LETTER | World needs restorative justice

LETTER | Christians around the world will be celebrating Easter this coming Sunday. Easter is a memorial Christian festival that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Easter takes place three days after Jesus's death on Good Friday.

When one looks at the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, which are found in the Bible and tradition, it has a dimension that goes beyond the pure human understanding of justice which is about paying dues.

The life and teaching of Jesus are centred around restoring what is lost in one’s relationship with God and fellow human being with love and mercy as a central motivation.

The justice that Jesus brought was not about religious ideology, laws and restrictions but about restoring what is lost in our relationship with God and fellow human beings through love which transforms into mercy, healing and reconciliation.

In today's world where there is a cry for justice, which is a legitimate expression of what is lost, cannot be resolved merely by giving what is due, but also by healing and reconciling broken relationships that would restore trust and help societies focus on the common good.

It is about empathy and understanding the fears and suffering of the another and rising with a restored relationship through mercy and forgiveness which is considered as comprehensive justice.

Unfortunately, humanity is still held hostage by sectarian ethnoreligious justice that seems to put certain communities above others, creating an “us versus them” dichotomy, a global system where justice means the hegemonic dominance of certain imperial powers, where values are picked and chosen when it suits the powerful political and military elites.

We also find great profits made by arms merchants at the expense of the millions of lives who die in places like Gaza and Ukraine with the notion that unless one demolishes the other, a particular vested interest could be not restored.

We find extreme feminism with self-seeking interest with slogans of “my body my choice” that encourages the killing of the unborn, in the name of human rights without empathy for the complex needs of women who are pregnant.

The world needs to be liberated from the notion of self-interest that takes the form of religious ideology, neo-liberal economics, extreme secular liberalism and global imperialism that tends to divide humanity and make them pawns of vested interest

In turn, we must restore justice, mercy, healing and reconciliation that marks Easter celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The world is in dire need of restorative Justice.

Writer is the secretary for Association for Welfare, Community and Dialogue.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.