Talking about unity is easier said than done.
At times even when we're together, our hearts will still be distant from each other. Not only until it is dark, when we are alone, we reach out to the hands closest to us.
This is the sad but beautiful truth. It's sad because not only until we face a problem would we face each other. But what is beautiful, is that deep in our hearts, we still have faith for one another when it comes to going through the hard times.
There's so much to know about each other when race and religion does not become a tool of separation, but a way for us to expand our horizons. Small steps, I mean we already call everyone around us like our own family - Aunty, Uncle, Pak Cik, Mak Cik, Abang, Kakak, Adik the list goes on and on.
There's a high chance that we are not that different from each other.
Just like how we like to mix and match our lauk, that's how we are as a country. Even though sometimes it could be a mess, it’s a very beautiful and delicious mess that goes very well together.
There's so much to know about each other when race and religion does not become a tool of separation, but a way for us to expand our horizons. Small steps, I mean we already call everyone around us like our own family - Aunty, Uncle, Pak Cik, Mak Cik, Abang, Kakak, Adik the list goes on and on.
Just like how we like to mix and match our lauk, that's how we are as a country. Even though sometimes it could be a mess, it’s a very beautiful and delicious mess that goes very well together.
It isn’t naive to say we can be 1 Malaysia, because look around you - we already are and the path to unity is only a step away! Having grown up with different backgrounds, we still wake up to morning cravings of having roti canai and nasi lemak. Having been taught different principles in life, getting stuck in bad traffic still gets under our skin. We can always expect a day of going to the bazaars and night markets to cheer us up, and give warmth after a rainy Friday afternoon. There are quite a number of little things we Malaysians share, no matter where we come from or how we grew up. Really, how different can we be?
There is a sheer, yet quite eccentric beauty in what ties all of us Malaysians together like a ribbon wrapped around a gift. Sure, one would suggest how we fought together for our country, or how we show any form of patriotism on August 31st or September 16th.
Yet, there is much more between us that an outsider would find quirky and peculiar.
Step out of the house on a sunny Malaysian afternoon, and you will hear people left, right and center speaking all sorts of languages in one single sentence. Our beloved ‘Bahasa Rojak*’ is an art form any Malaysian can master. One can throw in some English with a side of Malay, drizzled with some Mandarin, mixed together with some Tamil, and be quickly and completely understood! What’s great is that you will never run out of words, and you can express yourself in the best way any Malaysian can!
Every Malaysian understands that there is very little to no truth behind the statement, “I’m on the way!”. When you so much as hear this from a friend, waiting for them for a lunch date, you may as well take your time to shop while you drop, as they ‘get stuck in traffic in the rain.’
And don’t even get us started on the food.
If there was a sentence to sum up who we are, it would be that we Malaysians love to eat, and we eat round the clock. It doesn’t matter which dish we’re having at which time of day, Malaysians will always, always, find time to eat. Nothing can tear us apart from our everyday serving of rice! The beautiful racial diversity here brings with it all sorts of different cuisines and delicacies to choose from. From our favourite nasi lemak, all the way to tandoori chicken - there’s always something good to eat! One could leave the house at 3 in the morning craving a hot plate of roti canai served with some daal sauce, and thanks to mamak stalls, be served such on a silver platter! And durian? What an outsider would think would smell of strawberries dunked in the toilet several times, to us would mean the fragrant invitation and the creamy goodness of this King of Fruits!
Though Malaysians take forms of different races (primarily Malays, Chinese and Indians) this does very little to hinder our appreciation and celebration of each other’s cultures and differences. We celebrate each other’s festivals together - our Hari Raya, Deepavali and Chinese New Year (to name a few) - and we all join hands together with our friends in devotion to our country on the ever-anticipated Independence Day! (Also, it may not hurt that because of these festivals, we get quite a number of days off of school or work. Could be nice to mention that we even get them for other things, like the Sultan’s Birthday or even winning the SEA Games.)
At the end of the day, it doesn’t take much to know we are Malaysians. Seeing our brothers and sisters of all races around us having the time of their lives means that we’re living happily as one.
*Bahasa Rojak (Malay for "mixed language") or Rojak language is a Malaysian pidgin (trade language) formed by code-switching among two or more of the many languages of Malaysia. The word rojak is taken from a local food of the same name. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahasa_Rojak)
Photo from: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2016/09/19/too-much-superficiality-in-promoting-national-unity/
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Writers:
i. Muhammad Arshad b Affandi
ii. Sophia Adelina bt Mohd Faisal
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