Christians in national day of prayer ahead of polls

Some 2,000 Christian yesterday converged at Melawati Stadium, Shah Alam to pray for among others, clean and fair elections in a national day of prayer.

The gathering here was one of 29 gatherings across the country for a national prayer dubbed ‘Prayer United’ in conjunction with Malaysia’s golden jubilee.

Malaysia celebrates the 50th anniversary of union with Sabah and Sarawak next year.

On top of fair polls, Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) president bishop Ng Moon Heng (left) also led the congregation to pray for guidance in the next general election, which is expected in less than a year.

“We pray that we can prepare ourselves to cast our votes in the right conscious and will not be swayed by sweet talk.

“Impress upon us who should be the next government,” he said.

The congregation also prayed for candidates with integrity and peace after the polls conclude.

“We pray that whoever wins, they will follow the rule of law and uphold the constitution,” said Tsen.

The congregation also prayed for the needy and the community.

The nationwide gathering yesterday was a collaboration of several national Christian bodies including the CFM and the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NCEF).

Participants were treated to rock concert-style gospel songs before engaging in a series of prayers for community, the needy as well as the country.

One of the songs that opened the gathering here was a the gospel song titled ‘Serukan Nama-Nya’.

The song had previously generated attention after critics claimed the government’s ‘Janji Ditepati’ song’s rhythm was plagiarised from the popular gospel song.

‘Reset for Christians’

Earlier, CCM general-secretary Hermen Shastrii (left) briefly led the congregation for the opening prayer before launching the event by symbolically hitting the “reset” button on a television screen.

In celebrating Malaysia Day yesterday, the gathering also prayed for the correction of injustices in Sabah and Sarawak.

Some of the prayers were made in native languages as as Melanau, Iban and Bidayuh and were later translated into Malay.

Both the East Malaysian states have a substantial Christian population, many of whom are Malay-speaking and have on occasions been at loggerheads with the government, which keeps a tight control on Malay language religious words.