A lesson in 1Malaysia

IN the midst of some people who are bickering and politicising every single thing they can think of – the ‘I was hungry, thus I got angry’ incident at a fast-food outlet immediately comes to mind – there are a lot more Malaysians who cherish and have long embraced the concept of 1Malaysia way before it became a hype.

Ordinary everyday Malaysians are happily coexisting and living together without thinking too much about their differences. Yes, we may go to different schools, we may pray differently, we may have been brought up in different ways – but these will never create barriers as long as we respect each other’s religions and beliefs.

There’s an Indian boy who sells newspapers near my apartment, who never fails to greet his customers with “Good morning, Sir. Have a great day Miss/madam”, and will go across the road even in the rain to deliver the papers – as he doesn’t want anyone to get wet.

The Chinese aunty who sells tau fu fah at the Bukit Jalil Park always makes the effort to remember her customers’ preferences – who wants extra sugar, who wants less, who likes hot soya milk and so on.

Not conversant in Bahasa Malaysia or English, she would always speak Mandarin to me – but that has never made me not buy her tau fu fah even though I don’t understand a word she’s saying.

A friend of mine recently solved a spat between two drivers – an Indian guy who went against the traffic flow on a one-way street and a Chinese lady in another car who just sat there keeping her hands on the steering wheel.

Both didn’t want to budge, even slightly, to let the other pass.

At the risk of sounding cheesy, I witnessed a rather patriotic 1Malaysia event and had me feeling all so patriotic and proud to be a Malaysian.

This friend, who’s a Malay, went over to the guy’s car in the rain and knocked on his windscreen, telling him politely to move his car as he was blocking traffic.

It turned out he hadn’t seen the one-waystreet sign, and he was rushing to fetch his pregnant wife from a clinic nearby.

Upon hearing his story, my friend then went over to the lady’s car, and told her the guy’s story, after which she moved her car slightly to one side.

My friend even went one step further. He brought the guy’s wife to the car, sheltering her with an umbrella, and getting soaked in the rain himself.

If only I had a video camera to record the incident – it would have been an instant hit on Youtube.

You see, we Malaysians are all the same. We might have our differences, yes – but it all boils down to respecting each other and treating people the way we wish to be treated.

We have the recipe for a harmonious society despite having different faiths and backgrounds. So why spoil it?