SOMEWHERE on the outskirts of Perak, in a co-ed school, my friends and I were part a group known as the “The Backstreet Girls”.
There were five of us: Jiha, Wawa, Anu, Tan and me. We were inseparable and had a mutual love for the popular boy band, Backstreet Boys.
We memorised and sang their songs wherever we went. We made versions of their songs in our mother tongues and sang them too.
Those days of riding buses to school each day and talking for hours at public telephone booths were the best years of our lives.
Nothing fazed us. We stood by each other through good and bad. We were The Backstreet Girls and no one dared to mess with us.
We took no time adjusting to secondary school life. We were thrilled to wear those blue uniforms and those beautiful white and light blue baju kurung.
There were fights and tears, but none of it mattered as we saw ourselves as one. Throughout our secondary school years, we took all that came to us. Our group got larger and we were tightly fastened to each other. Our relationship knew no boundaries.
Festive seasons were chaotic. The menu of each household, be it for Hari Raya, Deepavali, Chinese New Year or Christmas, was decided by us.
The one thing that never came up, be it at school or at home, was racial discrimination.
Our relationship withstood every storm for one reason — we weren’t separated by our beliefs.
Race and religion were matters to be kept to ourselves, not a matter of discussion.
Our strength in school was the fact that we were multiracial and we stood strongly by each other despite our beliefs.
Our group got bigger because of what other students saw in us.
The vibrancy of understanding each other’s needs without any racial issue was the core of this friendship.
What’s in my mind at this point? A simple multiracial friendship among five people — if it can create a wholesome community in a school, what changes could it bring to the larger society?
If we could get together to understand each other regardless of creed, why can’t everyone in this country follow suit?
When someone sees us and asks us what is our race, we ask them which race are they talking about. A horse race?
Sept 16 isn’t just another day. It marked the epoch of this country becoming one, of all of us becoming one.
Why is this oneness breaking like an eggshell?
Happy Malaysia Day to all my fellow Malaysians.
JAYA LAKSHMI
Ipoh, Perak