Tagged - by Pak Mior

Pak Mior tagged me to write on Muhibbah.

What better time to do so than now – a time when all Malaysians are joining our Chinese friends in celebrating the CNY.
Perhaps most telling of our Muhibbah spirit is on display during Festivities and during Calamities. Unique to our great nation Malaysia, all major religious festivals are respected and celebrated, not only by those of direct concern but by everyone around them regardless of creed and color. These celebrations are done sensitively and inclusively – no one feel left out or slighted. Appropriate foods are served, taking into considerations the diversity of religion and belief. Diversity without being inclusive – is like having a lake of fish, but each species are caged separately.
During recent flood in Malaysia, we see help and aids from Malaysians for Malaysians. Everyone – together – for everyone! What a spirit….

I grew up in a little village in Kelantan where all residents were Malays except for Mek Som ( I never knew what her Chinese name was ) as we called her and her families. Mek Som, a chinese who spoke fluent Kelate-speak and wore batek sarong just like all other mak chiks. I remember Mek Som very well - for she was always generous in sharing fresh vegetables from her farm. And her farm was always the most fertile. Her son San Keng ( and called Hasan Keng ) was two years older than I was - and was brilliant in making 'serunai' out of padi stalks. He was a shy boy, and decided not to go to school. He went farming with his mom and followed his father hunting for wild boars. They cycled to far away places, and each time came back with two or three boars neatly bundled in old gunny sacks and even with ample padding with saw dust to ensure no blood of the dead animals dripped accidentally. Back then we almost forgot that Mek Som or Hasan Keng were Chinese.
Later in life, I was the driver to my best friend Mr Ng and his bride when he got married. That was in 1984 when I was still new to KL but already had a close friend in Mr Ng. That was only an anecdot of Multi-racial friendships we had at work. And there were many more....

Then one day a reporter from NEWSW33K managed to convince me as the HR manager of the firm to do an interview on diversity at work place. I allowed her to do photo-shoot in our cafeteria. What she wrote and how she used the photos brought home the real hard truth to me. Her story highlighted the divide between races - backed by photos of employees in clusters around the dining hall, huddling together according to their races. Holy Mackerel! I was in smoke ....But as much as I didn't like her spin - her pictures did not lie. I looked at the reality in our canteen from that day with a different critical eyes and tried to encourage integration at work.

“Birds of same feathers flock together” And we see this at school and factories’ canteens, at staff dining rooms in private or public sectors, at bus and taxi stands – locally or overseas. I dream to see – the color of our feathers merging more and more to a spectrum of what we can call ‘Malaysian’. And we will be one huge happy bird!

In Malaysia we are unique in that our political parties are ethnic based. We are the fish in one lake but caged separately - and even fed differently. I long to wake up to a day when MIC = Malaysian Integrated Congress; or MCA = Malaysian Coalition Assembly; or UMNO = United Malaysians Organization. I know I am being naïve. I know I am over simplifying. I know there are complications and complexities. I know all of those! That is why I am glad I am not active into politics….but a mere blogger who can day-dream with my eyes wide open and no-one cares whether I am fast asleep. But I still write here – that we are at best only a ‘tolerating’ not yet an integrated society. However when compared to what is going on in some other part of the world – is an achievement and something we can all be proud of! God forbids any proportion of what is happening in Kenya from coming over to our Shores.

A repeat of May 13th - anyone? If you are too young to remember what happened on May 13th in 1969 - please ask your parents or grand-parents or read book about it. It was a lesson we should all learn and should progress beyond just repairing the damages but really re-planting the seeds of Muhibbah and Diversity.

Therefore, I find the recent HINDR@F road-show insensitive and idiotic. It was not moving any steps closer to national integration and harmonization. It was inciting anger and inter-racial tension. I am pleased stern acion was taken fast and decisively.

The future – is what I am excited and optimistic about. Children today are exposed to wider world through the internet. Seldom had they initiated conversations by asking what race or religions of their friends are. They share music; they are networked via the friendster and other webs. They are citizens of the world. Malaysia, whether we change or not in our ‘made belief’ that we are living the spirit of diversity becomes less relevant to the citizens of the world. I dream the Martin Luther King dream! I dream a spectrum of colours - each unique and different in colour and curves - but together they made a beautiful rainbow. And I dream that we don’t even have to write or debate about Muhibbah – in the same manner we don’t count the air we breathe in. It is part of our lives…..everyday, everywhere! We stop thinking color – we think beliefs and values. We become unconsciously integrated, rather than consciously trying to tolerate differences.

I wish all Malaysians – A Happy New Year! As it is usually said, “Kong Hee Fat Choyy”.

I am a Malaysian who is still hopeful of a better future!