I can eat with you at the same table
By Sim Kwang Yang
On a recent visit to my hometown Kuching City, I chose to stay at the Holiday Inn overlooking the limpid water of the lazy Sarawak River.
I sauntered over to a small shop selling books, magazines, and cigarettes. Paying for my purchase, I struck up a conversation with the petite young lady in tudung, something that I did rarely in KL.
After a brief chat on the weather and the high price of the Star in Kuching, I told her how much I loved Sarawak because of her friendly people. Thinking that I was a Chinese from West Malaysia, she smiled proudly and said, “Yes, we are friendly in Sarawak. I can even eat with you at the same table.”
Our national grand narrative on national unity and racial harmony are couched in sweeping abstract slogans like 1Malaysia. The real racial harmony is actually to be found in the little narratives of daily life in Sarawak and Sabah.
“I can eat with you at the same table.” That about says it all. From time immemorial, sharing a meal has always been a celebration of common congeniality along friends. It is the ultimate token of hospitality and mutual good will.
People who can share a meal together will very seldom end up as enemies. When the head of state visit another country, he is invited to attend a grand banquet hosted by the head of that state, as a symbol of friendship between the two countries.
The number of times when I can share a meal at the same table with my Malay friends in West Malaysia can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Involuntarily, a wall descends from the heavens of West Malaysia between members of different ethnic communities.
