The Mantle of Victimhood

This is going to be a long read - to last until 2016

Aren't humans ever so clever?  In this 21st century, we have made boundless progress in technology which, for instance, enables me to do what I'm doing now.  We can communicate ideas, emotions, thoughts, knowledge, insults, hatred, bigotry, hypocrisy, self-righteousness and ignorance simply by tapping on a keyboard or switching on to gadgets like TV and smartphones.  However this can become too overwhelming for a geriatric dinosaur like me.

It's coming to the end of 2015.  Here in the cold of Leicester, escaping the heat (political and religious) of my Motherland, I'm so glad to be in my 70s and not living my twenty or thirty something years.  I was talking to a young employee of HSBC in Leicester just last week.  A graduate, he considered himself lucky to have his present job even though the salary was pittance.  It was so low that he was not even 'eligible'  for paying back his study loan.  (You have to earn at least  GBP22,000 per annum before the debt-collector knocks on your door.)

I 'take off my hat' to those Malaysian  graduates who have ignored or reneged on paying back their study loans even though they're living and working in well paid cushy occupations.  What cheek!  ("Apa aku peduli!  After all the politicians are raking in duit haram."  What a pathetic, self-serving excuse!)

I was once told how the Chinese have to pay up all their debts before the advent of Chinese New Year otherwise it will bring sway or bad luck for the following year.  As for Malay-Muslims they are very strict and punctilious about paying up their Zakat and Fitrah - if only they could apply that  principle and stricture to settling their debts and other pecuniary responsibilities before Hari Raya Puasa!!

However for most parts of the world they are in line for a lot more sway coming their way and certainly Malaysia will not be spared.  But this has nothing to do with luck or superstition - it's simply greed, perfidy and more greed.

This being the day after Christmas, we get this extract from the Archbishop of Canterbury's Christmas message.

Read the full text  : http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/25/christians-isis-middle-east-archbishop-justin-welby

This fear of Isis and Islamic extremism and distress for the fate of Christians and Christianity (which has also recently echoed in Malaysia) have been bandied about for the last few years by Christian leaders, politicians and has even touched the heartstrings of HRH Prince Charles.

Read : http://anaksihamid.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/prince-charles-prince-among-some-men.html

Apocalyptic suggestions like 'extinction',  'extermination' have been referred to by Christian pressure groups like the Catholic Charity Aid to the Church in Need.

Academics like Rupert Shortt write about 'Christianophobia' and he states that ''Exposing and combating the problem ought in my view to be political priorities across large areas of the world."

Read this : http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/11/05/christianity-could-be-completely-erased-from-middle-east-in-less-than-decade.html

.. and this : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9762745/Christianity-close-to-extinction-in-Middle-East.html


On the other hand in Angola  .......

Is this a church?  Is this a temple?  No, this was a mosque -  demolished by the Government of Angola in 2013

Claiming that Islam was a sect, the African nation of Angola becomes the first country to ban Islam, Muslims and has shut down the mosques in the country.

Concerning the ban, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said Sunday : "this is the final end of Islamic influence in our country."

The above extract is taken from World Bulletin 3 September 2015.

And just for your information :

 
In addition, Angola is also a a rich hunting ground for Christian Evangelists.  For example,

Such Christian enterprise in Angola and in many other countries and cultures of the planet should at least help reassure those Christianists suffering from "Christianophobia".


                                                             ***********************

Let's flip the coin and consider this:

Firstly, included in the Archbishop's message was another by Britain's chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis

Chief Rabbi Mirvis somehow is quite incapable of seeing the elephant residing in his room.  That elephant is the Judaic-Zionist-Israeli occupation and tyranny in Palestine.  But then, the Christians, the secularists, the agnostics, the atheists, and the neo liberals are also culpable in that very selective oversight and blindness!

Secondly,  here is the gist of this article from Christian News on Christian Today 21 December 2015  by Jeremy Moodey .
Read : http://www.christiantoday.com/article/should.we.really.be.worrying.about.middle.east.christianity/74281.htm

This article outlines five facts to refute all that "doom and gloom".

No 1: It is an exaggeration to say that Middle East Christians face extinction.

No 2: Many more non-Christians than Christians face persecution in the Middle East.

No 3: There is nothing inevitable about Christian flight from the Middle East.

No 4: Islamic extremism is not the only threat to the Christian presence.  I'm quoting this for the benefit of the many ostriches with their heads buried in the sand.

....in historic Palestine, where Christians accounted for over 20 percent of the population in 1948 but now total less than two percent.  But this decline has had very little to do with Islamism.  Three years ago a CBS News report noted that the main reason for the decline was actually the political and economic hardship caused by 45 years of Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.  Israel was so incensed that the Israeli Ambassador in Washington tried to have the show pulled from the airwaves.  Even in Gaza, controlled by Hamas, Palestinian Christians emigration is driven more by the trauma of Israel's eight-year blockade and regular bombardments than by Islamist government.


No 5: Middle East Christians themselves do not want favourable treatment.

Thirdly,  Timothy Seidel's article on "Christianity in Palestine : Misrepresentation and Dispossession".

Read:
https://electronicintifada.net/content/christianity-palestine-misrepresentation-and-dispossession/6280

Here's an extract :

Fourthly, pick and mix your victims.

I've loved  and lived with cats for as long as I can remember.  Whenever they are caught  doing something wrong or stupid (like breaking a plate trying to pinch an extra dinner, or tripping over a shoe, or failing to make a successful jump from the fence) they very quickly recover their dignity by licking themselves and pretending their innocence.     And so for humans too.

Often, in terms of strategy, the best form of defence is not to protest but to attack.  But when one has been responsible for so many wars - the War on Terror, wars for regime change, wars for democracy and human rights (all conducted, implicitly or explicitly, with the blessings of the Religious Establishment) - then it's time to conjure a distraction and a makeover of the Judaeo-Christian image.  Instead of being regarded as the perpetrators .........

Our glorious dead??  Will these (mainly) Muslim children be remembered on Poppy Day?

Squaring the Dead in Afghanistan - 2014

.......  why not turn the fox in the henhouse into a martyr.  Why not convert the guilty into victims?

Let us put on the Mantle of Victimhood.

Do enjoy this video clip from two of my favourite comedians - Harry Enfield and Kathy Burke.  You might be able to note the similarity with the strategy of the New Victims - with the grown-up Harrys of the world.

Fifthly, here's a picture gallery of some truths that have to be acknowledged.

.
1.

Just one query.  Why 'nonjihadist extremists'?  Why not 'White/Rightwing/Christian extremists'?

2.

3.  A Christmas greeting from a Muslim daughter, Kari Ansari.  (The Huffington Post - Dec 25, 2011)

4.  A bridge builder

5.

The Crusades and the decimation of Christianity in the Middle East

6.

Spreading Christianity then

7.

Spreading Christianity today in Muslim Malaysia ..........

8.

..... where there is so much intolerance of Christmas? ?? !!

9.  And, as for Donald Trump, the future(?) President of the USA, he is only articulating what has always been a covert attitude and practice towards Muslims and Islam in this WASP superpower. The reaction of the West is similar to that of the toddler Harry sans the pee in the pants.


Finally, as a septuagenarian Muslim with one foot in the grave, so to speak, I take heart from the Islam that is mentioned in Islamic Relief's global strategy, whose "values and teachings are provided by the revelations contained within the Quran and Prophetic example.  They are ikhlas (sincerity),  Ihsan (excellence),  Rahma (compassion), Adl (social justice), and Amana (custodianship)".


                           
*********************************************************************************************

Here's  Vivaldi's piece to  remind me of the Winter of my Disaffection.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                .

Appropriation - Ayam Hitam Terbang Malam.

" Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ".

When you  dress, behave, and talk  like your favourite celebrity or your  hero or role model - then that imitation is regarded as flattery.

It is fascinating to discover so many other words that are synonymous with 'imitate'   and which provide so many different shades of meaning and interpretation.  This list is by no means comprehensive but here they are: words like copy, use, adopt, adapt, fit, employ, duplicate, reproduce, take, convert,  pilfer, purloin, filch, plagiarize and appropriate.

You may notice how towards the end of the list the words begin to mean more and more negative and unpleasant.

For instance;  this one of Madonna in Burqa cannot be designated as imitation-cum-flattery, it's just an ageing rock star desperately seeking attention and publicity.  Mama mia!  She did quite a lot of cultural appropriation in her younger days to boost her career , so you can't expect better of her.

From The Independent, 25 June 2014.

If there are are Muslim hotheads - young and old - seeing this out there, please do not start a je ne suis pas Madonna!

There are also other 'desperately-seeking-attention' pop stars like Beyonce.

Beyonce - Daily Mail 14 Nov.

Okay, no more flippancy!

Dr Wafa Sultan, another ex-Muslim female darling of the Islamophobes (See Comments page of my previous posting   'Pointed Views'),  describes herself as a  'Muslim' even though she said she does not follow and practise the teachings of Islam.  I was quite confused.  It's like claiming to be a vegetarian while still consuming meat!

I found her rationale when I was sorting out my files last night.



1.  From "Doors into Christianity / Christianity Today"  :

Here are a couple of pertinent extracts from the above.

Here I reckon,  is where ex-Muslim islamophobes find their ploy to  abuse and confuse   Islam's Muslims by claiming they are 'Muslims' as well.

The above is not imitation or adapting.  It is simply purloining and filching - another appropriation, like Madonna.

                                                                    *********

There's the proverb - ' a rose by any other name smells just as sweet'.   The rose  is named rosa (Italian),  roos (Dutch), ruzica (Slovak),  gulaab (Hindi), bunga mawar (Indonesian and Malay), warda (Arabic) whakatika (Maori)  -  just to name a few.  Consider this; would an Italian desire to substitute the name of his rosa to bunga mawar, or would Hindi speakers pick warda instead of gulaab?

In the same vein, the word God and Allah are both as fragrant and sacred whatever name one chooses.  In the case of East Malaysia (where the conversion to Christianity was a more widespread, and rather different, process to that in Peninsular Malaysia),  'Allah'  has been used in their Bibles right from the start.  As for Peninsular Malaysia (where Christians make up just 3% of the population) the word 'God'  was the choice word in the Bible like in all  European countries.  'Allah'  is the word for Muslims in Southeast Asia and for all 1.6 billion Muslims in the world.   In the same vein, please note, the word 'Muslims' refer only to the adherents of the religion Islam, just as there are specific words to apply to Christians (Christianity), Hindus (Hinduism), Buddhists (Buddhism), Atheists (Atheism), Pagans  (Paganism) and Agnostics(Agnosticism) and even Satanists (Satanism)!

Why are certain Christians in Malaysia so adamant, and so evangelical in wanting to take the word for the Supreme Being in the Quran to be used in the Bible?  This may provide the key.

Extract from "Doors into Christianity"

This is "contextualized"  evangelization.  This is dressing up the wolf to look like sheep. This is conversion and plagiarization - the clearest example of the end justifying the means.

This is from the horse's mouth itself.

The means applied for achieving the ends are "to remove 'westernized ideas of what it means to follow Christ' ", to translate into  'the local language'  and 'adapt' the music as well. 

*********************************************************************************************************************************


2.  

By Joshua Lingel, Jeff Morton and Bill Nikides, eds. i2 Ministries Publications.

Warren Larson's review included this:

Two institutions responsible for translating the Bible for the purpose of conversion are Wycliffe Bible Translators and its sister organisation the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) - a Christian service agency..  Look up SIL's Website and you'll be hard put to find explicit indications of their  commitment to evangelization.  Of course they profess not to be directly involved  in  'building churches' and proselytizing.  But they have other objectives  - even though they claim they  work only to preserve 'ethnolinguistic identity'.  Is there much difference between the arms- manufacturer and the people who utilise their products?

There's just a little hint (note the underlined) to refer to  providing expertise, training or consulting  to  ' ....... or local organizations involved in education, development or Christian service.'

If any one can issue 'Muslim-friendly translations' for saying "Son of God",  SIL and Wycliffe will find the "loophole large enough".   After all, the word 'Allah' is well on the way to being appropriated - with the support of some Muslims and Muslim clerics here and abroad.  They, I'm afraid, have been outmaneuvered and  'contextualised'.

Next on the menu will be Chrislam, non-followers or ex-followers of Islam - converts to Christianity -  who claim to still calling themselves 'Muslims'.  According to their strategy; it  seems that they have the right to do so because  the term  'Muslims'  means 'those who submit to God' .  Consequently the term 'Muslim' would also be subjected to appropriation, away from the believers of Islam!  Hallelujah.

I reckon our Islamic experts, clergy and Islamic academics had better put on their thinking caps and figure out how to protect the  word "Muslim"  for the followers of Islam before the pseudo-'Muslims' start hammering at the gate


This is indeed scary, almost predatory  -   SEPERTI  AYAM  HITAM  TERBANG  MALAM 


***************************************************************************************************************************


3.  And now for another insight into   'Black Hens Flying in the Night'

All Hijabed and Kopiaked  - and with so many places to go !!!!  They managed to beat Madonna in this charade.  And oh my gosh!  Even the  'tikar' on the floor looked like they had just finished a 'kenduri' and 'baca doa selamat'.  Bravo, bravo!

Could you guess that the picture above is not of a group of Muslim ladies and gentlemen in Bangkok?  They are  'contextually'  dressed in Muslim garb but they are Thai pastors, leaders, Bible college students and professionals taking part in a Kairos Course in 2006.

One Thai pastor was so pleased and said,  "We praise God that he has opened our eyes through this course.  We have been receiving many missionaries in Thailand but we have failed to see our part in bringing the gospel to the nations.  It is time we stop making excuses and do our part."  ( Maybe their outfit will play a large part in their missionizing.)

The report further added, " The team in Thailand aims to continue mobilizing the Thai church for missions, i.e. to reach the least-reached people groups within Thailand and beyond."

For all you know, by now, they are already hard at work in  the predominantly Muslim Provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Satun - where some of the "least-reached people groups" are located.  Dressed like this they would be welcomed with open arms.  Throw in a couple of 'orang putih' in kopiak and hijab, the 'least-reached peoples' would be ecstatic!

Read : http://www.wouk.org/2006/10/catching_up_with_chismons.php


Turun ka-sawah memakai tudong,
Padi di-huma layu lengkesa;
Sa-ekor sawa (1)  sa-ekor tedung,
Bersama2 mengadu bisa.

(1) Ular sawa tidak berbisa; senjata-nya kuat membelot dan mencherut sahaja.

The above pantun is taken from "Kalong Bunga"  Buku 1 - di-pileh dan di-susun oleh Z'ABA, DBP 1964.


That ends my case of serial pilfering, purloining, filching, deceiving, plagiarising and appropriation in our neck of the woods,  conducted by evangelists from the world's largest and most powerful  religion.

Christian Evangelization - Rites of Reply

When I was a sprightly and happy-go-lucky 17-year-old,  my Sixth Form History teacher Miss T - who was normally an unfriendly and po-faced character - turned on her smile and niceness at me when she 'lent' me a book about Christianity.  She said,  "Do read this, take your time and let me know if there's any other information you want."  Of course I was astounded, wondering "what did I do to deserve this special treatment"?   I kept it for two weeks, and  just gave it a quick scan.  I had no interest in another religion, what I already had suited me very well, thank you very much.  Something told me there was an agenda in this 'kindness' and I returned Miss T her book with a thank you.  She "sweetly" asked me what I thought of it and I gave a  timid reply of  "it's quite interesting".  I can't really tell her what I thought of it and how I suspected her motive - after all, she's my History teacher and  an authoritative figure in my time at RGS !

When I was a 30-year-old  'woman of the world'  (or so I thought), I was doing my Academic Diploma in Education at London University.  I was invited by my Greek classmate to a party at her flat.  I am (and am still today) very uncomfortable when I attend such social gatherings.   And when, as a party piece, my classmate's English husband imitated the genuflections of his Pakistani Muslim flatmate at prayer and watched how the others  found this quite hilarious - I left the room in tears.  I vowed then that no Christian or non-Christian shall denigrate and mock my faith, leaving me in tears and unable to defend myself.

When I was 42 and  happily married to a Caucasian academic,  I got to meet a couple of the spouse's students.  There was a couple, extremely friendly and nice, who visited us several times at our house.
They were too sweet and too nice and they reminded me of Miss T, my History teacher at RGS.  One day, I was cycling at Victoria Park near the University, when I bumped into this sweet couple.  After the usual chit-chat, they invited me to a meeting that they were heading for.  I asked what it was all about - they mentioned a Christian Fellowship - I gently declined.  For heaven's sake, I was as old as their parents and they reckoned they could inveigle me into their flock.  I wonder why they did not try it on the spouse!  

[And this particular story has a special twist: that very same year, my spouse's Head of Department and senior professor (a fervent evangelical Christian) invited us both to dinner.  He didn't know me well, but he did know very well that I was a Muslim. However, he assumed that I was a lapsed Muslim - and we were served pork, twice (once for starters, and once for the main meal).  I was stunned. Twice, very politely, the spouse refused the food we were given, and in the end we were given a hastily prepared omelette each. With great irritation on the host's part, and without apology - after all, we had the effrontery to actually both be Muslims!!  And to stand firm. So much for the sweet approach.]

As a Muslim in a foreign country and especially today, as a Muslim in Malaysia, one's radar system has to be carefully tuned to the siren song of Christian evangelists.  Today their agenda is camouflaged in secular outfits of education, health, welfare and anti-poverty schemes,  'human rights' campaigns and environmental concerns.  Their tactics are very different from Miss T's approach  and you ignore them at your peril.

More crucially, for those who are concerned about evangelization in their community and country, they have to learn how to counter the arguments the evangelists (and other anti-Muslim groupings) put across to plug their faith and diminish that of others.

I have compiled in this posting the 'dialogue'  that followed the previous "The Trojan Horse and Footballers from Brazil"  (28 September 2014).   Both the article in the posting and the reply to the Comments belong to Iain Buchanan.

                                                      *****************************

The First Part of the Dialogue

**********************************************************************************************************************************
    The Second Part of the Dialogue                              

Iain Buchanan's Reply.

********************************************************************************************************************************

The Third Part of the Dialogue

Iain Buchanan's reply


The issue is not simply one of evangelization - it is also one of honesty.   The evangelical movement has long been corrupted by two rather unhealthy tendencies:  a belief in the utter supremacy of Christianity as the basis for global government  (the ideology of the New Apostolic Reformation is an example);  and a belief that the end (of fulfilling the "Great Commission") justifies all manner of  means - many of which are at best morally questionable, and at worst downright dishonest.   In a myriad ways, these two tendencies interweave, leading to a form of evangelization which is often aggressive, surreptitious, and extremely seductive.   And the key to the problem is the packaging - or the "contextualization".

The entire "contextualization" strategy is based upon the intention to subvert, by whatever means possible, and involves tactics which  (if practised by businessmen) would be winked at as barely permissible.   Of course when evangelicals talk about penetrating "closed " or "difficult" countries under secular guise, they don't use the word "subversion";  no, they talk about "creative access",  "tent-making",  and "Business as Mission".   It is one thing to be all things to all men; it is quite another to set out deliberately to deceive - as evangelicals have done, on a well-coordinated, industrial and global scale.   Especially since the 1970s under the Lausanne Movement.   Two examples - "Insider Movements"  and disaster aid - illustrate the problem.

(a)  Insider Movements.    Since the start of the Lausanne Movement, much of the 
      "contextualization"  effort has been geared towards infiltrating Muslim societies, in a
      variety of ways calibrated along the  "C1-C6 Scale"  of penetration  (from friendly 
      conversation to  "messianic mosque").   The intent to deceive has been very clear, and is
      even given biblical justification by academics:  in the words of Rick Love,  Professor of
      Muslim Studies at Columbia International University,  "Jesus, after all, did not raise his 
      and say   'I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth'  ". 
      The intention is often presented as a kind of discretion:  again and again, evangelicals
      talk about the need to keep a low profile, to go behind doors, to affect local styles, to hide
      real names and motives.   The Red Sea Mission put it this way:  "Think of us as
      'secret agents'.   Inside the raincoat pockets are hidden gospels in Urdu, Arabic, Persian,
      Turkish, and Gujerati.   We are not what we seem.   And our best stories cannot be told.   If
      our target is the hidden people .......  then we must be somewhat hidden ourselves."

      Of course not all evangelicals approve.   According to Patrick Sookhdev:  "Many
      mission agencies are keeping secret their support for the Insider Movements for fear
      that donors will stop giving to them in protest.   Some of their missionaries also keep
      their identities secret, presenting themselves as ordinary foreign workers rather than as
      preachers of the Gospel.   This apparent lack of integrity calls the Christian ethical basis
      of the Movement into question."

      And it is not only "Insider Movements".


(b)  The disaster aid industry also involves a lot of evangelical double-dealing.   There are 
      hundreds of evangelical agencies posing as altruistic providers of vital practical aid.   But
      what are their motives?   Well, many see catastrophe as a God-given opportunity to
      increase their flock  (and even to punish non-believers)  rather than as a cause for
      altruism:  John Piper, of Desiring God Ministries, claimed the 2004 tsunami was "just
      and good";  Pat Julian  (Southern Baptist relief coordinator)  saw it as "a phenomenal
      opportunity",  while K.P. Yohannan  (of Gospel for Asia)  saw it as "one of the greatest
      opportunities God has given us to share His love for people."   And then,  of course,
      there is Beram Kumar, responding to Cyclone  Nargis as  " a tremendous opportunity to
      see the Kingdom of God expand."

      Clearly when you see disaster as a golden opportunity, you have to be pretty "creative"
      in the way you present your case to the public.   In other words, evangelization has to be
      "contextualized"  to be attractive to those in the direst of straits.   A truly  "good
      Samaritan"  will give succour with no strings attached.   You cannot say that about a
      great many of the evangelical agencies which rush into disaster areas.


(c)  It is the same with  "Business as a Mission"  (and the "Seven Mountains Theology"  for
      taking over whole societies, sector by sector, for Christ);  it is the same with the "human
      rights"  industry  (which is overflowing with agencies which, at best, are coy about their
      evangelical connections - witness the policing of human trafficking by World Vision and 
      and its spin-off  International Justice Mission).

      And it is the same with sport.   There is no question whatsoever that evangelicals  (at the
      highest levels)  have devised a thorough-going and systematic project to infiltrate sport in
      order to evangelize surreptitiously.   As the example of Brazilian footballers testifies.




And so, once again, it is NOT so much a problem of evangelization, as it is a problem of
dishonesty.   People of all faiths evangelize, or seek to spread their own particular gospel.  There's nothing wrong with that.   The problem arises when we seek to deceive.


**********************************************************************************************************      
                   Welcome, thou kind deceiver!
Thou best of thieves; who, with an easy key,
Dost open life, and, unperceived by us,
Even steal us from ourselves.

                              ( Dryden, 1631-1700)

   
       

The Trojan Horse and Footballers from Brazil

I came across this in the New Straits Times, 25 September.
Read: http://www.nst.com.my/node/36987
It was all about football players from Brazil 'hanging out' with Malaysian children.
Anyone would  say "Aaah - how wonderful - it's such a treat for our kids."

But my radar started sending different signals.

However, I shall let Iain Buchanan deal with this.  He can do it better.  He has previously been a guest of AsH in  http://anaksihamid.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/whats-in-word-context-of-allah.html .

I shall now get myself a mug of coffee, sit back and put my feet up.

ps. Remember the story of 'Helen of Troy'? She was known for her beauty, as 'the face that sank a thousand ships'.  But there was also the Trojan Horse.  Helen was stolen by Paris of Troy from her Greek husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta.  For ten years the Greeks fought to bring back Helen, but the city walls were too strong.  So, they built a large wooden horse...

... left it outside the city and departed.  The Trojans were delighted, they brought the wooden horse inside the city gates.    What a great gift!    But that night, the Greek soldiers who were hiding inside the horse crept out, opened the city gates and let in their comrades.  According to the story in Homer's Iliad, the Trojans were slaughtered and that was the end of Troy.

Hence the saying; 'Beware of Greeks bearing gifts'.  However my mother had her own take on that. She always cautioned us.  'Do not take sweets from any strangers'.  And I still keep to that ... even though I am 'three score years and ten'.

      ====================================================================


                    "FOOTBALL  EVANGELISTS?  NONSENSE!"

                                            Iain  Buchanan 

      Youngsters the world over love football, and kids in Malaysia are no different - especially when there's a chance to rub shoulders with a few legends of the game.  And if these happen to be Brazilian. so much the better.

      And so the story in Thursday's NST was hardly surprising.  Here was a team of football stars from Brazil and Angola, visiting Malaysia, coaching kids from poor backgrounds, planting dreams.  The stars themselves were heroic, approachable and helpful.  "We had a great time coaching them," said one; "Football has helped change our lives," said another, "and we want these kids to know how this sport could help change theirs too."  And the kids were over the moon and wanted more.

(http://www.nst.com.my/node/36987?d=1)

     The visit was a nice exercise in international diplomacy - and in bridging all manner of divides that separate people.  The children were from orphanages and low-income families: the tour, said one player, "was an initiative to reach out to the community" and a way of teaching "how to become a better team player, how to gain self-control, and other skills that can be applied to our daily lives."  Surely there was no hidden agenda.  And maybe, after all, footballers could do as much to spread goodwill as politicians, pop stars, or experts in development economics.

     It certainly seemed churlish to be cynical.  Besides, on the matter of visiting footballers, cynics had already been roundly lambasted by various pillars of the community.  Take, for example, the indignation shown by both Baru Bian, head of PKR Sarawak, and PAS Member of Parliament Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusuf Rawa, when speakers at a conference at UiTM claimed that visiting football coaches could well be undercover Christian priests.  Baru Bian, a lawyer and son of an SIB pastor, dismissed the accusations as a sign of "weak government":

      "Baru said he was aware of Brazilian football coaches, who are Christians, who had held football clinics as he was also involved in a similar clinic in his constituency.  'I don't think they are missionaries.  What is wrong with Christians who want to contribute to young people of this country?' he asked.  'You cannot just accuse people of proselyting (sic) to Muslims."

(http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/pas-mp-slams-uitm-event-attacking-christianity-challenges-undercover-priest)

(http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/05/08/no-undercover-priests-evangelising-muslims/)

     You certainly can't.  At the very least (as any lawyer will tell you) you need evidence of intent - if not culpability.  And, judging from the NST story. there was no hidden agenda, no hidden intent, behind the latest Brazil Tour of Hope by Joga Limpo Brazil.

      Or was there?

                                          *           *            *            *            *            *

      Joga Limpo Brazil was brought to Malaysia by a body calling itself Wawasan GMR, in partnership with another body called CBME.  The initials "CBME" seem straightforward - they stand for "Children, Babies, and Maternity Expo", and presumably indicate commercial sponsorship.  But "Wawasan GMR" is a rather different matter.

      It is murky, to say the least.  Officially, it is "a business/investment consultancy focusing on community-based economic projects in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region as well as the greater Southeast Asian region."  Its CEO is "B.K. Raj",  its General Manager is Peter Shankar, and it also employs (among others) Mark T.R. Pillai, Michael Soh, Alex Lim,  and one Geoff Elwell.  It engages in agricultural development and infrastructural work, and is connected to a travel business called  Pearls of Mekong.  It seems a strange organization to be managing football coaching.

      Strange, that is, until one digs a little deeper.

      It then transpires that CEO B.K. Raj's advisor is a roving Pentecostal evangelist called Dennis Ignatius - who also happens to be retired ambassador to Canada and various South American countries, and a staunch Anwar supporter.  Dennis Ignatius lives in Canada and the US, is a fellow of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity  
(http://www.ezrainstitute.ca/about ), and founded a mission called "Arise Ambassadors".  He will be known in Malaysia as a columnist for the Star newspaper, for his " Open Letter to Barack Obama" - and for his attack on the Malaysian Foreign Ministry.

(http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/an-open-letter-to-barack-obama-dennis-ignatius)

      Peter Shankar will be more familiar to football fans: he managed the 2008 Brazil Tour of Hope, and was also involved in the Brazilians' 2012 visit.  Both tours were for worthy causes:  "We hope to raise about RM345,000 from the Malaysian tour,"  said Peter in 2008, "to rebuild schools in Myanmar in aid of the victims of Cyclone Nargis."  And the 2012 tour made a special visit to Bandar Aceh, which was wiped out in the 2004 tsunami.

(http://www.thestar.com.my/Story/?file=%2F2008%2F11%2F12%2Ffootballeveryday%2F2519916&sec=footballeveryday)

      But there is a bit more to Peter Shankar than organizing charity football.

      Peter is Secretary-General of the Malaysian Centre for Global Mission (http://mcgm.net.my/ ), a Missions Associate of the WEA Mission Commission ( and a member of  ETHNE, the Commission's official network for Unreached Peoples, ( http://www.ethne.net/ ).  He is also an instructor with Emaus Road International  (http://www.eri.org/ ),  a close associate of STAMP   (the Strategic Missions Program of MCGM), and Director of Program and Member Care for STAMP's Malaysian Cross Cultural Missions School.

      In all these capacities, Peter has extremely close links with a certain Beram Kumar.  Beram Kumar is the Executive Director of STAMP Partnerships Inc.  He is also a founder of the Malaysian Cross Cultural Missions School, a member of ETHNE, a member of the Sangati Network for Nepali Migrant Workers, a Mission Associate of  WEA Mission Commission, and a director of  SEALINK  (which "connects the body of Christ's people, churches, organizations, and resources together to serve and reach the Southeast Asian Unreached Peoples Groups more effectively" ).  Beram Kumar was also organiser of the Myanmar Christian Coalition for Cyclone Relief.

      It was in this last capacity that Beram Kumar had a special interest in Peter's 2008 Brazil Tour of Hope: he was one of the main beneficiaries of its proceeds.  As co-ordinator for mission agencies that were denied visas into Myanmar (such as Baptist Global Response), Beram Kumar was concerned with rebuilding in the broadest of senses:

"Our hope is that the Myanmar Church will be much stronger by the time this relief effort ends ...... .....This is a tremendous opportunity to see the Kingdom of God expand in this nation."

(http://www.bpnews.net/28113/training-manual-to-bolster-myanmar-relief)

      And Beram Kumar has a particular qualification for entering "difficult" mission fields.  He is the Southeast Asian representative of Tentmakers International Exchange (TIE), a mission agency dedicated to the creation of  secular aliases  for evangelical workers (so that they can gain access to "countries that are otherwise closed to traditional missions and evangelism"), and to the expansion of networks within which  such workers can spread their influence.  "We look for people who have vocational skills because that is one of our best strategies to gain access to unreached peoples around the world"  says Danny Martin, founder of TIE and member of the Malaysian Cross Cultural Mission School.

(http://www.ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/14_3_PDFs/11_Hupp_Martin.pdf)

(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1995/november13/5td080.html)

      Beram Kumar puts it this way: "Jesus first did 'good works' and as a result of that was asked questions about 'eternal life' and 'the kingdom of God' ....... if we want to have a strategic entry to ALL peoples, even those who are resistant,we must adopt a similar pattern."

(http://svm2.net/abandonedtimes/community-economic-transformation/)

      And so, as an evangelical "tentmaker", Beram Kumar is interested in whatever gives him a helpful disguise - be it a disaster or football tour, or a combination of both.  He is also interested in networking with others in the same business - in order to "synergize" and expand the evangelical movement.

      In both respects, Brazil is a huge asset.  It has a strong tradition of Christian football, and it has one of the most aggressive evangelical movements in the world.  It is a potent synergy:  indeed, Pele's "beautiful game" according to mission expert Joao Mordomo, is "beautiful" precisely because "it opens doors for Brazilians time and time again, all over the world."  Brazilians, that is, like players in Joga Limpo Brazil -all of whom are Christian evangelists.



(http://www.juventudemetodista.org.br/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Folder-Joga-Limpo-Brasil.pdf )     (You need to click "translate" when you get to this link.)

      And so, naturally, Beram Kumar is a frequent visitor to Brazil.  In 2010, he spoke at a conference jointly organized by Brazil's Antioch Mission and the Associacao Missao Esperanca (Hope Missionary Association), or AME - two missions which are closely linked to the Indonesian Christian Community in Sao Paulo, and are also under the WEA Mission Commission.  Among the the conference's workshops two were of special interest - one on the Unreached Peoples of Southeast Asia, and one Sport in Missions.

(http://vilamissoes.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/conferencia-missionaria-antioquia-ame/)
(please use the translation facility)

(http://www.nucleodecomunhaopastoral.com.br/institucional/projetos/21-ame-brazil-copa-2014)
(please use the translation facility)

     Was it coincidental that, two years later, the 2012 Brazil Tour of Hope, which visited Malaysia and Indonesia, was jointly organised by Wawasan GMR ...... and  AME?

      But Brazil's evangelical ties with Malaysia don't end there.  Juventude Nazarena Internacional is a missionary sending agency which places Brazilian evangelists all over the world.  Fabio Freitas is one of these.  Fabio Freitas is a Domestic League footballer and a member of the Joga Limpo Brazil team - and he is attached to Sungai Way Methodist Church as part of their sports outreach.

(http://www.ssmc.com.my/index.cfm?&menuid=387&parentid=8)

     Perhaps it is also coincidental that at least two of SSMC's pastors - Dr Ng Swee Ming and Ng Kok Moi - also appear to be directors of  Wawasan GMR.

                                 *            *            *            *            *            *

      So we can account, it seems for most of Wawasan GMR's operatives.  There remains the mystery of its CEO, "B.K. Raj".  Could "B.K. Raj" be Beram Kumar?  It certainly seems like it:

(https://www.facebook.com/WawasanGMR/posts/664771650216116)

(http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2008&dt=1018&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Sukan&pg=su_08.htm)

(Quote from the above link: " Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif GMR, Beram K. Raj berkata, selain Malaysia, program sama turut diadakan di Myanmar, Vietnam dan Thailand.")

      Are B.K. Raj and Beram K. Raj and Beram Kumar one and the same person???

      There are very good grounds for suspicion that they might be.  After all, Wawasan GMR and Beram's Malaysian Centre for Global Mission both share the same post box  - 8036 Kelana Jaya:

       (http://www.hotfrog.com.my/Companies/Wawasan-Gmr_227947
        http://endb-consolidated.aihit.com/011758E8/overview.htm) 

      All this would be fine, if it wasn't for the coyness.  And this is the problem.  Nowhere do the organizers of Brazil Tour of Hope lay out their Christian credentials; and nowhere, in Wawasan GMR's public record, does it even suggest it has Christian connections.

      It is a strange sort of coyness.  After all, Christians have every right to go on football tours, every right to coach youngsters in the game, every right to set an example of brotherly love.  So why the secrecy?  And why the studious deception?  What do these people have to hide?

                           *           *           *            *           *            *           *

      It is not the first time that Malaysia has hosted "undercover priests" dressed as Brazilian football players.  In 2004, the World Mission Board of the Brazilian Baptist Convention set up a mission in Petaling Jaya, blessed by the missionary wife of Brazil's greatest football star, Pele, "to bring some of the magic of Brazilian football"  to local boys of every race.  The arrangement was renewed in 2008, when Pastor Henry Pillai travelled to Brazil to confirm the arrangement for a number of trained Baptist pastors to set up in Malaysia as football coaches, social workers and teachers.

        (www.jmm.org.br/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1974&Item=330)

      There were three football coaches - Lamartine Fernandes da Silva (who is officially registered with the Brazilian Baptist Convention as a "tentmaker" ), Roberto Braganca Romao, and Valdecir de Freitas - together with de Freitas' wife Elaine, who was a "social worker".

      Did these good people evangelize Muslims?  Well, a number of young Malay players certainly went to Brazil as part of the programme.

    (www.thestar.com.my/Story/?file=%2F2008%2F11%2F4%central2F2408845%sec=central)

     And Pastor Roberto clearly felt satisfied he was doing his job:

" It is a joy to teach here, because we have a few girls taking football lessons.  I work in a Muslim context, where the woman is often not treated with dignity by men and society.  But through football, we are showing these girls the joy and love of Jesus through our actions in training."

And this is the official position of the Brazilian Baptist Convention:

".......... the Sports Mission Program has been an important strategy for entering countries officially closed to the preaching of the Gospel.  In these places, Brazilian football, a strong catalyst for opportunities, serves as a perfect instrument in the hands of God to evangelize people who admire the techniques of the Brazilians.  Thus, countries like Malaysia, Senegal, India, China, Thailand, and Guinea are opening their doors to teachers and football coaches from Brazil - evangelicals committed to the Kingdom of God, and intent on transforming the spiritual situation of local people."

                                (http://www.jmm.org.br/ )  (Click for translation)

                                        *            *             *            *            *           *

      The Brazil Tour of Hope tale is just a fragment of a far larger story.  The global Christian evangelical movement is a Hydra with many, many heads - and a relentless appetite for spiritual conquest.  Malaysia, a small country, is in many ways precariously situated.  Certainly the powers-that-be are in an unenviable position trying to deal, moderately, with the pressures placed upon the country from within and without - and in the circumstances, they seem remarkably, strenuously, liberal and forbearing.