Dear Mr. Wong Chun Wai,

I refer to your commentary in The Star (29 Feb 2008) in which you wrote:

" I hear church groups telling their congregation to vote anything opposition including PAS, which is simply naïve and emotional. Whatever the flaws of the system, it still works, despite some occasional hitches," said one Penang Barisan leader. Why didn't you name that Penang Barisan leader? Because this quote is your personal view. Writers like you, who are de facto press secretaries of the MCA, write your views and attribute them to some sources or political analysts. Please lah, don't mock at our intelligence!

Mr Wong, a flawed system doesn't work!!! If it is flawed, it is flawed. How can it work? I understand you are a Christian but I wonder how much you understand the Gospels or the very life of Jesus Christ and what he stood for. Our Lord would not have been crucified had he accepted "the flaws of the system" of His times. He never asked his people to close their eyes to the "flaws of the system" and instead focus on development , personal comfort, bank accounts and roads.

He stood up against the corrupt leaders who were fleecing the people. He condemned them as dead man's tombs, hypocrites, vipers etc ( please read Matthew 23). The entire chapter is condemnation of the corrupt leaders of the Law. How could one who professes to be a Christian choose to prop up a regime that is utterly corrupt and immoral? How could a Christian vote for candidates who are unwilling to defend the rights of his religion? How could a Christian support a regime that denies the weak non-Muslim to seek redress in any court of law? What is your take on abuse of power, the dismantling of the Judiciary, the corrupt government leaders who inflate their bank accounts with money that belongs to the people? What is your stand on the confiscation of Christian literature and the Bible or the banning of the term "Allah" (mind you, this was approved by the Cabinet of which MCA Ministers are members)

Aren't all these precursors of more frightening things to come? Have you thought what awaits your children's future if this trend continues? What is your stand on the creeping Islamization of the country and the utter subservience of the MCA that you represent, to its political masters, UMNO? Why should I give my vote to a MCA or Gerakan Chinese who will not defend my religious rights? A good MCA leader who cannot defend my rights is of no use to me.

As a Christian, should we be more concerned about Truth, Freedom, Justice, good governance, honesty and righteousness than bread and butter issues or clogged drains and tarred roads? Shouldn't a Christian stand up for the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized. (Please read Matthew 6). UMNO has done more damage to my religious rights than PAS. It is UMNO which is snatching away dead bodies, not PAS. It is UMNO which is separating children from parents and husbands from their wives, not PAS. It is UMNO that threatened us with the keris, not PAS.

Therefore it is not "naïve or emotional" for a Christian to give his/her vote to PAS against the apartheid inclined regime that is racist and utterly devoid of honestly and morality. The government has to earn that Christian vote. It is not given free of charge. Sir, there is such a thing as protest vote. Thank You.

NOTE TO CHRISTIANS: If you are Christian and has never registered as a voter or has never voted in your life, shame on you. You are an irresponsible Christian and citizen. (Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's). A good Christian is a responsible citizen.

Mr Smith