This Los Angeles Times article about 1 Malaysia, the Malaysian government's ongoing campaign for national unity, brought to mind a conversation I had last week with a young Malay from KL. I mentioned Penang, and he -- who hasn't spent much time there -- said, somewhat dreamily "I have this image in my mind of Penang as this place where 1 Malaysia really exists."
Penang is no La-La Land of racial and religious harmony. (Is there a place in the world that is, these days? Certainly not my home country.). But in some respects this young man's misty water-colored image of the place isn't completely off the mark. In Penang there is a certain air of live-and-let-live, and a level of social mixing that sometimes appears to my (yes, foreign) eyes absent this far south. Coming from KL, Penang feels different.
I don't know if this can be pinned to history or location (a Chinese proverb about how being far from the capital allows for thinking and acting outside the 'party-line' box comes to mind) or a sort of island mentality. Maybe it's in the water. But Penang-ites recognize it themselves.
"We're not like those [Fill in Race, Religion, Political Party Affiliation, etc. Here] down south," I've been told by many a local. "No one tells us how to think. We do things our own way."
On the most superficial level you see it in places like the ground-floor coffee shop of the Rio Hotel, at the edge of George Town's Little India. Three hawker stalls run by a Malaysian-Indian Muslim and two Malaysian-Chinese husband-and-wife teams, mee jawa and mee goreng cooked up within sniffing distance of char koay teow and sliced pork-topped wonton mee (Penang-style, with deep-fried wontons).
The coffee at the Rio is good (though not as good as Toon Leong's) and the pleasant proprietor, son of the shop's original owner, always asks if we want 'sweet milk' or 'regular milk' when we order kopi peng (iced coffee) -- a nice touch.
The large and airy corner space attracts cross breezes and a mixed crowd -- folks in shirt-and-tie on their way to work in one of the nearby banks, elderly couples who've been patrons for decades, domestic tourists, housewives, gaggles of retirees in exercise togs on their way back from power-walking the circumference of Fort Cornwalis. And occasionally you'll see wonton mee-slurping Chinese elbow-to-elbow with Malays indulging in a plate of greasy (but delicious) mee mamak and Indians supping on char koay teow.
Long before we moved to Malaysia I read an article which quoted a Malaysian thus: "We have our differences but we can always come together at the table." I don't see that sentiment in action often here in KL. But you don't have to look far to find it George Town.
Granted, it's just noodles. Sharing a coffee shop or even a table won't change minds or erase prejudices, or solve whatever troubles the nation. But perhaps it's a start?