Malaysia Day 2010

It's Malaysia Day today.  16th September has always been Malaysia Day for the past 46 years, but it took 47 years to actually have the first celebration.   It somehow reminds me of my download speed.  Starting from the year 2010, it has become another notch in my public holidays list (and on other peoples' lists too).

16th September 2010, 47 years since the formation of Malaysia (and 4 days since I returned from Singapore).  How have we progressed?

Some West Malaysians still fear the idea that the people of Sarawak and Sabah live on trees and that headhunting is still rampant.  Some East Malaysians always get pissed off when reading those stereotypes, but yet fail to improve their own knowledge of West Malaysia.  It's been 47 years.

We still call ourselves 'Melayu, Cina, India' (Malay, Chinese, Indian).  As someone who is neither one of those three, I am called a 'Lain-lain' (Other).  It's been 47 years.

A West Malaysian who has been brought up his/her whole life in Malay-Chinese-Indian West Malaysia will usually be unable to fathom the 30+ tribes/races (and more) of Sabah and Sarawak.  And neither will an East Malaysian usually be able to get used to living in another part of Malaysia with three main races, after a lifetime of living and studying side by side with Ibans, Kayans, Kelabits, Melanaus, Malays, Kadazans, Muruts, Dusuns, et cetera.

So maybe our main problem here is not racism.  Misunderstandings between West and East Malaysians seem to be the more obvious one.  I keep seeing pages popping up on Facebook, for example "Jangan Hina Orang Sarawak" and the like.  And whenever a West/East Malaysian makes demeaning comments about East or West Malaysia, people go around attacking the said person on his/her profile, to the point of spreading links here and there.  So the second lesson here is ALWAYS BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PUT ON THE INTERNET.  What you say to a person in real life can be forgiven and forgotten, but what you put on Facebook/Friendster/Myspace etc. will NEVER be forgotten.

Back to racism...it will always be around, no matter where we are.  Tell me of any country that has zero racism/xenophobic tendencies.  Put that matter at rest for now.

If we can enjoy the different tastes of nasi lemak, mi kolok, sirap bandung, char kuey teow, roti canai, manok pansoh, satay ayam, tebaloi, umai, keropok lekor, ice cendol, roti kahwin and dodol, why can't we all look past our differences and even just for once, ACKNOWLEDGE the idea that these differences actually contribute to making Malaysia a very colorful and multicultural nation.

But do we acknowledge this on only Malaysia Day/National Day?  What about the other 364 days of the year?  

Signing off for now, in order to meditate on the wonders of Malaysian cuisine.

Kuey teow at Pappa Rich, Dataran Sunway

Beef rendang rice, somewhere in 1Utama