What is it to be truly Malaysian?

Rohani -introduction, conclusion and how sports can combine malaysians

Syarmin - The food

Nevettha - The Language

Ahpiramii - The Culture

Saranya - The Place

What is it to be truly Malaysian? 

   Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! On August 31, 1957, I bet every one of us still remember this day and the voice of Tunku Abdul Rahman chanting the word “Merdeka” for seven times with all the crowds joining in. It has been 59 years since we got our independent and we are still living in harmony and also still able to respect each other. But first, how does one define as a Malaysian? Does it have to do with the colour, the race, the creed or the religion? Well, I personally believe that regardless of all the factors I mentioned, one can be considered as a truly Malaysian if one calls Malaysia as a “home”.

HOW SPORTS CAN COMBINE MALAYSIANS?

Yes, a home. But how does one behave as a home? Truly Malaysian will definitely be very comfortable doing this that can only be accepted in Malaysia. I bet not many countries have the mixture of people from different race, cultural and languages. For an instant, when it comes to anything related with sports, we, Malaysian will be gathering together no matter what race we are. I mean, where would we find people with different race sitting at the “mamak” shop and yelling “goal!” while watching any football matches until 2 o’clock or 3 o’clock in the morning? I also still remember the Olympic game which was held on the 2012 where by the final badminton match between Dato Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan. The whole nation gathered just to watch the match and gave fully support to our national badminton player. There was a moment which is still fresh on my mind where by every one of us started to boo down on Lin Dan during the final round of the match. Even though Dato Lee Chong Wei did not win the match, but he surely wins the Malaysian heart.

THE FOOD

    I know everyone is possessed with the local food including me. For the foreigner, the local food is well known as “paradise of food or heaven of food”. No doubt that Malaysian local food is one of the best ways to attract the tourist and to make Malaysia fully recognize throughout globally. What I really love about the local food is that, it combines the Malaysian no matter where you are. Nasi lemak is a favorite food for the people of Malaysia, especially as breakfast. Nowadays it is usually eaten at any time. Arguably, every dining in Malaysia has a menu nasi lemak. Other than that, satey also one of the famous food in Malaysia. Satey easy to eat side-street as pierced with a skewer. Peanut satay sauce prepared from a finely crushed and mixed and cooked with various herbs and served with red onion and cucumber. Nasi Kandar is a popular dish of Malaysia and from Penang. It's a steamed rice dish that can be fresh or slightly flavored and served with a variety of curries and side dishes. Nasi Kandar cuisine complemented by meats such as fried chicken, curried liver, beef, eggs, fish, shrimp or fried squid. It is usually a vegetable dish such as eggplant, okra and bitter melon. The mixture is poured curry sauce on rice. This is called ‘banjir’ and conveys a sense of the variety of rice. 

 One of the menu is often the choice of tourists is pasembur. It is a Malaysian Indian salad consisting of sliced cucumbers, turnips, potatoes, tofu, bean sprouts, and dried shrimp, crab fried spicy, fried squid and many others who served with spicy peanut sauce and sweet.Concept resembles a hodgepodge, a term used specifically sprayed in the northern part of Malaysia. If in other parts of Malaysia , Rojak Mamak term more commonly used.In Penang, pasembur more popular as a food that must be enjoyed every traveler and it is available around Padang Kota Lama, temporary hawkers' sites in Persiaran Gurney and Gelutong. Ais Kacang and Cendol are the kind of sweet drinks. Cendol very popular with the public because the climate and the weather is very hot in Malaysia. There are lots of restaurants and eateries provide Cendol and Ais Kacang around Malaysia. Roti Canai, Laksa and TehTarik are the famous local cuisine and able to get those food by the local hawker stores.

Besides that, the Malaysian are not suppose the worry about getting the food at middle of the night because most of the “Nasi Kandar” shop and local hawker stores are available till 4am or 5am in the morning. Some people are willing to travel for at least 3 to 4 hours just to hunt their favorite food across the country. Make it simple, we, Malaysian willing to do anything just to get our favorite and yummy local food because we are truly food lovers. Do not call yourself a truly Malaysian if you do not eat Durian which also known as the local “fruit king”. Trust me; a durian lover can never live without eating durian when the season has come. As a durian fruit lover, I cannot deny the tastiness of the fruit as well as the smell which can be spotted few meters away. It is never enough for me neither the other durian lovers to have only one. 

Example of Foods:

THE LANGUAGE

Another remarkable fact about being truly Malaysian is the variety of languages. The Malay language is an Austronesia language spoken not only by Malaysians but all Malay people who reside in the Malaya Peninsula, southern Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, and central eastern Sumatera. It is also very similar to Indonesia, known locally as Bahasa Indonesia. In Malaysia the language is officially known as Bahasa Malaysia which is translate as “Malaysian Language” and also include of 2 more languages which consist of Chinese language and Indian language. Bahasa Malaysia also known as Malay language is the national language. The term, in which was introduced by the National Language Act 1967,was predominant until the 1990s, when most academics and government officials reverted to “ Bahasa Melayu,”which used in the Malay version of the Federal Constitution and also all local schools in Malaysia require the students to learn and to pass the national language. But English language is also widely spoken in Malaysia and it is actively known as the second language. It is easy to live in urban areas of Malaysia by only speaking the English language. Spoken English in local is heavily influenced with American English because of television. Besides that, with no hesitate, I would say that Manglish is English with influences from the Malay, Chinese and Indian language. It is unique dialect of English in Malaysia. For instant, the use of “lah”, “meh” are commonly used filler words and exclamation such as “fuuyoh” are considered Manglish. But the Malaysian Government strongly disapproves of the use of Manglish. Another uniqueness about Malaysia language is Bahasa Rojak which can be translate into mixed “language” referring to the Malaysian way of mixing language when speaking. I mean, where on earth you can find people using 3 main languages into one sentence and make it into slang. For an example, “hey macha, let’s go makan” or “you want to having here or tapao leh” or “anything also can lah”. If you can speak this slang, with no doubt, you are definitely truly Malaysian.

  THE CULTURE

In culture, Malaysia is a multiracial country with the variety if uniqueness of its diversity of races, religions and cultures. Diversity of different races, religions and verities of cultures that make Malaysia a truly Asian and significant characteristics to our nation. There are main three races in  Malaysia such as:

INDIAN

The Indian community in Malaysia is the smallest group among the other three races. They have arrived in Malaysia more than 200 year ago and the population of Indian religion in Malaysia is about 10 percent. Moreover, by them arriving to Malaysia they brought up the Hindu and Sikh culture. In Indian society there are many languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Punjabi and many more. They have build temples, Gurdwara’s and Indian church. In Malaysia, they celebrate Thaipusam and Deepavali mainly and there a lot of festivals such as Holi, Ponggal, New Years, Navarathiri and many more festival that are not celebrated mainly. Their traditional costumes are the Saree, Punjabi suits, Lengha suit are for the females and for males are the Jhippa and Dhothi. Bharanatyam is the traditional dance for the Hindu religion and for Sikh people is the Bhangra. There are a lots of traditional instrument by Hindu religions such as veenai, nadaswaram, tavil, tambura, violin and many more.

Tradisional Wears

                                                                           Festivals

Intruments

Dance

 CHINESE

The Chinese community has been immigrants to Malaysia during the 19 century, they are the second-largest ethnic group in Malaysia. The first Chinese who has settle in the Straits Settlements is Princess Hang Li Po who married to Sultan Malacca, she bring along her nobles and servants from China (Fujian). The Chinese boys who married to the local Malay girls and it born a new culture called (Baba Nyonya. Most of the Chinese in Malaysia are Tao Buddhist and this is their origin religion by forming about 35% of the population. In Chinese religion they are various people such as Min people who consists of Hokkien, Teochew, Hainanese, Heng Hua and Min Dong, Yue Chinese consists of Cantonese, Sei Yap, and Gwong Sai, and other are Hakka, Wu people and Nothern Chinese. The celebrations of Chinese in Malaysia are Chinese New Year, Chap Goh Meh, Moon Cake Festivals and many more. The traditional outfits are Ceong Sam, Sam Foo and others.

Traditional Wear

Festivals

Traditional  Instruments

Tradisional Dance

MALAY

The Malays  are the largest ethic in Malaysia and they play a main role and with the earliest peoples, we called them as bumiputera which is translate as "sons" or "princes of the soils". Their native language is Bahasa Malaysia, the national language of  Malaysia. By the meaning of the Malaysian constitution, all Malays are Muslims. Traditional Malaysia culture centers at the kampong or village. Their tradisional dance will be the joget, asyik, zapin, mak inang and many more. The tradisional clothes are the baju kurung, baju melayu and baju kebaya. Their tradisional music intruments are Angklung, Kompang, Rebab, Seruling and many more.

Tradinal Wear

Traditional Dance

Festivals

Traditional Instruments

SABAH and SARAWAK

The oldest inhabitants of Malaysia are tribal peoples who stand around 5% of the total population in Sabah and Sarawak. In Sarawak, Iban, Dayak and Bidayuh are the dominant tribal groups. In Sabah, Kadazan is the most number of the tribal. All of the "Orang Asli" shares a strong spiritual tie in rain forest.

OPEN HOUSE

One of the uniqueness about being a truly Malaysian is the ‘Open House’ concept where during the various religious and cultural festival like Hari Raya, Deepavali, Chinese New Year and so on. Friends, family and even strangers will join the homes of those celebrating the festivals. It is one of the ways to get to know each other and make some new friends from different race and religion background. Even though the visitors might be from different races, we still able to tolerate with each other and live under same roof where we can celebrate the festivals together. No matter how busy we are, we will always make ourselves free just to eat free food! Other than that, we were told to respect people from different race and believe. For examples, Indian does not consume any beef meat, therefor; other race must respect their culture by providing different food at any festivals. Same goes to Muslim believe that they are prohibited from taking any pork. 

THE PLACES

Malaysia is one of the most beautiful and interesting tourism destinations of South East Asia. Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual society. Its cultural diversity and the amazing contrast of colour makes the tourism destinations to visit Malaysia. The hi-tech life and welcoming people truly makes Malaysia the perfect holidaying destinations. In the country have an amazingly rich and beautiful landscape. For example the attractive capital city of Malaysia is the Kuala Lumpur one of the most visited tourists and travel destination of the country. With the stylish consolidation of the colonial building, mosque, temples, churches, sky-scrappers and the well-organized gardens makes the country more stylish and attractions. In Kuala Lumpur, there is one building that is classified as one of the tallest twin tower in the world and it was Petronas Twin Tower is a popular attraction of Malaysian and tourists. There are many beautiful places around Malaysia such as Genting Highland, Cameron Highland, A Famosa, Pahang National Park and water theme park such as Sunway lagoon, Lost World of Tambun and Legoland in Johor. Besides that, the Malaysian does not have to go to the overseas just to have amazing and breathe taking view island because in Malaysia, everything is complete. Examples of incredible and beautiful island in Malaysia are Pulau Langkawi, Pulau Perhentian, Pulau Redang, Pulau Pangkor, Pulau Tioman and there are also some other stunning islands in Sabah and Sarawak. To make it short, the Malaysian can explore everything in Malaysia without spending much money and enjoy their trip.

As I live in Penang, I would say Penang is the nicest place to visit together with the local glorious food. As we all know, Penang has announce as UNESCO World Heritage Site and as a Penang born citizen, I am naturally very proud. The reason why the island is known as Penang Heritage City is because it has the most number of pre-war buildings in all of South East Asia which are still undamaged and to show the world about the heritage buildings, art and culture. Moreover, Penang has the Asia’s longest bridge which connecting from island to the mainland and newly built second Penang bridge. If the people do not want to use the bridges, they can use Ferry which connects from Jetty Island to Mainland. Beside than having historical places and beautiful beach, Penang also has some interesting museums to be visited such as Penang Peranakan Mansion, Penang 3D Trick Art Museum, Penang War Museum, Kek Lok Si Temple and Penang Time Tunnel. The people can enjoy while learn new exciting things about Penang.

Conclusion

   As for the conclusion, my answer about what is it to be truly Malaysian will still be the same. It is the heart and the people that make me a truly Malaysian. No matter where life takes me, you can take a Malaysian out of Malaysia, but you can never take Malaysia out from a Malaysian. 

REFERENCES:

1) Reporters, F. and Reporters, F. (2015). What it means to be 'Truly Malaysian'. [online] Free Malaysia Today. Available at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/03/27/what-it-means-to-be-truly-malaysian/ [Accessed 18 Mar. 2016].

2) Facebook.com. (2016). SPM 2013 Continuous Writing (a). [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/notes/ooi-mo-han/spm-2013-continuous-writing-a/579898852057641/ [Accessed 18 Mar. 2016].

3) Anon, (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/history/the-people-and-culture-of-malaysia-history-essay.php [Accessed 22 Mar. 2016].

4) Srimahligai.com. (2016). [online] Available at: http://www.srimahligai.com/articles/instruments.htm [Accessed 22 Mar. 2016].