I came from a Malay dominance kampung, where there are only four Chinese families in the whole taman. I grew up playing with my neighbors who are all Malays. We played in the paddy fields, climbed trees and even played soccer together. When it comes to the festive season, our neighbors would give us kuih raya and we would give them Chinese New Year cookies and cakes that my mom bakes. (This cookie-exchanging tradition still goes on today.) They don't ask us whether it is halal, because we know better than to give them something that is laced with pork-based oil. This is just common sense of respect towards each other.
Of course, kids being kids, there will always be times when we don't get along and fought with our neighbor's kids. That is when the name calling starts and the Malay kids would call us "Cina Babi" (Chinese pigs) and we would call them "Hua-na kao" ('Malay dogs' in hokkien). What got us was a good slap (and sometimes caning) from our parents and we are forced to apologize to each other in our parents' presence. The next day? We forget about our bickering and heads out for another round of soccer.
When I started studying in a Malay school, there were only four Chinese students in our class of 36 and I was the class monitor back then (voted by my Malay classmates). The most memorable thing in school was when me and three other of my Chinese classmates were allowed to sit in an Agama (Malay religious teachings) Class conducted by an old Ustaz. This was made possible because, honestly, the teacher for Morale Studies is CONSTANTLY "absent" (skipping class to be exact). It was then that the Ustaz gave us permission to sit in for his classes and allowed us to ask questions relevant to his class for the day.
I don't know about my other Chinese friends but I find the classes very informative. Whenever we asked a stupid question about the Islamic religion, the Ustaz gave the class a chance to answer our question before he gave us a proper explanation. It was a great learning experience for both us and our Malay classmates. I have to admit that I feel he sort of dumb-down the class down for us every time we join so that we can participate in his teaching for the day, and to be honest, we really enjoyed it! (Maybe it's because we don't have to sit for the exams but still, it was a good experience.)
Our Malay classmates would laugh and picked on our Chinese way of speaking the Malay language from time to time, but after the laughter dies down, they would usually teach us the right way of using/saying certain phrases (that soon became my pet phrases). It was then that they taught us all sort of "catch phrases", which they would use from time to time, so that we could speak better Malay. Arguments and (Sometimes) disagreements with my Malay classmates aside, I was and proud to have such great classmates, who taught us a lot.
To me, the best part of being Malaysians is to be able to be a part of such a great and colorful multiracial country, where we can learn so much from each other and be a part of an understanding community. However, today Malaysia has became a country where certain minority races are being scrutinized for questioning things that they don't understand. Opinions are considered seditious in a supposedly democratic country. Our supposed harmony is constantly divided by certain political parties, which kept on drawing more and more lines as they like to their benefit, to remind us how we are different from each other. A lot of traditional practices and historical places were being scraped in the name of modernization. History books have been rewritten to fit the likings and benefits certain parties.
Today, it's no longer about culture or racial harmony. It's more about who has the power to change and bend the rules to their likings. Where is our country heading to? I'm not sure. All I do know is: We are definitely not moving forward.
