Unity and harmony worth emulating

IN celebrating Chinese New Year this past week, it's timely to reflect how festive occasions often bring us together to share festivities with one another.

This is particularly the case in Sarawak, where people visit one another and celebrate together on all festive occasions – regardless of race or religion.

Sarawak's long-standing multicultural harmony is often spoken about as an integral part of the state's culture and identity, and an admirable trait to be extolled and emulated.

For example, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said in his Chinese New Year message that Sarawak was a place where the respective races were free to practise their culture, traditions and religions without hindrance.

"We celebrate and find strength in our differences rather than letting them divide us. For us diversity is beauty and strength, and not division.

"As we join our Chinese friends to celebrate the New Year, I invite all of you, especially the older generations, to look back at the past where our multiracial society was more closely-knit in the ways we conduct our everyday lives.

"We played, went to picnics, frequented the same coffeeshops and had fun together, not caring very much whether one is Malay, Chinese, Dayak or Orang Ulu.

"We must relive this spirit of togetherness and trust in each other in order for Sarawak to continue to be a harmonious and a happy place for all of us," he said.

Our unity in diversity, which is notably on show during festive seasons, is something Sarawakians can be proud of. But as we celebrate this latest festival, I think there are two things we can reflect on.

The first is that we shouldn't take our unity and harmony for granted. Sure, this is something we've experienced and heard about all these years. In fact, we hear it talked about frequently in speeches, statements and social media posts.

But we should guard against becoming complacent and end up only paying lip service to the notion of unity. To truly preserve our unity and ensure it remains vibrant and meaningful, we need to keep practising what we preach, to be intentional in our friendships with people who are different from us, celebrate our diversity, continue cultivating mutual respect, trust and understanding and resist any attempt to politicise race and religion.

We can be thankful that we have enjoyed unity and harmony over the years, and let's keep putting in the effort to ensure that we will continue to live peacefully with one another.

The second thing is this. People like to speak of Sarawak as a model state when it comes to race relations, but it seems like it's often left at that, as a statement of fact or admiration. Instead, why don't we take it a step further?

If Sarawak is indeed a model of multicultural harmony to be admired, wouldn't it make sense to actually emulate this example? Again, we shouldn't just pay lip service to unity and harmony without backing up what we say with action.

And for Sarawakians, our harmonious relations shouldn't merely be a matter of bragging rights. Instead, let's consider how we can encourage others to follow our example, not just by talking about our harmony but by continuing to live it meaningfully, so that everyone can see that living together in unity is not only something that can be achieved but is worth doing. - Star