Teresa Kok, the DAP Member of Parliament for Seputeh and a devout Catholic, once in her column in Sin Chew Daily expressed despondence at the indifference of the Christian community in Malaysia towards politics.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, her call for Christians to take a more pro-active stance on political issues drew flak from those in her own ranks.

A Catholic bishop responded by criticising her for misleading the sheep dangerously into political activism and putting the cardinal doctrine of separation of church and state at peril.

Political lethargy has long been a characteristic of churches in both Malaysia and Singapore, although I am convinced of the need for Christian communities to engage constructively with all the political parties - both in power and in wilderness - for the sake of social justice.

Make no mistake: this is not to propose a marriage between the church and the state. When Jesus said 'give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's', he meant essentially an outright rejection of a political state based on God's law.

It is, however, not implied here that Christians should remain silent in the face of unjust state policies or violations of human rights. For it is said in the Bible that a follower of Christ should act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with his/her God. (Micah 6:8)