The Concept of 1Malaysia

by Syukri | 3:08 PM in |

Let's take a break for a while from architecture and talk about current issue. I would like to share a little bit of my experience and opinion about the concept of 1Malaysia.

Well, maybe some of you might think that this concept issued by our current Prime Minister is just a concept. Though in my opinion, this concept is important for us to study because it might bring something good out of Malaysia, thus maybe towards architecture. You might think this concept might not work, but to me, it can work and let me share you with my experience.

For 2 years in Kuala Lumpur, I have live under 1 roof with 7 multi-racial architecture students at B-14-18, Pangsapuri Bukit Baru. These student consist of:

Syukri - Malay
Hadzeeq - Malay
Iziq - Malay Sabahan
Cheng Chee - Chinese
Vincent - Chinese Sabahan
Sireesak - Siamese
Hoydenly - Kadazan Dusun

We are very happy together. We never mind our own business but we share everything together!
We hang out and watch movies at the cinema together almost like every week.
We eat lunch and dinner together and talk a lot of stuff that we agreed on.
We even sit in a circle, break fast together on a mat in the living room during Ramadhan.
When the non-muslim drink liquor or beer, we don't even care a bit, as long they are happy.
And the best part is, the house will occasionally become a war zone not because of fighting of misunderstanding, but virtual computer games shooting each other!

So, we are actually the key to 1Malaysia. It can work. But what exactly is the key? To me, it is toleration and purpose of being together for a better future.

These are the things that most Malaysians have to ponder about.
Have a nice day!

Illustration image of my housemate from 2007-2009

10 comments:

1. Cheok on September 14, 2009 at 12:57 AM

   Well, generally, I find our tolerance level towards the other races depend largely on the school we go to.
   Who we grew up with.
   I notice that tolerance level is lots higher in those that have attended government schools as compared to those attending [ONLY] vernacular school/religious school..
   
   Just my 2 cents that is =)

    
2. ArchiTecTurA on September 14, 2009 at 3:47 AM

   well i beg to differ. i attended religious school for 5 years and that doesn't include my 6 years experience in primary school. in utm i found that i didn't have a problem to fit in with chinese and others. but still i hv to agree with the fact the school we went through could affect(sikit2) our multiracial relationship. the best part is most of my chinese friends never had a malay friend cos they were from chinese school.

    
3. Cheok on September 15, 2009 at 9:22 AM

   Oh...
   That maybe true.
   Maybe it's just that I knew one or two who went to religious school and they were very nice to us from the front but at our backs... the same old mindset.
   the same for vernacular schools actually.
   So I shouldn't have been blinded by a few thorns among the roses ya. =)
   Glad too hear your opinion
   =D

    
4. lim gim huang on September 19, 2009 at 1:53 AM

   Actually it is already 1 Malaysia at some point unconsciously... but to say and came out with the concept of "1 Malaysia"... it seems to raise up some issue which draws the line between different races more rather than to unite it...

    
5. teddy bear on September 24, 2009 at 4:26 PM

   i opoined that in general , one malaysia seems works well but i think it is challeging to achieve wholely because in reality , we still insist to be different / unique eg. from the situation of school , type of friends or etc ... you can see there is still a gap... 2 dofferent world exist: the rich and poor . very sensitive ...

    
6. Cheok on September 25, 2009 at 6:24 PM

   Oh well,
   everything starts with a step at a time and am glad that we have started taking steps towards that vision. =)

    
7. Y!nying on September 25, 2009 at 7:19 PM

   races issue bring out the concept of "1 malaysia" for solution?

    
8. szelingc on September 26, 2009 at 4:54 PM

   IMHO, one can see 1 Malaysia successfully achieved when one day no one mention who is Malay, Chinese, Indian, etc. We are not labeled/called without a race by then.

    
9. ~Julie Kiing@馨媛~ on September 27, 2009 at 11:14 PM

   agree with szeling... when avery malaysian address themself as malaysian instead of malay, chinese or indian I guess dats when one malaysian is achieved.

    
10. 傅馨仪 Poh Xin Yi on September 29, 2009 at 1:40 PM

    Tolerance can't last forever...

     

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