Malaysians should never lose hope for a better future

 Recent views corresponding with the Merdeka celebration would give pause to any proponent of the theory that the dominant motif of the Malaysian mosaic is owed to a single race or religion.

From Terence Netto

Among the medley of stories on the Merdeka commemoration – a fixture of the news cycle at this time of the year – were a few yarns that jaded Malaysians took as reminders that we should never lose hope for a better future, even if that hope dangles by a thread.

It should be no surprise that sustenance for that hope came from a Sabah politician, Salleh Said Keruak, who used the occasion to remind citizens that the country belongs to no single community.

Somehow, the impulse towards inclusiveness comes more easily to Borneans than peninsula-types, probably because people from that part of the country find diversity natural and a plural outlook normative.

Salleh is an Umno leader, which is why it was unusual that he advised his peninsula colleagues not to make their aspiration for Malay and Muslim unity the sole compass by which they steer.

In Facebook postings marking the anniversary of Merdeka, Salleh called for the broadening of that compass to include the diversity of the people that inhabit Sabah and Sarawak, even the rest of the entire nation.

It is a vision that tells you why the next prime minister of the country ought to come from Borneo, simply because there, you find leaders with a natural impulse to inclusiveness the way you don’t on the peninsula.

Salleh maintained that Malaysia does not belong to a single community and that every community contributed to the development of the country.

His sentiments dovetailed nicely with the views of the recently-retired deputy inspector general of police, Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, whose post-retirement reflections praised the contributions of Chinese officers to the defeat of the communist threat to the country.

Ayob reminded us that those contributions helped build the nation and should not be forgotten.

Ayob’s views blended well with the substantive and well-founded assertion of historian Ranjit Singh Malhi, who has been energetic in recent weeks in espousing the narrative that many hands made the fabric of the Malaysian nation.

The views of Salleh, Ayob and Ranjit would give pause to any proponent of the theory that the dominant motif of the Malaysian mosaic is owed to a single race or religion.

It was as if the gods had smiled on this conclusion when news went viral during the Merdeka celebration period on the exploits of the Malaysian women’s Under-16 football team in Indonesia.

The jubilation felt by netizens over the seven goals scored by Lim You in a 9-0 Malaysian victory over Saudi Arabia in the Srikandi football tournament in Java was cathartic.

Lim You is a Taiwan-born and America-raised player whose parents came from Johor Baru.

She was the star of the Malaysian team whose paroxysms of joy over her goal-scoring exploits in the match against Saudi Arabia were powerful testimony that the Malaysian nation is a work in progress.

This blossom of a nation, albeit drooping, may take a beating but will not be easily stifled. - FMT

Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.