Bridge Building – the Journey

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.