Christmas is around the corner again. It is that time of the year when Christians of various denominations who constitute something like 15% of the Malaysian population celebrate their common faith, together with their fellow Christians all over the world.

All over the mostly Christian developed world, there is always that danger of Christmas celebration being turned into another orgy of shopping, eating, drinking and merry making. The tentacles of capitalist consumerism threaten to strip this great Christian occasion of its spiritual meanings.

Poor St Nicholas, that Bishop of Myra who flourished and worked miracles in the fourth century, has been recruited into this consumerist crusade. In the capitalist cathedral that is the modern sprawling shopping malls, the figure of Santa Claus becomes as essential a fixture at this time of the year, as the synthetic Christmas trees and the seasonal jingle in the air. Children are trained early in developing an addiction to compulsive consumption.

The last I checked while wandering inside the cavernous Sungei Wang Plaza at Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur decorative Chrismas paraphernalia are up, and the stores are well stocked with seasonal goods. Unfortunately for the merchants, the buying frenzy has yet to start.

Times are hard, despite pious declaration of our top politicians to the contrary. People are not all that keen to part with their hard earned cash, especially when parents have to brace themselves for the financial blood-letting that must come with the beginning of another school year early next month.

No X'mas mood in KL

Is it for this reason that the figure of Santa Claus is nowhere to be found in most shopping malls in KL? Or is he so self-conscious of the religious symbolism that accompanies his presence that he has decided to make himself scarce, so as not to offend the super-delicate sensitivities of some over-zealous Muslim bureaucrats? I am concerned about the health of his vertebral column.

Let us face it. There is not much Christmas atmosphere to speak of in Kuala Lumpur. I expect that the sense of festive anticipation exists only in the islands of suburban Christian communities organised around their local churches.

In a sense, this muted but dignified celebration of Christmas is not a bad thing.

The world of commerce that would make astronomical profits out of their Christian customers tends to distort the real significance of Christmas, as if it is the most important religious occasion for the Christians. Theologically, the most important day in the Christian calendar should be Easter, because the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the real vindication of his divinity, upon which the entire Christian religion has been anchored.

The ordinary faithful do not have to be well-grounded in theology in order to belief. The tension between faith and reason is a long standing one in the church down through the centuries, as is the case with all other major religions as well.

Another big issue with the church is of course its relationship with earthly secular powers. When caught by a taunting question, Jesus was supposed to have exhorted his followers to "give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to give to God what is due to God." The trouble with interpreting those words is that the demand from the Caesars of the world sometimes makes it difficult for one to be true to one's faith.

Living and worshipping in a country where Muslims form the majority of the population, and where the resurgence of political Islam has coloured many aspects of our national life, Malaysian Christians must have been apprehensive in the face of volatile development in our national life.

Constitutional guarantees about freedom of religion is one thing, but the actual historical working out of political forces is quite another. Given that religious fervour along with ethnic sentiments - remains the most powerful instrument for mass political mobilisation, it is inevitable that religion should become the most contentious issue in Malaysian politics.

Umno-PAS contest

For many years now, my Christian friends have expressed in private their anxiety, doubt, fear and consternation about PAS and their insistence in establishing an Islamic state in Malaysia.

The contest between Umno and PAS to champion the cause of Islam has sowed the seeds for much uncertainty among followers of other faiths. If only the rank and file of PAS and Umno are also sensitive to the feelings of Christians and devotees of other faiths!

(Are Christians not "People of the Book" a kind of religious cousins to all Muslims? Did Prophet Muhammad not live and work well with Christians in his own lifetime?)

Within this web of religious tension then, Malaysian Christians look forward to the birthday celebration of their Saviour. Being members of a minority religious community in a multi-religious country must weigh heavily on their spirit.

The biblical message of "peace to men on earth of good will" must bring to the hearts of Christians that extra poignancy this year, following this fiasco about excluding the name of Jesus Christ from a national Christmas open house in Petaling Jaya. As one letter to malaysiakini pointed out: where would Christianity be without Jesus?

I can try to comfort myself with the thought that Christianity, like other great religions of the world, has survived through the millennia despite the comings and goings of earthly powers, and despite the wobbling course charted by the church elders in the various congregations.

This sort of stoical mind-game is not very comforting, especially when one casts one's thought onto the global horizons, and witnesses the bloody religious conflicts that ravage our disorderly world. At least here in Malaysia, we are spared that sort of religious carnage that infests other less fortunate corners of the globe.

Christian background

I am not a Christian. What I say about the need for religious freedom for the Christians can be said about all religions in Malaysia, including Islam. Nevertheless, I am not entirely indifferent to the significance of Christmas either.

My mother died on Christmas day, over a decade ago. The dear old woman was converted to Catholicism before she parted. It was my mother who taught me the moving power of selfless love that sometimes defies all reason. May she rest in peace!

I was also educated in a Catholic school in Kuching, Sarawak in my formative years over three decades ago. I have very fond memories of those La Salle Brothers, burly Irishmen who introduced me to the sombre magic of Shakespeare, TS Eliot and Graham Greene, while they, in their private moments, muttered disdainful feelings for the "English pigs".

Looking back to those happiest days of my life of learning and sports and nothing else, I still never cease to be amazed at how people like the Irish La Salle Brothers can just uproot themselves from their own country and their loved ones, and devote their entire lives to the education of poor children in an alien landscape, after having taken their vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.

Whatever divine spirit that moves them to such incredible deeds changed my life, and the life of numerous Malaysians, for the better. They have given me the most precious gift a human being can give to another: a good education of such quality that is scarce in the world nowadays.

They taught me Bible Knowledge and Catechism, but they have never tried to convert me. Neither have I ever heard them bad-mouth any other religion.

In these and other dedicated members of various Christian orders, one sees the powerful spirit of religion at work. Like Mother Teresa, their personal life-long devotion to the welfare of others not only exemplifies the universal love preached by Jesus Christ, but also demonstrates far more eloquently than any written or spoken word the concept of agape.

I too have had my fair share of Ghosts of Christmas Past. This, after all, is an ugly imperfect world, and we can be ugly imperfect human beings.

Far greater goodwill

On the eve of one particularly ugly general election, I took leave from my campaign schedule to visit a loved one in the hospital. As I was leaving, the Bidayuh nurse on night duty walked me to the door, and gave me her Christian blessing. She probably saw in my face then the tension of politics in my soul. Patting my hands, she comforted me with these words, "This world belongs to the Devil. Be of good cheer."

There in Sarawak and Sabah, a universe away from the tussle between Umno and PAS, there is far greater solidarity and good-will between people of different faiths. Christianity has also taken deep roots, especially among the "non-Malay indigenous groups" that form the majority of the population in those states.

This year, as in previous years, Christmas will be celebrated across the rugged landscape of that northern strip of land on Borneo Island. I can already envisage the nightly gathering for prayers and hymn singing in the villages, nestled by the life-giving background of mountains, forests and rivers.

I have heard reports from my home country that the Christian faith has experienced resurgence in those outlying states, especially among the young. It is news of good tiding indeed. The Devil will have to take a holiday elsewhere, some time.

Merry Christmas everyone, and may God bless you all, no matter what your religion may be!