped room. Man will not die by working but man will die without eating... The employer can have one nice corner for a doghouse for his dog, but where are the facilities for us foreign workers?’ 'Our value is less than a machine', he stated as he explaining on one particular case where his Nepalese friend lost two of his fingers during operating a machine. No insurance and security.        

            They were robbed. Employer keeps their passport. The employers also don't renew their workers’ work permit on time. It is not guaranteed that the workers will get their salary on time. What worst, is that the police ask for money more than RM100 if they don't have original passports, they only have photocopy.

            Mohammad Riaz, 27, from Kotkashi Village in Hafizabad, Pakistan. Live in the containers. 50 of them had to cram in one container. Treated like animals. For Syed Mehram Hussain & 11 others, they worked for 2 years without wages.

           

            I could go on but you're busy. You're running out of time. American Idols to catch up. Busy voting for ‘who's the next top super model’. Update with the latest gossips. And I'm wasting your time. [Well, this is good bye... Good Bye.] For those who stay, I don't have any words to say but a humble reminder to motivate you to be the voice… the voice, not just for refugees- but for all those who are in needs. 'Speak up!’ said King Lemuel's mother, 'Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless. Speak for them and be a righteous judge. Protect the rights of the poor and needy.' (Proverb 31:8,9)

           

Speak up! Speak up! Speak up!

[It's not all, but it's a good start.]

 Merry Christmas!

A simple Prayer for this Christmas (Part 2 End)

'I need a good news', so prayed. A good one because it's raining and my shoes is wet. Before I went to office, I checked out my pocket, struggling searching for copper coins in my fit jean. I should buy another jean. 'Aha!!!’ my inner most being scream, exactly RM1.50 for me to brought a newspaper.

The first page was the beginning of what I called, "Soul Torture Marathon". Tenang's Sulaiman laid to rest. (In English, simply mean- he died) Elements of fraud in Sime Darby Berhad. Jealous lover stabs pregnant teen. North Korea threatens nuclear war. Screws and nails lying in the middle of Lebuh Sungai Pinang Road. And the only good news is; Pizza Hut now have cheesy to the max, 6 cheeses on top and even more cheese in the crust!

Have you heard William Hung sing 'She bangs' song over the radio? If you're not a fan like me, you'll find out that it is better to listen to him than to read this news. Drug dealer jumps to his death during police raid. Man stabs lover 19 times; teen loses her baby (repeated). Riot in Parliaments, Anwar and the gang. Ex-judge sentenced for seven corruption charges.

After I'd been ‘showered’ by this news, I innocently turn on the TV. for more news. For the first 20 minutes just like a deja vu, the news repeated over and over again. What worst was that it kept on adding news that I missed the whole week! No wonder that most people who spent their time watching TV., listening to radio, read newspaper(?) and surfing internet in the range of 8-10 hours per day (I'm talking about excessive behavior) are mostly negative person. That day, 18th December 2010, right until 10pm- I'm in negative mode... seriously, I am.

Before the night was over, I went for s-p-i-r-i-t-u-a-l moment, so I thought it would be good to neutralize the words and negative images in my mind with the words of hope in the Bible. I turned to The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 1, everyone’s favorite chapter on genealogy of Jesus, your favorite right?

The genealogy starts with Abraham to David, David to Jehoiachin and Jehoiachin to Joseph. There are 14 cool names and I wonder if I could pronoun it correctly. What's amazing about this is that; names in the genealogy are made up of a bunch of 'mistakes' people. Let me explain:

Abraham, who lied to the King of Egypt that Sarah was his sister, '... because of you they will let me live and treat me well.' (Gen. 12:13)

Jacob, Abraham's grandson, he cheated his older twin brother, Esau and lied toward his blind father, Isaac. Plus, he ‘accidentally’ was having sex with his daughter-in-law. (Gen. 27, 29)

Tamar*, a widow who tricked his father-in-law, Jacob, into thinking she was a hooker; she had sex with him and got pregnant.

Rehab*, a hooker who ran her business out of Jericho…

Ruth*, a foreigner.

David, who have an affair with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba and soon became pregnant and bore Solomon.

In Matthew 1:16, the genealogy stop at one man, a perfect one, 'Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ.' Period. Instead of bringing peace to me, the lists rather confusing... so I asked, "What do you want to tell me Mr. Matthew?"

'There's hope', I hear a whisper. Hope for the future. Hope for us;

• We always break our promises, but God will never do it. If He said, He has a plan; He really has a Plan to save us.
• Our destiny does not determine by our family background, it’s determined by our faith in Jesus Christ.
• What seems impossible for us is possible for Him. The Word became human being and, full of Grace and Truth, lived among us.
• And finally, what seems bad news (and confusing...) in the world today, we have HOPE that someday... the Good News will last forever.

That night, my prayer is fulfilled; I received the Good News. Zzz... Tonight, it’s yours.
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For part 1: A 'taste' of Christmas
P.s: * is taken from Stephen M. Miller's book, The Jesus of the Bible.

Week 24: Focus - on What is Important

"Seeing water as closer when you're thirsty might make it a little more likely you'll try to go get it." (Emily Balcetis)

             
People see desirable objects as physically closer than less desirable ones, according to a study in the January issue of Psychological Science. (I can get this magazine for RM9.90 at AmCorp Mall, Petaling Jaya). When psychologists Emily Balcetis of New York University and David Dunning of Cornell University asked people to estimate how far away a bottle of water was, those who were thirsty guessed it was closer than non-thirsty people did even thought the distance was the same.

            Focus is amazing. Focus changes your perception. Usually, how you feel about things, and the meaning of a particular experience, is all dependent upon your focus. Anthony Robbins, author of Awaken the Giant Within gives the illustration well, 'Suppose you went to a party with your camera, and you sat in one corner, focused on a group of people who were arguing. How would that party be represented? It would be pictured as unpleasant, frustrating party where no one had a good time and everyone is fighting... But what if you focus on another... where people were laughing and telling jokes and having a great time? It would be shown to have been the best party of all.' [I may not agree with everything he said in this book.]

            There was one time after a seminar someone came to me, a girl, so I asked, 'what do you learned from this?’ She replied without blinking her eyes said, 'I don't know. I just looked at your handsome face all day long~'. Just kidding! But isn't it true? For example in relationship, when your partner trying to explain on how he/she feel about the relationship, you may focus on self. 'He doesn’t want to listen to me.' 'He hurts me'. 'How about me?' Me! Me! Me! In the end, it doesn't matter how others feel anymore- it's all about you. This is when the famous whining ever quote, 'I don't get it! I've done everything and still he/she left me!'

            Another example of misapplication of focus is this; focus on what God can do for me instead of how He wants to use me as His Servant. This normally happen during prayer. We often (I'm included) pray, 'Dear God... I want you to do this and that... I don't want this.... err... I want it to be like this... and God... do it now.... Amen.' When our focus is limited toward ‘me’, even God can be our servant.

  Have a focus life. Eliminate focusing your energy on yourself all the time, worries, and unnecessary things. Try to minimize what you focus on; doing too many things always keeps you from doing your best. John L. Mason said, 'Being a disciple of Christ requires focus. When you walk in focus, you'll become passionate about your dream; you'll find it expressed everywhere- you can almost smell it.' "So what should I focus on?” you may ask.
I will answer, 'Focus on what is important. What is it? It's up for you to decide.'

            When a Samaritan village refuses to receive Jesus, He went to another village. Along the way, He said to would-be-followers, 'Follow me.' But that man said, 'Sir, first let me go back and bury my father.' Another man said, 'I will follow you, sir; but first let me go and say good-bye to my family.' Jesus said to him, 'Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back is of no use for the Kingdom of God.' So much for a motivation, huh? But that's the way it should be, as a genuine Christian- focus on Jesus and never looking back.

Am I dedicated to removing distractions and what doesn't matter so that I can concentrate with clarity on the real issue?

Motivate4Life

What do think about this new name? Awesome right!

A 'taste' of Christmas night. (Part 1)

Raymond sms'ed me: ‘Are we going to Cameron tomorrow?’
‘No, Jimmy is canceled. It would be such a waste if I booked the room for just two of us.’ I don’t know about Raymond, but for sure, I was very disappointed. For a week, 7 days, 168 hours, I imagine the cold of the day and quiet place such as Highland Christian Centre, Cameron Highland. This is a perfect place for retreat! (At least for me) Now the trip is cancel!

‘So how?’ Raymond replied me back within 57 seconds, ‘What’s your plan?’ he asked me which I assumed that we must have a plan- planned! After 4 – 5 smses bombarded to each other, we come to the conclusion: We will go to Genting Highland instead!

‘This is the plan…’ I said to Raymond. ‘I checked the room and there’s no available. We go there on the evening and stay up until the next morning, deal?’
‘Ok’, he replied.
With uncertainty and zero programs, we are heading to the highland the next evening. Thought we have no program, there’s no worries ever appear on our face. First, this is not the first time we go somewhere without plan and second, we just want to get out from the city. Once we reached there, we’re innocently excited and enjoy the night we have.

            To cut the not so long story short, the moment of ‘peak’ program finally happened. Red-eyes, restless night and cold windy weather; good ingredients for sleeping potion. Before my mind could ever freeze, I decided to check one more time if there was any room for us to stay overnight. A sweet and friendly receptionist replied with a solid, ‘No’. Then she continued, ‘… I’m sorry.’ In the end, we spent the night with just a few minutes of sleeping. Right before we took the bus to go back home, I remember asking Raymond this question: “What have we learned?” We both smile, a blur one and leave the place at once.
       
          At this writing, I ponder on the question seriously; “What have I learned? It is something to do with the Christmas?” I asked skeptically… No… oh ya, yes! Yes! Yes!
I refer back to the Christmas story when Mary, Joseph and baby boy Jesus looking around for a place to rest and end up in the non-luxury, quite dirty place and of course, smelly place to live- the manger. Sometime, I wonder if the writer really wants to tell the world that Jesus is the King of Kings, why he doesn’t say that Jesus was born in the palace or 5 stars hotel. This is the real humility!

  I’m sure just like me and Raymond froze in the cold night and with no room, Joseph and his family must be felt the same way. For us, at least we can go to the building to get some heat, but for Joseph’s family, they have no room but a humble manger and extremely cold in the desert weather night of Arab city in Israel.
What have I learned? I learned a Christmas story. Somehow, we had ‘taste’ a bit of experience of Luke 2 in the Bible. Then I remember what Max Lucado writes,

If our greatest need had been information,
God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money,
God would have sent us an economist.
But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior.

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For Part 2: Simple Prayer for this Christmas click the title.


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Building a Bridge by our common Similarity

"... I believe it is important for the citizens of this country to realize that tolerance of other religions goes beyond mere coexistence. It also means engaging with one another... building a permanent bridge of cooperation through mutual participation. I come here not just as the Prime Minister of the host country, but as a Muslim who wants to initiate a dialogue with his Christian friends. So that we are able to talk in a world in this seems increasingly difficult to do so."

            Above are a brief quote from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's speech (Well, of course when he was our Prime Minister) for the Commission of Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches, Federal Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, 3rd August 2004. What I want to highlight here in his speech is this: "Building a permanent bridge of cooperation through mutual participation." Let me summaries it this way, 'Building a Bridge'.

Now we all know that there's a tension between religions in this country. Okay come on, let's be real, this is not a secret no more. Talks on peace seem to be useless if we're trying to center the main point is unity in religious. It's not just useless but dangerous. We may tolerate one another but for how long? So, to building relationship through religions in this country or any part of the world is not very relevant, at least in my opinion. All we have to do is to recall back our history to learn that this is such a bad idea. Further more, it may break us more than unite us together. So... How?

  The most basic factor for building relationship is this - find our similarity that we agree on and work on it. In his remarkable book, Winning with People, John C. Maxwell writes about the 100 Percent Principle: "Find the 1 percent we agree on and give it 100 percent of our effort." So what is our common similarity? During Chawkat Moucarry visits to Malaysia, 19th August 2010, in one of the local church here in Petaling Jaya, he said;

"We are one in humanity. All human beings have been created the same way by the same God. One Creator. We're God's special and privileged creatures. We are all brothers and sisters in humanity, and we all belong to the same human family. We have the same dignity and human rights and duties."

            Didn't you find that this is true? That we're all are human beings, created the same way, brothers and sisters in humanity? Belong to the same human family? We have dignity and human rights? This is what we should focus on! Build the bridge on our similarity, that is- our humanity.
            See the other person who maybe difference in color, religious background, physical appearances; handicap or normal, or nationality with a new perspective in mind. See one another as human beings who have the same needs and dignity. When Jesus met the Samaritan woman (John 4), Roman officers (John 4), tax collector (Luke 19), the Greeks (John 12), the blinds and the lepers, he welcome them as a human being who were in needs.

Haris Ibrahim, the founder of 'Saya anak bangsa Malaysia' said in one of his talks that I had a privilege to be there, shared about what he filled up on a form when he wants to renew his gun license. He said, "On the paper, I write…
Name: Haris Ibrahim,
Adress: [his own address],
Sex: [Something...]
Race: Human Race!!!"  

Yes, from now on, in your conscious mind, a new perspective to live by, your race is no more- malay, chinese, indian or dan lain-lain (others), your race is HUMAN RACE! Lets Building a Bridge toward one another by our common similarity -Humanity. Peace be with Malaysia!

Changed Lives (1 Peter 4:3-4)

"You have spent enough time in the past doing what the heathen like to do. Your lives were spent indecency, lust, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and the disgusting worship of idols." (1 Peter 4:3)

            Living in the Iban culture, there's something that had had passed to our blood throughout generations: the art of drunkenness! As a curious kid, peer pressure and non-family support, it is 'normal' for me and my friends to consume alcohol. Have you heard the words, 'Just a little bit its okay', 'As long as I'm not making any trouble', 'Just for fun' and the famous line for Christians (I wonder if they read it and understand it firsthand or not?)- 'Jesus drink wine too!'?*** Well, I used all the lines above when someone advice me to stop drinking alcohol. For a while it was practical to say so... but not until times reveals it weaknesses.

            From a teaspoon to a small cup of alcohol, it kept on advancing to a large cup, a jug and then a bottle. Then from a bottle it starts to evolved much faster than the theory of Evolution... many bottles. Zig Ziglar said, 'All bad habits start slowly and gradually and before you know you have the habit, the habit has you.' From a casual drinker, I'd become a full-time drinker. This is the confession of Alcoholic 'taster'.

            It took time to break this habit and there's no easy way. As much as I want to share with you all how I break this bad habit, I don't have enough space to write. If I write it all, you probably fall asleep on your keyboard. Harold Sala advices, "The motivation to overcome any dependency must be stronger than the force of the addiction." So I want to share the bottom-line of it all... to break any bad habits: Ask God for help, He is stronger than the force of addiction.

            Deep down inside the heart of alcoholics out there is that they’re aware of their bad habit, they want to change but the only problem is that- they don't know how. Ask God for help. Billy Graham writes, "Why does the Bible so clearly denounce drunkenness?  Because it is an enemy of human life. Anything that has is against a person's welfare, God is against." When God said, 'Do not...’ it always for our own good. His goodness and holiness doesn't change even if we choose not to follow His words. He wants us to change because it hurt Him, when it hurt you.

            When I asked Jesus for help, he sent me people, resources and guidance for me to get rid of the addiction. It took time, energy and much pain to break the habit but just like gold is refine by fire, the outcome is worth to boast. If I were to summaries of what Jesus can do in your life, it is this: Changed Lives. He never promises that following Him would be all honey and no bees, but He did promise that 'I will be with you always, to the end of the age'.

What are the bad habits that you have now? Do you want to put an end to it? Do you believe that God can changed lives especially you? Would you let Him 'operate' your heart and endure the pain for awhile to gain your eternal life forever? Ask God for help.

If someday (I know it will soon) you're free from this bad habits, you'll find that the Word of God is true... do not be surprise when some of your friends might disbelief and may insult you in the public just because you're a change person. Risk it, u-turn to God's way and do not u-turn from it anymore.

Continue from the verse above. "And now the heathen are surprised when you do not join them in the same wild and reckless living, and so they insult you." (1 Peter 4:4)

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*** If the last excuse ever bothering you all this while, please drop me an e-mail for clarify.