Pray For Pastor Raymond Koh.

There is a saying, “The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick and the needy, and the handicapped." (Hubert Humphrey).

When I think about the shadow of life, I think about those forgotten, forgotten by their leaders, forgotten because it is convenient, and forgotten because those forgotten are not their problem, it’s someone else’s. They thus let the moral test quietly pass them by. 

Ms Susanna Liew has been named International Women of Courage (“IWOC”). Who is she? Well, you may know her husband, Pastor Raymond Koh. He was abducted in Feb 2017. 

On 13 Feb, a group of more than 10 men ambushed pastor Koh while he was in his car, commandeered it, and drove off with him. 

Since then, pastor Koh remains missing. And since then, Susanna (and her family) has never given up hope looking for her husband, their loved one. 

This is what the embassy who gave out the IWOC award said: “(Susanna) actively pursued justice for her husband and others during the Malaysian Human Rights Commission’s 2018-2019 public inquiry into enforced disappearance and continues to push the government to investigate these cases and prosecute those responsible.”

“Despite police harassment and death threats. She continues to advocate for her husband and others, not because of her faith or theirs, but because of their rights as Malaysians.”

Susanna was amongst 12 extraordinary women in the world who has “demonstrated exceptional courage of leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment at great personal risk and sacrifice.”

Lesson?...

I started this post with the quote about the enduring moral test of government, because stripped of the title, the publicity and attention, and the power, the one who runs the government, or a group of them voted in to lead, are nothing more than husbands to their wives and fathers to their children. They cannot hide their vulnerable humanity behind the facade of power, wealth and fame. 

After an honest day’s work at the office, we all return to our family. We remember our vows and the fruits of our loins and we want to be there for them, in good or in the worst of times. 

Stripped of all the officious, if not pretentious, fanfare, the moral test of our government is really nothing more than the moral test of being a human, despite all our flaws and ego, and learning to see others as you see yourself, and feeling their pain and struggles as you feel it yourself when you go through your own. 

Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments wrote this: -

“Two different sets of philosophers have attempted to teach us this hardest of all the lessons of morality. One set have laboured to increase our sensibility to the interests of others; another, to diminish that to our own. 

The first would have us feel for others as we naturally feel for ourselves. The second would have us feel for ourselves as we naturally feel for others. Both, perhaps, have carried their doctrines a good deal beyond the just standard of nature and propriety.”

And if one applies the right approach to morality to government, we ought to see, feel and act towards a shared and common humanity, and come to the aid of those in the dawn, twilight and shadow of life. 

Let me end with this observation.

Just a few days ago, I incidentally saw a video of Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali walking over to her husband (Mahathir) and gave him the longest hug I have ever witnessed in the history of Malaysian politics (see pic below). 

She didn’t want to let go. She held on tight. The crowd applauded, was inspired, and it was a truly touching sight. The whole room warmed up with their radiant devotion, a testimony of a resilient marriage since 1956. 

Their fate could not have been more different from that of Susanna’s (or for that matter, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s, Anwar’s wife, who stuck by their spouses thru the good and bad times). 

Yet, aren’t they all demonstrating the same timeless love for their spouses? Aren’t they all the same, sharing a common passion, unyielding, regardless of circumstances? Yet, what sets them apart, so starkly and ironically, is the circumstances they find themselves in; alas, their struggles differ so much. 

Recently, Susanna Liew met up with Muhyiddin ”after the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia – a parliamentary-backed investigative panel also known as Suhakam – released a 95-page report concluding that Koh and social activist Amri Che Mat were probably “abducted by State agents.””

She said: “My hope and appeal is that since he is now the prime minister, he has the power to arrest, to prosecute the culprits who were involved in this case of enforced disappearance.”

“I still believe my husband is still alive. We have dreams, my family and I ... and we hold on to this hope that one day we will reunite with him.”

And I truly pray that that day will come when our leaders finally and courageously pass the moral test of government.