AT a time Christian events are viewed with suspicion in the country, churches in Sabah and Sarawak are keeping up the tradition of  praying for the nation celebrating its 60th Merdeka this month and Malaysia Day the next.

Christians in the East Malaysian states are offering up special prayers and fasts for the wellbeing of Malaysia and its leaders. 

Prayers are also being offered for Sabah and Sarawak, which are home to the highest number of poor people in Malaysia, a growing illegal immigrant population, indigenous peoples who have yet to obtain a identification card, and those who have lost their ancestral lands. The East Coast is also facing security threats and risk of a spillover from the fighting in the Philippines, which is battling a terrorist insurgency.

Christians are told to pray for the leaders, for good governance and for unity, mutual respect, peace, and understanding among all Malaysians.

Archbishop of Kuching Simon Poh said prayers for the welfare of the nation are routine during services.

“Every Sunday, during mass, there are intercessory prayers for world peace, for the welfare of the country, for our leaders, and for the poor and the sick in a petition called the ‘Prayer of the Faithful’,” Poh said.

An intercessory prayer is the act of praying on behalf of others facing trial and tribulation.

Christians form 42% of the Sarawak population, according to the updated 2015 national census.

The Association of Churches (Sarawak) will also hold its annual National Day Prayer Service at the Christian Ecumenical Worship Centre in Kuching on August 24, which will be attended by close to a thousand parishioners of all Christian denominations.

The service will begin with the national anthem followed by the state anthem. Bible readings and prayers will follow in English, Mandarin, Iban and Bahasa Malaysia.

Just two months ago, Christian leaders in Sarawak and Sabah had spoken out in response to the Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy CEO Azril Mohd Amin, who had called for laws banning Christian evangelism in Malaysia in an article published by Malay daily, Utusan Malaysia.

Azril had said the dangerous movement that was evangelicalism must be checked as it threatened religious harmony in Malaysia.

He said anti-evangelicalism laws were necessary to ensure that the evangelicals did not succeed in their attempts to dominate the Christian narrative.Two weeks before that, Sarawak church leaders cancelled the All Borneo Revival Convocation in Miri after Malay groups protested over a similar event, Jerusalem Jubilee, which was to have been held in Malacca.

These incidents, however, have been put behind as Sabah Christians on August 1 began 40 days of prayers and fasting for the nation.

The annual event began in 2000 and is part of the local churches’ tribute to Merdeka month coordinated by the Commission of Sabah Affairs (Cosa), a civil society group under the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship.

Christians taking part in the programme will submit a collective open prayer on the final day on September 16 in conjunction with the Malaysia Day celebration at the Penampang Sports Complex. 

Cosa chairman Pastor Chin Chi Kiong said fasting was a form of prayer and spiritual activity that helped Christians to be more spiritually alert.

“In this case, the participants are encouraged to offer the money saved for community relief and aid,” he said. 

Each year a booklet guide is published for those on the Cosa 40-day programme.

“On Sunday or at other prayer services in church, the congregation will offer up prayers for the wellbeing of Malaysians.”

Sabah churches have long been known for being outspoken on current issues in the country. 

In 2013, the church took the lead  in urging its congregation to pray over the debacle over the Christian use of the word “Allah”, and their increasing alarm at Islamisation.

Sabah and Sarawak Christians make up two-thirds of the 2.6 million Christians in Malaysia. – August 20, 2017.