Catholic Priest Teaches Catholic How to be Malaysian

By Ammar Haziq  •  07 Jun 2018 in Last Word

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The spirit of Malaysia has always been about bridging gaps, whether it’s generational or cultural. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Malay or Indian, a Christian or an atheist. The Malaysian spirit is about unity, regardless of who you are and while I was scrolling through Facebook, I stumbled upon a post that showed that unity.

Turns out that Malaysian spirit is growing stronger and ever since a new government was elected, it can only go up from here.

Facebook user Gregory Chan shared something that was quite funny, yet sticks true to our spirit.

He posted pictures of him helping Muslims distributing dates and bubur lambok at the neighbourhood mosque along Jalan Templer.

His Assumptioners (followers of the Church) were there as well, helping him distribute food while celebrating the spirit of Muhibbah, which translates into “goodwill”. All of the Muslim passers-by readily and gratefully accepted them, he said, until one non-Muslim flatly turned him down.

“One non-Muslim flatly turned me down without even looking at me, firmly waving her wrist, declaring thus; ‘I can’t, I’m a Catholic.'” he wrote on Facebook. Although he did not say why she declined aside from declaring her religion, Gregory did say she “turned me down without even looking at me”, indicating that the driver might not have noticed his ethnicity.

The food distributed was meant to be given to all, regardless of religion, just like how some mosques organise distribution of oranges and Muruku during CNY and Diwali, so the statement given by the driver had caught him by surprise.

Embarrassed, Gregory replied, “My dear, I’m a Catholic Priest!”

It might seems silly to talk about this event, the context may seem insignificant, but that’s what the Malaysian spirit is – helping everyone in your community, regardless of which deity they believe in and what colour their skin is.

Malaysia had it’s fair share of racial tension in the past, but if we truly want to achieve unity, we need to put aside the race (and religion) in our IC and put our citizenship first.

Because in the end, all our our blood, sweat and tears are spilled on the same ground. Tanah tumpahnya darahku, they said… and my blood is Malaysian.

It sounds cheesy, but it’s what makes living in this country so wonderful. We’re so proud of this land, the land that we all share and built.

There’s no dan lain-lain, because we’re all Malaysians.