Malaysia is Multicultural

On the 4th of July in Kuala Lumpur, no fireworks went off that we were aware of. But the design of the Malysian flag looks much like America’s, so at least that part was familiar.

Coming from Bangkok, our first impression was that we were in a much more developed place—efficient, centrally planned, proud of its successes. Seeing only the capital, we couldn’t tell how evenly Malaysia’s wealth is distributed, but KL’s streets and sidewalks at least looked in much better shape than what we’re used to.

At first glance the signs in Malay offered no clues. But after a few minutes, words and meanings began to pop out, like used to happen with those hidden-picture drawings as a kid. “Sentral” was obvious enough as the word to describe the main bus station; likewise, it wasn’t surprising to see “Polis” marked on the door of a car with a flashing light on top.

The hotel posted a welcome to a group of “eksekutifs” and offered a “cyberjaya” for anyone wishing to use the internet. Another term that quickly made itself clear was “dilarang,” as it was generally followed by a long list of no-no’s. Not only are flower picking and littering prohibited in a public park, it seems, but also writing and peddling and perhaps kissing.

Somebody suggested we visit the Highlands, which sounded refreshing. Soon we were suspended in a sky cable car, looking for monkeys in the rainforest below us. I looked forward to hiking around the top of the mountain when we finished the two-mile ride. Instead we found ourselves surrounded by casinos, amusement parks, and hotels that would have been right at home in southern California or southern Florida.

I had no idea such a familyfuncenter existed in Southeast Asia, and perhaps unfairly, I didn’t expect to find casinos in a Muslim-majority country. But Malaysia turns out to be many countries in one. A museum we visited the next day in Malacca featured displays on the various eras of the past six or so centuries: Sultanate, Portugese, Dutch, British, Japanese, British again.

The mixture shows up clearly in the food offerings. Crossing Malay and Chinese food produces a cuisine called nyonya. The many curry and roti shops made me feel I was in India.

Not only is Malaysia the former centerpiece of colonial power in the region—“Whoever is Lord in Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice”—but since independence about 50 years it has spent some of its natural resources prosperity on “kontemporari” symbols of achievement to go along with its “tradisional” attractions. The Petronas Towers were briefly the world’s tallest buildings. The federal government’s activities have been moved to a shiny new showcase city about 15 miles from both the capital and the airport, presumably because concentrating too many of the country’s aktiviti-aktiviti in one place is dilarang.