I can understand, read and write in three languages – Mandarin Chinese, Malay language and English language. I can converse in two more dialects of Chinese – Hokkien and Cantonese. In addition, I can comprehend the Teochew dialect, albeit just vaguely and uncertainly. That’s three “official” languages and three dialects – a total of six spoken languages, and I am proud of it.
I didn’t use to put any thoughts into it – after all, that’s the norm in Malaysia. Everyone understood at least two languages, and most Chinese and Indian at least three. It wasn’t until I came to Australia that I realise that it wasn’t common here. Sure, in terms of the number of languages spoken, Australia wins hands down. At least 35 languages are spoken by various Australian communities. Still, around 70 – 80% of the population speaks only English.
Similarly, in one of my Management classes in my course, the lecturer decided to conduct a small survey of the same kind. The results were revealed at the end of the semester as an afterthought for the students. The average number of languages understood by Australian was one, while the average for international students was three. That immediately showed the strength and competitiveness of international students, particularly for those whose first language isn’t English.
However, that doesn’t immediately translate to the competitiveness of the home countries, like Malaysia, for various reasons. Already, immigrations of international students and others to Australia, particularly to major cities like Melbourne, is strengthening Australia instead of the country of origins of the immigrants. Inner Melbourne, for example, has quite some population who understood more than one languages. The number in Melbourne Central Business District (CBD) is even higher at around 40 – 57%.
Data and Image from ABS
This post, though, is not about Australia. Instead, it’s about Malaysia. It’s about unity among Malaysians and our competitiveness as a whole. Many slogans have been used to target different segments of Malaysians who are obsessed with them, from Wawasan 2020 to Malaysia Boleh, and from Bangsa Malaysia to the current 1Malaysia. Yet, years after years we are reminded by a myriad of research and studies about the sliding level of the competitiveness of our institutions, and the differences between people of different people emphasised and perpetuated by various parties, affecting unity between Malaysians.
There are those who opine that true unity in this country can only be achieved if the people of different races are fully assimilated. They would be right, except for the fact that “assimilate” to them means gradually eroding and shedding the cultures of the “immigrant races” and adopting the cultures of the “natives”, the natives being “the sons of the land”. They wish for conformity, that everyone should habitually speak the “local” language use the “local” naming system. Ironically, the “local” naming system is religious in origin and the “local” language has many words that have Sanskrit and English roots. Informally, the language is also littered with “unofficial” English words when used in everyday speech.
They would point to many countries where immigrants completely adopt the local traditions and take that as a evidence that the scheme works and that unity can be strengthen that way. Thailand and Indonesia, for example, are success stories to them because the government forced everyone to take up local names and cultures. United States of America are pointed out as a country where the offspring of immigrants either speak one “local” language of English only or speak it habitually, never mind the fact that there are sizeable communities who continue to use Spanish, Chinese or others languages in everyday speech, and never mind the fact that there are communities who mostly retain their original cultures.
I would say that their proposal is unworkable, particularly in Malaysia, and their reasoning flawed. However, if they want an example of a community who has adopted and adapted their cultures to the local traditions, they need not look further than their own backyard. I am speaking, of course, of the Peranakan Chinese (Straits Chinese). Back then, Chinese immigrants and their descendant inter-married with the locals and hence created the Baba Nyonya ethnic group. Such intermarriage are quite rare in current society, probably due to religious conflicts. Today, the Baba Nyonya as an ethnic group is has converged with the Chinese communities and are almost indistinguishable from the latter, and the Baba Malay is a dying language. Their cultures, however, have become a legacy, especially in the former Straits Settlement.
The cultural legacy of the Straits Chinese, from Flickr by John Ong
Today, Penangites Chinese have no qualms about identifying and associating themselves with cultures once considered Malay or Baba Nyonya. My own family, which has no Malay roots whatsoever, has culinary favourites such as Nasi Ulam, Perut Ikan and Otak-otak, just to name a few. My great grandmother used to wear chiefly Nyonya clothing when she was alive. My grandmother still has her own such apparel from a time when they were in fashion. In fact, Penang Hokkien adopted many Malay words like Kuih, Mata, Sabun and Pun, it is quite different from Hokkien spoken elsewhere in Malaysia. Many people, mostly from the older generation, of different ethnicities learnt and used Penang Hokkien like it was a lingua franca.
My point is that assimilation cannot and should not be a zero-sum game – that one community must drop their traditions and take up the local cultures completely. If that were the case, Malacca and George Town would not be inscribed as a World Heritage Site of significant cultural value. A major reason for the inscription is because both places have substantial cultural influence from the colonialist and the immigrants, ranging from the Dutch to the Peranakan. Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling in Penang, for example, has a Muslim mosque, a Hindu temple, a Buddhist-Taoist temple and an Anglican church all within walking distance, all built originally over a century ago. Yet, today, 52 years after achieving independence, some are still arguing over the location of a Hindu temple being too close to a Muslim community, an embarrassing incident duped the “cow-head protest“.
To me, assimilation has to be a gradual process which goes both ways until a common point which all can relate to and affiliate with is achieved, like the food Malaysia is so famous for. Sure, each communities have their different foods and delicacies, but collectively they are all known as Malaysian food. Similarly, cultures, traditions and believes of Malaysian can be that way too. Malaysian must create an encompassing Malaysian identity, in the same time celebrating the richness in cultural diversities of each communities. In many ways, the various feel-good tourism and festivity commercials that portray the cultural wealth and the togetherness all ethnicities IS the Malaysian identity we yearn for.
Kapitan Keling Mosque, which gave the road the name. Image in Public Domain.
Yet the fact that the sense of unity seems to be at an all time low indicates that the effort by the incumbent government has failed to build an encompassing nation. It is ironic that while the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia perpetuates his idea of 1Malaysia (whatever that is) to all Malaysians, the newspaper owned by his party continue to be the most divisive and racialist media in Malaysia. Suffice to say, the top-down approach and the sloganeering effort do not work in instilling unity, or for that matter, patriotism, in Malaysians. I do not claim to have the magical formula that can do that, nor can I begin to fathom a comprehensive masterplan, but in my humble opinion, it starts with creating a sense of ownership and belonging by recognising we are a nation of diverse culture, and that we should unite under that notion. Instead of commonness and conformity, we should be united in diversity.
Malaysia as a country of immigrants must acknowledge the contributions of the natives as well as the immigrants, as it would not be the Malaysia today but for their contributions. For instance, Malacca historically couldn’t have been a successful port without the congregation of the people from multiple countries and ethnicities all around the world. Similarly, Penang would not have its rich history and culture without the convergence of many nationalities in its colonial days, including the Acehnese, the Armenian, the Burmese, the Ceylonese, the Malabarese and the Jews, besides people from different localities in China, India and Indonesia. As globalisation eventuate and the world gets smaller, people from other country are going to continue coming to Malaysia in search of greener pasture. Today, a portion of our economy is largely built on their efforts, and if they sincerely wishes to make Malaysia home, we should be welcoming to them. After all, it was not too long ago that our ancestors decide to stay put here to seek greener pasture.
Lebuh Acheh, named after the Acehnese traders who lived there, from Flickr by taylorandayumi
As one can see, the immigrants of yesteryears are the ones who give us strength and competitive advantage – first by building economy literally the ground up through primary industry, then later by leaving behind their cultural richness and diversity which we today use very much for our tourism industry. Going back to the issue of language, it is exactly because my ancestor and their cultures were welcome once upon a time, that I get to understand all the six spoken languages. The three major “official” languages that I comprehend allow me communicate with a significant portion of the population in this world – English for English speaking countries, Mandarin for China, Taiwan and Singapore, Malay for Malaysia and to certain extend Indonesia. In other words, such ability opens up the opportunities, business or otherwise, for ordinary Malaysians. It should be something that we use to our advantage, our strength and our competitiveness.
Many institutions, however, still continue to operate on the fallacy of divide and rule, as if that idea has ever worked for building a successful nation. The aforementioned newspaper is just one such example. Many politicians from both sides contribute to the problem either by claiming a community can only be fairly represented by a leader of the same ethnicity or religious belief, or by fighting to preserve the power and “rights” of certain community, like it is under attack and being eroded. Frankly, a politician who claims the former cannot be sincerely representing the diverse Malaysian constituents. As for the latter, they do not realise that the political power and positions they so fervently fight for is not going to be of much value if we continue to lose our competitiveness in the wave of globalisation.
In a globalised economy, the competitiveness of a country is of utmost importance, as it is through competitiveness that a country is going to ride on the wave and enjoy the benefits of globalisation, and not succumb under the pressure of it. Countries increases their competitiveness through various means, such as encouraging scientific innovation and entrepreneurship, not by indulging in racial politics. instead of fighting amongst ourselves to get a piece of the limited and dwindling economic pie, we should be exhibiting strength through unity in competing together with other economies, thereby creating a larger pie for everyone.
By the way, the title of the post is in varietate concordia, per unitatem vis, the Latin motto for the European Union and the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets respectively. The phrases mean united through diversity, and strength through unity, which is the whole theme for this post. The European Union is able to be united through the diverse cultures and languages of the people from the 27 member state, and through the unity they have been exhibiting their strength by creating a powerful economic bloc as well as creating the strong Euro currency. This allows them to compete effectively with the other super economies of the world, like China and The United State of America, despite their obvious differences and diversity between the member nations.
Malaysia really do need to look at our dissimilarities between communities as strengthening diversity, instead of the divisive differences they are being accentuated now. In varietate concordia, per unitatem vis – United in Diversity, Strength through Unity. Thankfully, various NGOs are already starting to put this into action. I am proud to say Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia.
