Missionary Trip to MALAYSIA - Reported by Dr. Ligaya A. Acosta, July, 2009

Malaysia is a country located in Southeast Asia.  With a population of 25,715,819 spread through a land area of 127,355 square miles, Malaysia has a population density of only 203 per square mile. 

Even with the alarming decrease in population growth in Malaysia, admitted by the government in recent news reports, international death peddlers continue to spread their destruction.  The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the number one abortion organization in the world, actively works in the country through its affiliate-the Federation of Family Planning Associations, Malaysia (FFPAM). 

41 Talks to Over 8,700 People

This was my second trip to Malaysia, the primary purpose of which was to show support to the group Human Life Service (HLS) and the Diocese of Miri, as they go through the many preparations for HLI's 16^th Asia-Pacific Congress (ASPAC) on Faith Life and Family, which they are hosting in November 2009.  To make the most of my time there, I asked Dorothy Kuek of HLS to arrange speaking engagements for me.  Soon enough, invitations to speak and conduct training sessions came and kept coming, making this trip the longest mission so far: 21 days of speaking tours in the cities of Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Sibu, Miri, and Kota Kinabalu, for a total of 3,494 miles travelled.  I was doubly blessed with the company of Dorothy, who did an excellent job coordinating everything.

In all, I delivered 41 talks and reached around 8,770 people, including 6,560 students (who all took the vow of chastity after my talk), 61 seminarians, and over 100 priests and nuns.  A significant number were physicians and other professionals, and many were church family and life workers and parishioners.  The talks also elicited much interest for ASPAC, gaining more prospective participants.  The Archbishop of Sibu even decided to postpone his 40^th anniversary celebration so that he and his constituents will be able to attend.

Before I came, Dorothy asked me if I wanted to start the mission with a pilgrimage to Malacca, where the body of St. Francis Xavier was originally buried before its transfer to Goa, India.  I said "yes" right away, for what could be a better way to start a mission than a day of prayer and tracing the steps of one of the greatest missionaries of the Church?  However, God had other plans for us.  What we had planned to be a day of pilgrimage became three days of talks interspersed with visita iglesia (church visits), and occasional feelings of being a tourist as we went through some historic spots, particularly the hilltop burial site of the famed saint, which attracts people of all races and creeds.  While there, I prayed intently for all the HLI family throughout the world, including our generous benefactors, and I asked the intercession of Saint Francis to help and lead us in the mission to defend life and family throughout the world.

Confronting an "(IM)Moral Theologian"

Saint Francis surely heard us.  My first talk was a short address with a gathering of priests from the Diocese of Johor and Melaka (Malacca) for a talk on Theology of the Body given by a Dominican priest from Singapore.  While listening to his presentation, I wished he delivered it with more passion to give justice to the beautiful treatise of Pope John Paul II.  I was in for more disappointment in the open forum that followed.  One priest asked what the presenting priest thought of nuns using contraception to prevent pregnancy from rape, and he said it was okay!!!  Afterwards, I expressed my concern about his answer, and his response almost made me faint. He emphasized that he was a moral theologian and explained that Humanae vitae is meant to prohibit contraception among married couples only!  He went on to give the example of homosexual sex, and said that since it is not meant to prohibit conception, as it is inherently infertile, using condoms is okay!  The more he explained, the more I felt like I was about to faint. 

I explained the ineffectiveness of condoms and the horrible side-effects of contraception and its abortifacient effects, particularly in the Morning-After Pill (which he also said was okay to use), and this obviously irked him.  He said doctors have no business talking about morality as this belongs to moral theologians only-like him!  As I listened to his (im)moral defense, I imagined how many people he will lead to perdition, which is even more tragic when you realize that he is also teaching in a seminary!   Obviously, he has not read the Statement of the Pontifical Academy for Life, dated October 31, 2000, against the Morning-After Pill.  It urges everyone "to make a firm objection of moral conscience, which will bear courageous and practical witness to the inalienable value of human life, especially in view of the new hidden forms of aggression against the weakest and most defenseless individual as is the case with a human embryo."  In the end, I gave him a copy of HLI's Pro-Life CD Library, asking him to read the books on it, The Facts of Life and The Case Against Condoms, among others.  

With that encounter, I more strongly resolved to reach out to seminarians, which is part of the mission of HLI.  God blessed me with talks in two seminaries in Malaysia.  Additionally, more seminarians attended my other talks.  In one of them, as I discussed condoms, all the seminarians' eyes automatically turned to the Rector with meaningful smiles.  After my talk, many of them came to me to tell me how grateful they were that I came, and that they had learned much.  Prior to my coming, they had believed that condoms were acceptable.  The Rector also told me to come by whenever I am able and for an even longer period of time.

Most of my talks were received overwhelmingly well, proving again that indeed there is power in the Gospel of Life and joy and in the Splendor of Truth!  Those who attended were not only Catholic, but also Muslim and of other faiths, and they were ALL touched by the message.   HLI's beautiful combination of theological teachings and scientific facts has converted countless people to become staunch defenders of life and family.  When people hear these talks for the first time, they hunger for more. 

Youth Starving for Truth           

My many talks with thousands of schoolchildren and teenagers were most revealing and blissful.  All who attended (more than six thousand total) took the vow of chastity.  Many of them talked with me privately afterward-confirming the rampant cases of homosexuality and premarital sex among themselves and their peers.  Often in tears, they shared how my talks touched them.  Their very honest disclosures were a cry for help-how would they free themselves from addiction to pornography, masturbation, and sex?-because nobody ever told them the many horrible consequences!  School Administrators and faculty expressed their immense gratitude, saying that they had wanted to talk about these subjects, but didn't know how.  Some noted that  presentations from other speakers they had invited were completely different from mine; they were meant to teach children "safe sex"!

In the beginning, even the priests could not believe that all these immoral actions were happening in a Muslim country like Malaysia.  Their eyes widened when they heard that it is part of a massively financed global agenda, which has been going on for a long time.  The death peddlers have been so successful that the once very clear constitutional law against abortion has now allowed the killing of the preborn when done "in good faith" (!), and when required for the health of the mother as certified by a physician!

Thus, IPPF working through its affiliate, Federation of Family Planning Associations, Malaysia, wasted no time in conducting abortion training for doctors!  Government doctors I met, who admitted attending one of these trainings, not only confirmed that abortions are being performed widely in government hospitals and private clinics, but also that the abortifacient Morning-After Pill is being massively dispensed among teenagers!

Catholics in Medicine     

My "no holds-barred" private meeting with two young Catholic gynecologists who requested to see me was very revealing.  I appreciated their honesty, which showed their bothered consciences, while at the same time disclosed that, sadly, doctors today are trained and brainwashed into considering the "quality" of an individual's life, rather than the "dignity" of ALL human life.  Thus, whenever some "abnormality" is expected in a child, they very easily advise and perform an abortion, believing that the mother's life is far more important than the child's!  The two doctors listened intently as I countered the subtle deceptions ingrained in their minds.  

When Celine and Anthony Lim, our hosts in Kota Kinabalu, became pregnant with their fifth child, her doctor strongly advised abortion, suspecting abnormalities in the child and a great risk to her.  But they were steadfast in their Catholic faith, and Celine delivered a very healthy baby girl who has now grown into a very loving nine-year-old.  I truly wish that doctors and death peddlers would stop pretending to be gods by putting the lives of the preborn at their disposal! 

In Kuala Lumpur, I had the great opportunity to meet the key people of the Catholic Medical Guild.  It was comforting to see great people committed to defend life and Catholic teaching, although they admitted they need to do more.  I encouraged them to speak out more in public to counter the huge campaign of deception in their country.

Even as I was still on this mission trip to Malaysia, more invitations were already coming in for HLI to return for more talks.  In countless places, people perish from the claws of the culture of death without even knowing it.  However, I feel immense joy in my heart knowing that HLI is there to lead them back towards a Culture of Life.  There may be a lot of challenges, but Jesus promised that if we will do it in His name, we can say to the mountains: move over!