Daily Thoughts #4: How Is It Like to Be a Malaysian?

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In conjunction for today’s Malaysia day, I would like to say something about being a Malaysian. 

A mix of culture. 

Malaysia is a unique country that has multiple race and ethnicity. We have the Malays, Chinese, Indian, Singh, Nyonya, Kadazan, Iban and the list goes on. Here, I could mix with people of different ethnic but with the same nationality. 

Understanding and tolerance 

In Malaysia, most of us are understanding and tolerance. We are exposed with different culture background and practices that may seemed odd to each other. For example, in Malaysia, you will find the Muslim has their calling for prayer made to public by using broadcasting it. For others, they are understanding as this is part of the religious practice for the Muslims. We have also different festive seasons like Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Gawai and more that celebrates each race's new year. We will usually join in to celebrate regardless of colour and religion. 

Multilingual  

In Malaysia, we are trained to at least master two languages, English and Malay. While for me, I could speak in English, Malay, Chinese, Hokkien and some broken lousy Cantonese. There are lots of benefits that I find to be multilingual. First, I could travel around the world with these two sets of language, English and Chinese which are the top used language in the world. Communication with others will be easier but still in many countries that have its own native language, it is still very hard. For example, in Korea, I was having difficulty to order a meal. The menu is fully in Korean and all the staffs and boss spoke only in Korean. In addition, it is also great for me as I could watch movies from American, British and China. It is also an added value to my personal CV as I could communicate with different  

Large spectrum taste buds 

In Malaysia, I have the privilege to taste a large spectrum of food and usually it is taste bud tantalizing. The rich of flavors of sweet, sour, and spicy, these are the characteristic for Malaysian food. The most unique about Malaysia food is that there are no one and only food that resemble Malaysia. Thus, this is kind of hard to introduce the signature dish to the outsider. Nasi lemak (Rice cooked with coconut oil) with eggs, cucumber, anchovy, peanuts and the most important component, Sambal (It is a local made spicy paste to be eaten along with the rice). Besides that, there are lots of desserts, snacks, cakes, drinks, and dishes. I am unable to list them all out and even my favourite list would burst this article. LOL. Guess I am a food-holic. With these exposures of food and taste, I think Malaysians are able to adapt to any food around the world.    

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Spirit of ‘Malaysia Boleh’ 

In Malaysia, we believe in the spirit of never give up and work to the top. "Boleh" is a Malay word means "can" or "capable" in English. Whenever there is a Malaysian out there made some achievement in the international platform, there is always this cheering. I think, words could unite people and this is one of the strong words that put this multicultural nation together. Although, there may sometimes be dispute between races and religions, but when time passes, we usually will get back together again. The most important is how unite can we be to become competitive country in this globalized era. 

Lastly, I would like to share a video clip that one of our local composer and singer made for the independence day of Malaysia. It brings out the very spirit of being a Malaysian which even the Prime Minister acknowledge his work.

Enjoy and Happy Malaysia Day!