Wind of change

I guess we all (Sarawakian I mean) have heard it. The baton has been pass down to a new face. We Sarawakian has heard of his so called 'retirement' for so many times before that when he mentioned it again this month, I couldn't be bother. But I guess this time, it is for REAL. Living away from my beloved homeland doesn't mean that I do not update myself with what is happening back home. After all, this is an era of technology where news at the other side of the world is just at the tip of our fingers. 

Well..well..well..this time, I will be going home to a new CM. I am not going to say very much about this regime change because I rather play the game  of ' wait & see'. We all hope for the best with this change. It might not be any significant changes for that matter or no change at all! But one thing I feel we Sarawakian most agree with is that, we hope that the prosperity and racial harmony that we enjoy now, will remain the same for many years to come. When people said Malaysian live in sync with one another despite the diverse culture and religion..well..that statement might be a little bit too 'overdoing' if I must say…because it does not really represent the WHOLE of Malaysia. You will not see the REAL racial, cultural & religion harmony until you step your feet in BORNEO ( as we formally known).

Despite all these tension and bickering on religious issues that put Malaysia on the world map lately, we across the South China Sea couldn't be bother. It is just a spec of dust on this wide State of ours, which doesn't effect us at all. We have been able to live with each other despite our differences for ages. When we, Sarawakian meet up, there is no such thing as Iban, Bidayuh, Chinese, Malay…etc..because we only see Sarawakian & automatically speak Sarawakian. Our mutual respect to each other is not something that need to be taught to us in school by some hideous text book or ignorant individual who has no clue that Kadazan is from Sabah, and not Sarawak. We learn to respect each other by simply living among each other. It is not uncommon for us to have more than two different religion within the family and yet we still eat on the same table, using the same plate. There is no need for them to ask how the food is prepare because the trust we have on each other. We live by the saying…"if you want people to respect you, you have to respect them too". Very simple ain't it …which we Sarawakian couldn't understand why our fellow countrymen on the other side can't follow despite claiming that they are more developed (mentally) than us.  

My parent live in one of the earliest housing estate in Kuching and one of my parent's neighbor is a Muslim family, which we have known as far as I can remember. My dad built a bbq pit just outside the wet kitchen, which is literally very near the neighbor backyard. So, basically you can't have a bbq without them knowing. My dad refuse to grill pork meat at the bbq pit because he think it is very rude to do so as the neighbour might smell it ( as if they know what kind of meat is on the grill right?). But that's my dad. He think we should respect others religious belief although they might not know what we do that might offend them. Whenever my sister & her kids come over to Kuching for vacation, my dad will not even buy any beef during the whole time they are there (my brother in law is Hindu so they can't eat beef). My sister don't even eat beef in front of her kid as a sign of respect to her husband and his belief.

I guess you know what am I trying to convey here. The need to respect others do not need to come from a written text books or policies but merely from an awareness that our ignorant attitude and couldn't care less actions could hurt other people feeling. I guess because we used to live with families/relatives/friends from different race & religion, we grow up with more sensitivity & tolerance to others. And this is what me as a Sarawakian, pray & hope will remain regardless who taking over the reign as the CM. No matter what kind of change the new person bring, I hope he will have the same need as most Sarawakian, that is to bring as much development to the State and yet maintain the peace and harmony that we currently enjoy.