Edward Ling could only lie in bed after hurting himself in a football game. With nothing to do, he wondered about what to do with his young life. (photo courtesy of Akalminda)Then an iBridge friend came to visit, and they began to talk about Malaysian politics and their responsibility as Christians for justice and truth and mercy. The conversation inspired him to sign up in a political party, and later encouraged a like-minded ex-school mate to do likewise.
That person turned out to be Hannah Yeoh, and the rest is Subang history. She had this to say about her political secretary who has since recovered from his football injury:
"For those who do not know, Edward Ling played a key role in inspiring me to register myself as a voter prior to March 2008. His interest in politics started when he was still in school. He would read the newspapers more than his textbooks and that passion never ceased. Returning from Australia after obtaining his degree, he began to seriously consider how he could make a difference in our nation's politics. He would speak to his friends over coffee on the effect of corruption and danger of being indifferent. I was one of them at such coffee sessions. Sometimes, a single act of encouraging someone to do something small yet positive could lead to something way greater than what you can ever ask or imagine."
How true! And the person who visited his bed-ridden friend that day was John Chung who co-started the Agora and will be doing a talk on political involvement for RZIM soon. You'd never know the domino effect of every random act of kindness or conversation...
In an interview from his blog, Edward Ling (young politician/activist) was asked, "How does your Christian faith and worldview inform your politics? Are there specific Biblical references or teaching your draw from in your work?"
Check out his reply: "Well, the Bible speaks a lot about governance. The Bible speaks very much about God’s instruction to man on how to govern. Take numbers/leviticus/exodus for example.
John Chung was instrumental in helping me realize how easy it was to be involved.
You can read more about Christian involvement here:
Politics, Why Bother? By John Chung"
Great advice!
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