I'm actually proud to be a Malaysian

...to an extent, I'd say.

I came across this article a few days ago. The writer said Malaysia was:

A place I once ate at a school canteen with one Amirrulah, a place where I played Sunday basketball with a Tan Kian Ping, a place I once mamak-ed with a Jagdeep Singh, a place where we would celebrate Merdeka at Ashley’s Melawis home.

I liked the way he constructed the whole piece. It's so... Malaysian.

Hong Kong Duck Rice, at Canton-i.

I'm not saying Malaysian English is the correct usage of the language, by that I meant the contents of the article. The way he expressed his thoughts and feelings as a Malaysian Chinese.

In a way, it reminded me of something - I'm not as unpatriotic as I've always thought of myself to be. I remembered how much I loved this country - and the fact that I have good friends of different races.

Thinking of it now, I guess perhaps we were all born "colour-blind". I enjoyed spending time with my Malay friends, and also my Indian playfellows. During those younger days, I had a neighbour of a Malay family. We were quite close and us kids (either they or we) used to stand by the fence on any normal afternoons, calling for the other to come out; for a game or just for a little chat.

To me, they were just ordinary people like us, and the only difference would be they being able to speak a different language more fluently than I can. I didn't really know what Malays, Chinese and Indians were all about.

In fact, even until now I still love the fact that I have friends of the other races. I've grown to know that it is not something you can see in any other country. The different skin shades, the variety of delicacies and the many languages we're born to speak.

Nasi Briyani platter.

I found it hard to explain and describe the Malaysian culture to my Chinese (China and Taiwanese) friends, though it's something as usual as breathing in O2 and exhaling CO2 to us Malaysians. They don't understand how we live with groups of people of different races. Neither do they know that Malaysian Chinese savour Siew Yoke, Pei Tan Porridge and Char Siew Paus like they do, while our Malays have their Nasi Lemak and Indians, their Roti Canai. They often name famous Chinese delicacies and ask if I've heard of them. Of couse I do, we have them all here.

Malaysia is no Malay land. It's a land of Malays, Chinese and Indians. We have our cultures and our own unique delicacies. We have Hari Rayas, Chinese New Years and Deepavali. We speak Malay and English. Our Chinese can speak Mandarin, most of us are even able to converse in more Chinese dialects than a China Chinese can. Some Malays (especially the northern ones) can speak Chinese, and some even Tamil.

Malaysia is just no Malay land. I think in short, it is just like three nations - Malay, Chinese and Indian - or possibly even more - living on a piece of land named Malaysia.

Nasi Lemak.

So yes, thanks to that article for reminding me of my love for this unique nation. It's not Malaysia nor this piece of land that I dislike. It's the form it's evolving into. It's the fact that some people nowadays have had their colour-blindness treated.

Why? Weren't those colour-blind days harmonious enough to make a perfect multiracial country? :)

Of course, I'm not bringing politics into this. I'm talking about the HEART.

Photo credits as watermarked.