RM200 million was spent on the Putrajaya Maharajah's Palace to show everybody (especially the hated, yet subconsciously worshiped, West) how great and First World we are. Yet in self-confident Britain, all Tony Blair has is a humble 10 Downing Street terrace house.

When Malaysians ask the government to reduce the sky-high price of houses by providing cheap land and other subsidies, or to provide free university education, the standard reply is that "We are a poor Third World country. We cannot afford these kind of luxuries. Anyway, if we become a socialist welfare state of hand-outs, people will become lazy."

Of course, the Prime Minister's son was bailed out of his business difficulties with RM1 billion of our Petronas money. But that's because we prefer to practise socialism for the rich - the guys who slog it out on the golf course so that mega-contracts will be handed out to them.

The idea of God being interested in economic justice is reinforced by Ronald Sider in his book "Rich Christians In An Age Of Hunger".

"The explosive message of the prophets is that God destroyed Israel because the poor were mistreated," underlines Sider.

He describes the condition of Israel in the middle of the eighth century BC as a time of economic prosperity unknown since Solomon's time. Yet God sent the prophet Amos to announce that Israel would be destroyed, not only because of their idolatry, but also because the rich "trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth." (Amos 2:7). Amos saw that the affluent lifestyle of the rich was built on the oppression of the poor (6:1-7) and that even in the courts the poor had no hope because the rich had bribed the judges. (5:10-15) (sounds familiar?)

Yet Christians are called upon to love their neighbour as themselves, and that includes Dr Mahathir. Ah, God worketh in mysterious ways. You tend to become what you hate. The communists of China, in their fight for justice, were so busy projecting hatred on the system that they eventually turned this hatred upon each other once in power.

And, as everyone knows, Dr Mahathir hates the double-talking and bullying of the West.... So love. But love wisely. God has called upon Christians to be as shrewd as serpents but as harmless as doves. To be worldly wise, to take an active interest in our country's affairs yet to rise above selfish, self-enriching politics and instead serve our neighbours humbly.

Indeed, scripture enjoins us to be in the world but not of the world. To pray for Dr Mahathir's well-being, but not to gloss over his sins. Love the sinner, hate the sin.

Some churches have been praying in general terms for the country's leadership to have wisdom and for the country to be peaceful. This is a great first step.

But let's pause and think for a moment here. If a pregnant unmarried schoolgirl were to walk into church, would Christians start getting really uptight and uneasy? Chances are, they would pray that she repents of her sins. Evangelicals might pray that the Lord will bind the spirit of lust in her. How about politicians who might have leaned upon judges to automatically blurt out "irrelevant evidence" every 30 seconds? Might they not need similar prayers for repentance too?