by Patricia Nunis
Like most Malaysians before the 13th
General Election (GE13) in 2008, I lived and worked in a comfortable silo of
separated communities coming together in the workplace. I fostered workplace
relationships that did not have relevance in the family or in my religious
practice, other than casual conversations about how society was changing and
the widening gaps between us and them – whoever the “us and them” might be.
Though I had a firm belief that all Malaysians share in the future of our
nation, there seemed no way to work towards a more effective integration of the
different ethnic groups and interests, apart from relying on the actions of the
various race-based component parties. Our political leaders campaigned on
ethnic interests. There seemed little possibility of change except if they
could form new alliances among the emerging parties hoping to provide
alternatives to the Barisan Nasional, in power since independence in 1957. There seemed to be little chance of changing
the social dynamics in Malaysia. I sometimes was dismayed that we were hurtling
down the road of greater and greater separation and suspicion between our
ethnic communities.
The first indications of possible change
came after GE13 when the Pakatan Keadilan Rakyat successfully provided a strong
opposition, winning 5 key states. The
change had begun, and it continued to snowball with an ongoing churn of
alliances, broken promises and new possibilities. As I write this in 2020, 12
years from that point, we are facing a new crisis of leadership. The work of bridge building begun in 2008 is
now even more important for the future of our nation.
Building
my Bridge
My personal journey of bridge building
began in 2008 when I met Hamidah Marican at a conflict management
workshop. We were both participants and
soon partners in sharing our experiences of conflict and how we each worked at
resolving them. Our unlikely pairing resulted in a new friendship that has
grown deeper and stronger over the past years.
Sharing our family stories and life experiences from our Catholic and
Muslim perspectives led us to see that though different, we had much in common.
Hamidah had a corporate background and
training in Diversity and Inclusion and I had my abiding interest in the impact
of ethnicity on nation-building. Soon after we met, we viewed a documentary of
the work of Pastor James Wuye and Imam Ashafa of Nigeria, who came together to
work for peace in Nigeria after experiencing open conflict that cost them the
lives of family and friends. We also had the privilege of meeting with James
and Ashafa in person that year, when they made a visit to the region. They
inspired us to begin a project of our own, which we called Building Bridges. We
believed that our experience of learning from each other and our mutual respect
was something that we could share with other Malaysians.
We began by screening the documentary on
the Imam and Pastor to our network of friends and civil society groups, using
it as a catalyst for conversation on interethnic relations and mutual respect.
The response was encouraging, and we gradually moved into community groups
hoping to bring this message to as many Malaysians as we could. Our work caught
the eye of a donor connected to a private university and led us to designing
and facilitating a Diversity and Inclusion Youth Camp (DIYC), for private and
public university students. The DIYC was
an annual 3-day residential programme hosted by UTM Skudai under the patronage
of HRH Sultanah Raja Zarith Sofiah of Johor. It was mostly funded by a private
donor and supported by anchor universities like UTM Skudai, UCSI, Inti, and KDU
at different times. We ran the camp in
2012, 2014 – 2017 before taking a break. The DIYC today still runs, as a
programme supported by KDU, but with a different programme content and
format.
After GE14 in July 2018, in collaboration
with Rev Hermen Shastri, General Secretary of the Council of Churches,
Malaysia, we began Building Bridges, Connecting Communities – a revised
programme targeted at community leaders of all ethnicities, interest groups,
and religious institutions. The idea was to provide opportunities to break
through barriers between groups and help build a shared Malaysian identity that
would strengthen our social fabric and build our nascent democracy. The 4-hour workshop was based on promoting
respectful dialogue based on current Malaysian issues. We introduced dialogue tools like focused
conversation, managing stereotypes and the Ladder of Inference.
Now we are in 2020 – and we have had 6 sessions
and about 150 people go through our programme.
It has evolved to include a 2-hour segment on key articles of the
Federal Constitution and a reality game called Harmony Hub. Prior to the
political gambit that happened in the last week of February, we were beginning
to get support from the wakil rakyat
and a hope that the programme would be shared with residents’ associations,
youth, volunteers and the larger community. All of this will now have to be
re-evaluated in the light of impending changes in government.
Moving
Forward with Malaysia
What are we to do now about the state of
Malaysia? The years of reshaping our polity and society begun so hopefully in
2008 seem to have been frittered away in the recent in-fighting among political
parties. Are all the work done by concerned citizens and groups to build
Malaysia to be abandoned because our leaders have failed us?
Perhaps it is a call to re-examine our role
as community leaders and citizens. This
is the intent of holding Building Bridges, Connecting Communities workshops
regularly for all Malaysians.
A key insight that has emerged for me in
meeting all the wonderful people in our sessions is that every individual has a
gift to contribute to society, a talent, a way of being, a personal story, a
life lived with others. When we meet in a safe space and share our stories, we
open the doorway to getting to know each other and building community.
One of the objectives of the Building
Bridges workshop is a deeper understanding of who we are as Malaysians, sharing
common values and principles. We also
aim to provide participants with insights on the Federal Constitution and what
it means for the different communities in Malaysia – and what is needed to
build Malaysia. This year, we have added a reality game component called
Harmony Hub Malaysia where players are challenged to make principled decisions
based on their values and see how they play out in a socio-economic
environment.
Hamidah and I believe that change must
begin with individuals – despite what may be happening at the macro level. It takes individuals to respond to news, real
or fake, and individuals to reach out across boundaries, real or imagined, to
foster shared understanding with people of different cultural traditions. If we
can strengthen the core universal values in the hearts of individuals across
different faith traditions and communities, we have a hope of combatting the
effects of partisan politics and xenophobia. The person in the street must be
aware and intentional enough to reject fake news, false prophecies, and
predictions of gloom and doom. We need to acknowledge our real differences and
honour our shared interests so that we can work together to build a Malaysian
society. It’s not going back to what it was in the 60’s – a false nostalgia for
“good times” that were essentially untested. We need to build a society that is
respectful of the other where every person is equal and valued for what they
bring to the nation. We must come to value
the richness of our diversity that provides us with flexibility and
possibilities of growth in many spheres of action. In doing this, our youth
will be the key. The internet generation is in many ways globally tuned in, and
have little time for restrictive boundaries of race, religion, class and
privilege. These things disappear on the virtual platforms where they are
clearly seen as attachments that do not add real value to the issues of daily
living.
Deep
Learning from My Journey
I wanted to share my experience of Building
Bridges in connection with the words of Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O mortal,
what is good.
And what does the Lord
require of you?
To act justly and to love
mercy
and to walk humbly with
your God
I think the key for Building Bridges is the
last line – walk humbly with your God. There are activists and groups clamoring
daily in our current situation for justice and mercy and equality of rights and
representation. Not much is said about walking humbly.
There are people who comment that a
programme like Building Bridges is too wishy-washy – ignoring the real problems
that divide society. I believe that
there is more than enough airtime given to dismal news. Also, there is limited time to interact face
to face in seminars and symposiums that talk about race, religion and various
perspectives – it’s just a repetition of positions and perspectives with a
little time given to questions. The same ground is covered again and again
leaving listeners with a sense of frustration about what needs to be done.
In Building Bridges, the key is to provide
time and space for participants of different ethnicities to interact, listen
and share views in a safe space such that there is a real encounter with the
other. The result is shared perspectives
and greater understanding. This is for me – a way of walking humbly, with each
other and with God. Can we really see
our Creator in the being of our neighbor, whoever that neighbor may be?
Each person needs to experience this walk
as an individual journey. Hamidah and I experienced it as we got to know each
other from our first meeting in 2008.
Though I had minimal negative perceptions of any community in Malaysia –
partly due to my Social Science background, I really did not have a close
friend who was also a Muslim. There seemed to be a barrier to that which all my
training in sociology and psychology could not overcome. My spiritual
foundation taught me that all humanity shares the fatherhood of God and each of
us is unique and precious in His sight. Yet, it was difficult to see that in my
communications with Muslims – especially in the face of what I saw as unfair
affirmative rights and practices in our society.
As I got to know Hamidah and we shared our
personal challenges and difficulties, I realized that the perceptions I had
held earlier were too simplistic and tarred a whole community for the actions
of the few who would manipulate the system. Inequality and prejudice exist
within a community just as much as it exists across communities. When we come
to know individuals as persons and friends, we then truly see them and listen
to them. We will find it much harder to stereotype. Instead we start to see
individuals as having to deal with inequality and life challenges. We will begin to see people as they are – and
relate to them differently. We begin to
know them, even as we become known to them, as sharers in humanity. We begin to
walk humbly with them, and in so doing, walk humbly with our God.
I have entered my 6th decade and have
developed a certain resilience to what life brings to my doorstep. I am certain that the Lord holds all in His
hands, and He will work it in His own time. We may experience this as long
waits or delays – but I have a sneaking suspicion that the delays are given to
us as opportunities to cleanse ourselves that we might be ready for Him.
I spend my waiting time working and walking
with my Muslim friend, building bridges and connecting communities. We share an
understanding of how our work links us to our faith and praxis. Yet, we live in
our different faith traditions, as we realise we are products of our upbringing
and culture. We accept our limitations of being bound in time and space. We
realise too that in working together, we witness to others that this
partnership is a possibility and may work for others too.
Our wish for those of you who read this is
that you too may open your hearts and minds to welcoming someone from a
different faith tradition as a friend. You will find your world opening up and
you see a whole new way of being. You
too may find new ways to walk humbly with another, and in doing so, walk humbly
with your God.
Patricia Nunis
4 March 2020
POSTSCRIPT on 13
January 2021
The Malaysian
Movement Control Order to flatten the COVID-19 curve was announced on 18 March
2020 and the following exercises throughout the year resulted in much of my
work migrating to a virtual platform. All the events planned were postponed or
changed to zoom encounters. I found that virtual meetings provided for a
different level of connection and privacy – in some ways, providing a sense of
safety to encourage people to connect. The work continues and I have begun a
series of Dialogue Events for both interfaith and social issues encounters. We
continue to find ways to connect to other Malaysians and build community.
A Note from Micah Malaysia:
Patricia Nunis writes on the changing times of
Malaysia, and how her experiences have led to a broadening of her life. Her
involvement with Harmony Works and Building Bridges has taught her to walk
humbly with people and with God. It is an intentional step to go beyond our
social and cultural bubbles and realise a common humanity. Living God’s story
calls for societal transformation, and that begins with you and I.
Patricia is
committed to Community Development efforts in Malaysia focusing on promoting
positive inter-ethnic relationships and dialogue across faith communities.
After graduating in B.Soc Sc she served in UNHCR VBP camps in Malaysia. She moved on to work with girls and women in
crises with an NGO for 8 years before moving to the corporate sector to lead a
Training & Development function. She is now an independent facilitator
providing dialogue and facilitation services and promoting connections across
ethnic groups in Malaysia. Writing is a hobby and a way of reaching out to
others.
This
article is part of a series written by various authors after a
Christian Writing for Advocacy Workshop organised by Micah Global,
Malaysian CARE, and CTI in mid-2019.
