As a nation, Malaysia has made progress in national unity and inclusiveness. However, events of late have threatened to tear our people apart. There are tougher issues that we must face and often, these issues do not have a solution. Instead, they require compromises and accommodation by all parties.

Christians play a critical role in fostering peace and harmony among the peoples through our message of agape love. We believe that if love and forgiveness can touch and change individual hearts and lives, then love and forgiveness can touch and transform the country. If largeness of heart can vanquish shrunken narrowness of mind and self-centred spirit in individuals, if love can banish fear, if hope can overwhelm despair, if light can overcome darkness, the nation can be healed.

But it has to start in the individual human heart. That is the battleground. If enough people win there, the nation wins.

Christians are called to love everyone, irrespective of his race, religion or political leaning. And love simply means desiring the highest and the best for the other person, respecting his dignity and viewing him with compassion and forgiveness.

God is love, and on God’s self-giving rests the ultimate hope of humanity. Let the spirit of love begin to take hold of the national soul, so that people of different races begin to think of the other before themselves and fully embrace the virtue of love – to “do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” (Matthew 7:12)

When Christ said: “Forgive your enemies”, it is not only for the sake of the enemy, but for one’s own sake because love liberates one from the burden of bitterness. Hatred, like rust, eats into the soul of the individual and then an entire nation.

Christians are called to love everyone, irrespective of his race, religion or political leaning. And love simply means desiring the highest and the best for the other person, respecting his dignity and viewing him with compassion and forgiveness.

Jomo Kenyatta at Kenya’s independence said, “Unless we build our nation on forgiveness, we will lose the day.”

Martin Luther King at the height of the Civil Rights struggle proclaimed:

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies… Forgiveness is not just an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.”

Love for others needs to become part of a new vision, a new style of thinking. The “politics of forgiveness” will attempt its utmost to see the plight and real humanity of the enemy. Thus, we believe that the time has come for Christians to rise up to manage the differences in opinions on a myriad of issues in the nation by setting up Christians for Peace and Harmony in Malaysia (CPHM).

CPHM seeks to build peace and harmony between peoples, whether the conflict is ethnic, religious, economic or of any other cause. We believe in constructive Christian engagement in the social, economic and political arenas based on:

– An approach that is predicated on love and forgiveness, and focusing on building bridges to other communities via strategic stakeholder engagement to foster positive interaction in nation building;

– Seeking a better understanding of others in Christian compassion and empathy, generating goodwill, building and increasing trust in a strategic and sustainable manner; and cultivating Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech in such engagements, being slow to take offence and always ready for reconciliation.

CPHM seeks to transform conflict and division into new relationships and peaceful communities living in harmony with each other. We recognise that political solutions are important, but without the engagement of individuals and communities in a spirit of love and forgiveness, real and lasting peace may be difficult to sustain.

CPHM looks forward to sharing the different initiatives and activities that have been planned and executed to achieve its founding objectives of being a catalyst within the Christian community for peace and harmony in Malaysia.

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