PUTRAJAYA: When it comes to our diverse society, Malaysia is like a “salad bowl” – our strength does not come from making every ingredient identical, says National Unity Minister Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang.
“Our strength comes from bringing different ingredients together, allowing each to retain its uniqueness, while becoming something greater.
“That, to me, is the Malaysian story – different in our heritage, united in our destiny, and together in building one nation,” he said during an interview in conjunction with Malaysia Day.
Aaron made the remarks when asked to comment on the nation’s rich diversity, which comprises more than 300 ethnic and sub-ethnic groups according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.
Continuing the analogy, he said a good salad is not created by turning every ingredient into the same thing.
“Each retains its own colour, texture and character. Yet when they are brought together, they form one complete dish.
“Malaysia is very much like that. Unity does not require uniformity.
“We do not need Malaysians to abandon their ethnicity, language, religion, customs or cultural heritage to become more Malaysian,” Aaron said.
On the contrary, he said our national identity becomes richer when these identities are understood, respected and celebrated within a common national framework.
On the challenges affecting unity, Aaron said the biggest issues were on development and governance, not the conflict or differences between ethnic or religious groups as some may perceive.
“It is these two issues that people provide negative feedback about.
“Examples of issues on development and governance are corruption, traffic congestion in urban areas and insufficient public amenities in certain states.
“A lot of people believe the big stumbling blocks are race and religion, but these issues are minor and can be settled,” he said.
It was reported that the latest National Unity Index scores have been consistently improving – last year, the score was at 0.701, compared with 0.629 in 2022 and 0.567 in 2018.
“This shows that national unity continues to strengthen, although there remain areas that require attention.
“Our foundation remains strong, but we cannot take that strength for granted,” Aaron said.
Moving forward, he said the ministry’s focus will go beyond managing conflict and toward building the nation.
“Under the 13th Malaysia Plan, our focus is increasingly on pembinaan negara bangsa – nation-building.
“We want to strengthen a shared Malaysian identity, deepen the understanding and practice of the Rukun Negara, create more spaces for meaningful interaction between communities and build a stronger sense of belonging to the country,” he said.
Aaron said the most important lesson from the past year is that unity cannot only be defended when there is a crisis – it has to be built every day.
“Technology will continue to change. Political disagreements will continue. Sensitive issues will occasionally emerge. We cannot eliminate every disagreement in a democratic and diverse society.
“What we can do is build a society resilient enough that disagreement does not automatically become division,” he said.
