Today I will be presenting an argument for the topic titled :"Should Malaysian Christians emigrate?" and will attempt to argue for the negative.
But before I begin, I must first say a word of thank you to my friend Yuen Wei, whom I debated this topic with (in a rather rash manner) today. I also must apologize to him for not being too clear with my arguments and hammering him for various fallacies that he has committed in our exchange of ideas because frankly, I don't think he took this to be a formal debate or something. I also want to apologize for various assertions that I've made that can be deemed fallacious as well.
I will now start by noting down what I will be arguing for and what I am NOT arguing for.
I will be arguing that:
1. A Malaysian Christian is not encouraged to emigrate for certain intents.
I will NOT be arguing that:
1. Malaysia has economical, social and financial benefits over other countries such as the UK or US.
2. We should not go overseas to further our education or obtain work experiences.
3. We have to be submissive to the authorities, right or wrong.
4. Emigration is wrong regardless of the context.
Recently, it has been a trend for Malaysian students (Chinese and Indians esp) to emigrate overseas after they have received their qualifications or 'freedom' to do so. The issue at hand will be whether or not a Christian should be encouraged to do so. As a disclaimer, I would like to state that I am in no sense a professional Theologian nor am I professional Philosopher, I am just here to share what I think is the most rational and truthful thing to do in light of particular belief systems. I will first present a few arguments in favor of Christians being discouraged to emigrate to other countries for particular intents.
1. The 'selfless?' argument.
This issue has seen major debates among local theological circles. Bishop Hwa Yung (who was my camp speaker for my Church Camp (back at Mega CMC) when I was form 1) has published an article in the Nov/Dec 2006 issue of Berita NECF titled "Should Christians Emigrate?" which suggests that emigration should be the exception instead of the rule because of the great socio-political and spiritual needs of our Country. I also do recall Pastor Julie Khoo of Glad Tidings Petaling Jaya talking to the youth about "coming back to the country" after they complete their studies if they do go overseas to further their studies. There are also many local Pastors who argue otherwise.
My first argument is what most people with the same position would have probably argued for (probably): That most people who wish to emigrate to other countries do so because of several self-centered intentions. These intentions/reasons include: Malaysia's notorious political status, high income rate in other countries, unfair and biased policies in Malaysia, advancement in other countries, being treated like a second-class citizen (pendatang!) and so forth.
It then follows that if an individual has selfish intentions, then is it still encouraged by the Christian worldview which teaches humility? The answer is a no.
The main contention of this argument will be of course, whether these intentions are selfish or not. One objection I see coming is Christians bringing in missionaries who have emigrated to further God's kingdom, pastors who have emigrated overseas that have built mega churches and etc. In the sum of it all, they argue that God's purpose can be fulfilled in another country.
But first let's remember my main contention, which is "Christians should not be encouraged to emigrate under certain 'contexts'". In the context of a missionary or a pastor, one can easily imagine God making an obvious call for them to move overseas to work through them, not for their own personal gain (I do not doubt that they do gain from working overseas), but because it serves God. But how many people who have migrated overseas would tell you that they're doing it all for God? 35% of Malaysians who have migrated are Christians, and I certainly doubt that even a majority of them are pastors or missionaries. Most of them go overseas for the higher-income there, or because of the political "issues" in our country. These objections are not cogent because the objector has failed to make a clear distinction between the intentions which most emigrants have in mind for migrating compared to what pastors or missionaries have in mind.
The next objection would be that the Bible permitted emigration, as is of course evident in Christian history when persecution comes. They then bring this into context with our local political scene and claim that we ought to move due to persecution. My objection is simple; What type of persecution and what was the level of severity of it in those days compared to here? Back then, Christians were physically tormented, abused as slaves or massacred. Is that happening to us now? Again, do not mistake me for arguing that Christians here in Malaysia are having it well for us. Yes I agree, there is persecution here, just as there is also persecution for our beliefs in school from teachers or friends. But do I shift schools when some teacher makes offensive remarks against my religion or when I am treated slightly unfairly in school because of my religion? Do I shift schools when the CF is one of the most persecuted club in the school? In fact, I think that our political status gives us all the more reason to stay, to stay and fight for the betterment of our country. Every vote during the election counts, the opposition was 300k votes away from winning the previous GE, and imagine if the huge sum of people who did not vote and all the expats came back to vote... How can you complain about Malaysia having no hope when you are making ourselves more "hopeless" by migrating to another country? Are we being just pathetic by complaining non-stop about our political scene and yet do nothing about it(in fact, by running away, are we not conceding?)? Change begins with you, and if you're lazy to change, then how do you expect everyone to change? That's selfish! We can look at what most urban Malaysians consider as "heroes of democracy" like Lim Kit Siang, Guan Eng, RPK and so forth, and applaud them for their sacrifices for our country, being detained multiple times, being defamed and have the odds stacked against them. But by leaving the country, we concede that we have lost, and by doing so, the sacrifices of these men are put to waste.
Though I must also concede that there is a weakness in an assumption made by the main premise of this argument; That these people are being 'selfish' by wanting to live better lives. Don't we all want better lives, and are we wrong by doing so?
To further strengthen this argument then, I need another argument that must imply that by migrating, I am doing something that is discouraged by the teachings of Christianity. Not all pleasurable and things that make us live better lives are good. Stealing something from someone that will make us healthier might let us live better lives, but whether it is morally good...
2.The argument from thanksgiving.
This argument is more of an intuitive argument rather than a strong and solid deductive one. It goes something like this (Forgive me for errors in formalizing, I tend to make mistakes there):
(1) It is always better to repay good with good even if there is little good as a Christian.
(2) Our country has given us good.
(3) Therefore, it is always better to repay our country as a Christian.
To justify premise (1), it seems that it is quite obvious that as Christians, we ought to repay a kind act from someone regardless of the magnitude of kindness that has been given unto us. In fact, we are even called to repay evil with good!
Premise (2) would be the one that people would most likely disagree with. Has Malaysia really done me any good? As human beings, we tend to think about what bad things people have done to us rather than the good. We tend to remember our best friends betrayal of us compared to the millions of times that he/she has helped us and so on. So let's sit down and think awhile; Has our country really gave us nothing? Have they given us a proper education system? It's bad, and yet, it's proper. We are still able to be accepted as students in Universities so long as we achieve the minimum requirements even while we still reside in our horribly managed education system. In this case, I think the truth of this premise is more plausible than it's negation.
The conclusion should logically follow from the premises.
But how is it to be interpreted? Simply put, are we repaying the country by bad mouthing the government, then not do anything about it and migrate overseas?
One might argue "I repay them already in tax what!!". Firstly, are you sure it's your tax and non your parents? Secondly, Jesus himself said "Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar", which seems to imply that we already should be paying our taxes, not as an act of thanksgiving or kindness.
Though another weakness of this argument is that an individual can still migrate to other countries and yet still return to vote or buy stuff or help in another sort of way, but by doing so, you concede that Malaysia is worth repaying, and that it is still YOUR country.
3.Conclusions
First, some objections...
Some people opted for emigration because they think about their children. Bishop Hwa Yung counters this by citing the following:
Firstly, those who emigrate are usually well off enough to have sent their children overseas and thus their children already have a good head start and secondly, if they can trust God for their security, should they also not trust the Lord for their children’s security?
In this case, I don't think this makes a very solid case for what he is arguing for various arguments that will not be put forth here. I would ask the following questions to the objector:
1.Are things really that bad here?
2.Are you being really honest with yourselves that in making a decision to emigrate, you think about your children? Are you citing this just as some sort of reason to make yourself sound good?
I conclude by asking anyone who plans to emigrate to consider my arguments and ideas seriously. I am in no way saying that you will somehow be condemned to hell because you migrated. I am merely expressing my thoughts about this issue, and if you do have any further objections, do do it constructively. As I've mentioned earlier, I might be wrong, and I'm willing to learn more. Will you really achieve what you want in another country? Wealth I do not doubt, but I disagree with doing something unpatriotic for wealth's sake. Harmony? Do you honestly think that you will no longer be labelled as a "second class citizen" in another country? You will be, and you have all rights to be because you are in fact a true "pendatang". You belong here because you are a Malaysian. Malaysia belongs to you because Malaysia belongs to Malaysia. Will you not fight the injustice that you have observed even if you had the power to do so? Or will you just run?
In the end, it is still your right to choose to migrate or not. My current stand is that we should not be encouraged to do so when we take into context certain mainstream reasons of why people do leave and in context with our belief system.
Lastly, I would like to apologize for any misrepresentation of data or information cited from other sources, and of course, if I have misrepresented God's truth.
Further reading:
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