“Like many Malaysians, I view the day of the Bersih march on July 9 with a mixture of trepidation and anticipation,” said the prelate, who is concurrently president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia.
“I view the situation with trepidation because the forces of reaction may go overboard which may trigger a chain of consequences whose end cannot be visualised at this stage,” he explained, reports Terence Netto of Malaysiakini.
“Conversely, I see the forces of democratic expression prompted by an imperative whose constitutionality, justice and urgency cannot be denied.”
A tug of conflicting imperatives
Bishop Paul Tan said he is following events closely in the lead-up to July 9 when Bersih, an agglomeration of NGOs pushing for electoral reform, will hold a march for electoral reform in apparent defiance of the authorities' strictures against it.
“This is one of those times when you feel the tug of conflicting imperatives: in this instance, the imperative of public order and tranquility counter-posed by the imperative of justice to the electoral processes that help to guarantee that peace.
“As somebody whose persists in the faith that greater things are wrought by prayer that one can believe, this upcoming situation calls for recourse to precisely that: prayer.
“Accordingly, I call on the Catholic faithful in my diocese, indeed throughout the nation, to devote Friday, July 8, to a day of prayer and contemplation that a peace premised on justice will prevail in our country.”
Say the universal PEACE PRAYER together as One People One Nation:
God, make me an instrument of your peace.
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O, divine Master, grant that
I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
In addition, please share a similar peace prayer from different religions at the wall. Initiated by Malaysians, we hope that this space will help us grow together as fellow citizens and as people of faith - to build bridges instead of walls, to build a better world starting with ourselves.
We are all One.
When one is harmed, all are harmed. When one is helped, all are healed.
We are all One.
Ours is not a better way. Ours is merely another way.
► Malaysian Catholic Christians
► Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM)
► Pahlawan Volunteers— Negara Kita, Tanggungjawab Kita - from conviction to action
► Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia
► We support the use of the name Allah by all Malaysians
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