Looking beyond unity week

LAST night, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim officiated the National Unity Week event in Johor Baru.

It is the second such celebration following the one in Kuching last May.

The theme is “Unity in Diversity” and the aim is to strengthen unity among our varied lot of Malaysians.

It’s always nice to see this sort of thing, with ethnic traditions, clothing and food on show – and the cute children in traditional outfits!

The focus on Malaysia’s unique situation where we have a diversity of people living in harmony is always welcome.

But can we look beyond this organised show of unity and keep that focus going throughout the year, and beyond?

Every time we start saying, “All those types are (insert stereotype)...”, can we stop and remember this unity week?

Can we remember that we don’t all have to agree with each other over everything but we do have to respect one another and if not understand, then at the very least tolerate each other.

We should have moved beyond mere tolerance after so many years of living together but it seems lately that even tolerance is lacking, judging by the hate spewed online following various incidents.

There will always be incidents, political or otherwise, orchestrated or not. But can we try to remember national unity before we share our knee-jerk reactions?

There is so much beauty in the many different peoples and cultures we have here – beyond Malay, Chinese, Indians and Punjabis, there are the Bidayuh, Iranun, Kadazandusun, Melanau and the list could go on.

And we all treasure our own traditions but beyond that, we should remember we are also united as Malaysians.

And as foodies!

Doesn’t matter what ethnicity we are, we all love food and eating (maybe a little too much considering the rate of diabetes here).

A foreign multilingual visiting professor said to us, it didn’t matter which language he spoke to people in, soon after he was introduced, he was invariably asked, “Have you eaten?”

Perhaps it’s fitting then that one of the events at the National Unity Week yesterday featured some 2,400 people eating their way into the Malaysia Book of Records by tucking into “kacang pool”, a Middle Eastern-inspired dish popular in Johor.

And then there’s Sarawak laksa that has become a favourite over on the peninsula too, even beginning to appear overseas among the Malaysian diaspora.

Maybe it will become as famous as roti canai, recently voted one of the world’s favourite breads, and something that we all love whichever ethnicity we are.

Remember these and other beloved Malaysian traditions we share (open house visiting!) along with unity week the next time dissension rears its ugly head.