1What Again?

We speak different languages, and different dialects within these languages. We practice different religions in different houses of worship, and belong to different groups within these religions. We live in different neighbourhoods and go to different schools, with teachers who were not trained together and emphasize different values (even if the syllabus is technically the same). We eat, for the most part, different cuisines, in different places, separate from each other.

We read different newspapers, magazines and books, and we watch different shows on different tv channels. We visit different blogs and websites (except facebook, but even then real-life boundaries are virtualised here). We listen to different radio stations, buy different music, watch different movies, are targeted by different ads.

We belong to different societies and organisations. Many of us work in different jobs. Some of us avoid certain industries of sectors (the civil service, armed forces, etc.). Some would even say we like different sports, shop in different places, idolize different figures and wear different clothes.

We are not compelled to share common narratives, values or dreams. We are often provoked to distrust, segregate from, look down upon and even despise each other and each other's cultures. Our entire social, political, and (worse of all) mental framework is shaped by the inadequate, unjust, crude and truly tragic contours of race, from the day we were born into this country.

I'm sorry, but I often find it hard to swallow talk of 1Malaysia.