I am moved by this request to send a message to Malaysian Christians in conjunction with the celebration of Easter. I have also been continuously informed of the support of the Christian community for reformasi and the struggle of our nation for truth and justice; and that I am remembered in your prayers. This gesture lifts up my spirit and raises my faith in the goodness of Malaysians irrespective of their religious persuasion and indicates the measure of religious tolerance in our country.
But Malaysians have now moved beyond tolerance. There are now genuine efforts to promote greater understanding and appreciation of one’s neighbour’s beliefs and religious convictions. In my own small way, I have tried to help promote interreligious understanding and civilizational dialogue. I did this in the conviction that religious diversity in our country is a strength rather than a weakness. God has created us into nations and tribes for us to know one another.
We certainly live in an age where human perversity has multiplied into legions. We see wars and injustices, justice denied and injustices unhelped, truth suppressed and calumny promoted.
Be that as it may, we must neither lose hope in the Sovereign Good nor in the seeds of goodness buried deep in the very nature of our humanity. Our efforts to promote justice and compassion, no matter how small, will never be in vain. Who is not moved by the injunction in the Book of Micah: "… and what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
Men and women, to borrow Dante's imagery, are like "little flowers, bent down closed by the chill of night, straighten and all unfold upon their stems when the sun brightens them." Such are the men and women who respond to the message of love and to the call for justice.
Anwar Ibrahim
Sungai Buloh Prison