Nope, it’s not just because I have an NRIC and red passport with the jata negara (national coat of arms). To me, being Malaysian is how I live, eat, and connect with people. It’s the warmth that radiates from every conversation at the pasar pagi. It’s the feeling I get when the pilot announces “To all Malaysians, welcome home” when we land at KLIA.
Being Malaysian to me basically means carrying little pieces of our unique mishmash of a culture into every conversation, meal, and life experience.
Food is life.
Whenever I promote Malaysia to anyone, the first thing I’d highlight is the FOOD. It might be because of my big back energy, but I don’t think I’m the only one who does this. I’ve seen other Malaysians argue like crazy to prove that our version of food is the best. I’ve heard nasi lemak la, chicken rice la, roti canai la. I agree with them, of course, because nothing beats a Jet2 Holiday Malaysian food.
A little fun fact about me is that I’m one of those people who plans trips around makan spots. As much as I want to explore the landmarks, if the place is famous for a certain dish, I’m going hunting for that no matter what. Honestly, I think that’s 100% Malaysian energy.
La is basically an emotional support word.
We don’t just mix the food. We even mix languages without thinking about it. I can start a sentence in English, throw in a bit of Malay, Chinese, or Tamil slang, and everyone around me would still get it. There was once a viral post that went something like “Wei macha, you want to makan here or tapau?” and this was peak us vibes.
In addition to learning all the curse words in most Malaysian languages, we also have a whole vocabulary of words that are purely Malaysian like gostan and cincai, and even made foreign words our own. “Blur” and “action” have their own meaning when said in Malaysia vs anywhere else. It’s typical for everyone to be called “Boss” too, which drove my Sri Lankan friend wild when we went to eat at a kopitiam.
So. Many. Festivals.
Okay, this I realised when I started working with colleagues in other countries. Malaysia has an insane amount of public holidays. Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Christmas, Sultan/Agong’s birthdays. Hell, even today’s a public holiday for Independence Day. I’m not complaining at all (but I know everyone else is hella jealous 😜).
Jokes aside, I love that we get to celebrate the festivities of different cultures and religions, staying very much informed and tolerant. I love being invited to my friends’ open houses for Raya and Chinese New Year because of the food (and angpow also hehe).
We appreciate culture.
Festivals and ceremonies like weddings are also the time I get to dress up in different traditional clothing. I enjoy dressing up in the traditional wear of other cultures and my own. It’s actually so cool when people pull off styles from cultures other than their own. It’s not cultural appropriation, but cultural appreciation if done correctly.
Plus, seeing our people unite to sing in any local dialect, perform a traditional dance or even play traditional instruments of any culture is so cool. Sometimes it hits me that we’re so lucky to be living in a country with so many diverse cultures that are still thriving. I’m sure it’s not just me who feels this way.
I know I’m not the most patriotic person. I complain about a bunch of things. So does every other Malaysian. But at the end of the day, being Malaysian means belonging to a country where diversity isn’t just tolerated, it’s lived. You can clearly see it in our food, our language, our friendships, and even our outfits!