Malaysia.
Subang, Selangor, Malaysia, April 7, 2013.
Salaroche

Southeast Asia has been a magnet for me over the past few years. I first spent two and a half years in South Korea starting back in 2006, during which time I visited Thailand. Later, in 2008, I did a six-month European stint (France and Malta) only to come back east to Japan for a few months in 2009.

Saudi Arabia and the US pulled me out of there for the remaining months of that year only to have Greece eventually summon me again back to its shores, this time for the New-Year season. As soon as the New Year dawned, my compass pointed straight back to Southeast Asia. First I went to Hanoi, Vietnam, where I spent the first few months of 2010, and then it was time to go to China.

After going in and out of China a few times over the past three years, outings that included a six-month stay in Istanbul, Turkey, a short three-month passage through St. Etienne, France, a few-days swing around Switzerland and a short stay in Pristina, Kosovo, a six-month incursion into Djibouti, East Africa (2011-2012) and a shorter stint in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Central Asia (2012) I now find myself back in Southeast Asia, this time in the country of Malaysia.

All along a good chunk of my journey I had wanted to come here, but thus far lady luck hadn’t granted me that wish. Now I’ve been in Malaysia for five days and I’m beginning to know what the whole situation is all about.

First there’s the question of the multiplicity of ethnicities we have here. Then there’s the conterminous issue of languages, and the ensuing subject of religions. One would correctly assume that ethnicity and language go together, which is like saying that it’s only logical to expect people of Malay origin to speak Malay, people of Chinese origin to speak Chinese, and people of Indian origin to speak Tamil, or any of the other Indian languages.

However, since these ethnic groups have been coexisting for well over a hundred years on the same land, such assumption would be only partial, as by now most of them have learnt each other’s languages as well. The result is a multilingual society where most people speak at least three languages, if not four, one of them being English. Today I even met a group of folk dancers from the southern region of Malacca, some of whom still speak Portuguese. And I wouldn’t be amazed if some of them still spoke Dutch as well.

Religions also transcend ethnic lines, but not in such a widespread way. A good majority of Malaysians are Muslim, with Christianity occupying the second position and Buddhism and Hinduism the third and the fourth, although not necessarily respectively. It’s not unusual, therefore, to find people of Malay, Indian, or Chinese origin who profess Christianity.

A very nice, attentive, and trim lady, a Real Estate Christian agent of Chinese origin, was telling me yesterday that in Malaysia people respect each religion’s annual celebrations, so that Muslims somehow observe Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist traditions just as the rest of the religions somehow observe each other’s, mostly pertaining to yearly celebrations. Should that really be the case, this country would be, in that sense, a remarkable example for some other countries in the area, particularly Myanmar.

In Myanmar, religious and ethnic conflicts keep tearing at the social and political fabric of the land. Muslims and Buddhists are often at each other’s throats over there and the ethnic-religious differences between the minority Kachin people (Christians) and the Burmese majority (Buddhists) keep growing worse by the day, to the point that if there ever were to form an alliance between the Kachin and other minority groups in that area, a full civil war might explode in the northern highlands of the country.

In Malaysia, on the other hand, no such ethnic-religious menace seems to be palpable anywhere, even though it is widely assumed that the Malaysian people in government tend to favor the Malaysian population in general, particularly regarding education. That is an issue specifically vexing to the local Hindu population, who feel discriminated against by what they perceive as arbitrary government policies. Still, that doesn’t seem to be an issue unbearable enough to be worth destabilizing the country for.

Thus far, therefore, Malaysia seems to be a nice tropical country where a moderate version of Islam is practiced, freedom of religion reigns, government policies are mostly conducive for a progressive economy, and the people have a noticeable tendency to accommodate a good variety of cultures and traditions.

If things around here are really as they seem to be thus far, one might even say that, in a few ways, the world has some good lessons to learn from this country.

May you be well.

Salaroche