WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK

This book is inspired by my childhood experiences in the diverse cultural milieu of old Malacca. I grew up in Bandar Hilir, near the seaside fronting the Straits which gave birth to its great cosmopolitan port. My neighbours and playmates included Peranakan Chinese, Portuguese and Dutch Eurasians. We spoke Malay, and our playground was the breezy seaside padang (field) near the town centre. A tourist would have had a hard time figuring us out; there were Malay–looking boys with vibhuti on their foreheads, Indians buying Malay–style cakes from a Chinese, and Portuguese Eurasian, Peranakan Chinese and Peranakan Indian mothers in Malay–style kebaya and kerongsang. Yet we were doing just what Malaccans had done for centuries in this multi–ethnic port–city — revelling in its rich hybrid culture which had seeped through porous ethnic borders.

I had multiple identities. I was Malayan, Malay–speaking, Malaccan, Ceylonese Tamil and Catholic. When firecrackers exploded non–stop one night in 1963 I realized I had also became Malaysian. But there were no contradictions between the many worlds I inhabited. My religious values were universal and perennial, but my cultural boundaries were permeable. For me this was so natural that I simply never thought about it.

However I soon came to realize that my Malacca childhood had insulated me from the harsh realities of my own country. During two careers spanning thirty years, first as a journalist and later as a migration researcher, I travelled to various parts of the country and met Malaysians of many ethnic backgrounds. While I was impressed by high economic growth, I was distressed by the way ethnic ideology and politics was engendering a hardening of cultural boundaries, particularly between Malays, Chinese and Indians. Worse, there was a lack of creative and concerted attempts to counter these divisive trends by highlighting our shared histories and cultures, common universal spiritual values and our interlinked future.

The gap between economic growth and ethnic harmony is particularly high in Malaysia. This is despite the fact that affirmative action via the New Economic Policy (NEP), the main thrust of Malaysian nation–building since 1970, has in many ways made Malaysia a model multi–ethnic developing society.