Christians do not need more NGOs

7:45AM Jun 3, 2015

By Allen Tan

Rev Wong Kim Kong, together with some Christian leaders, formed an NGO called Christians for Peace and Harmony in Malaysia (CPHM).

Of course, they have the right to form any organisation. But I really doubt their motive as the so-called duty in dealing with matters of other faiths of all Malaysians is mere duplication, as Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM), Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) and the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) have been playing active roles thus far.

CPHM launched its formation on June 2. But I was appalled that it chose the five-star Majestic Hotel right in the golden triangle of KL to hold a banquet. It cost a lot of money. NGOs are funded by their respective members and sometimes by the public. As such the trustees are expected to be careful in handling finances.

As Christians, we the more needed to be thrifty being good stewards approved of the Lord. The money could be put to better use. In times like this, people have less money to spend due to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) but the trustees squandered unnecessarily a la BN-style!

Putrajaya may not have funded them. But there are many tycoons in certain parties within BN. Rev Wong may claim CPHM is non-partisan and apolitical, but these tycoons may see otherwise as this as an opportune time to re-garner support, and thus would be happily contributing their substance.

Rev Wong may claim that many Christians approached him and expressed their concerns about things happening in this country. But how many was ‘many’? Did the figures become too many that necessitated him to the extent of forming a new NGO? There are many more who are the majority who trust in God for the destiny of this nation instead.

In my own observation, Rev Wong has never been a non-partisan figure. When he was the general-secretary of NECF, he did invite Dr Mahathir Mohamad to give a speech to the pastors and Christians. Prior to GE12 in 2008, he invited MCA to have a dialogue with the pastors. What about when people requested him to give a similar session to Pakatan Rakyat? Of course in the end it never materialised.

In conclusion, more NGOs will not solve the problems in this country. The answer is with the PM, Najib Abdul Razak, himself. When there were issues, Malaysians didn’t hear from him. If only he truly exercises his duty as a PM, most of the problems would be solved.

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/300487