Think Multiculturally

Taken from Mr Google (not the same with my experience)

Today, 6th May 2012 I  went to Bukit Cerakah,Shah Alam. I am the participant of Treasure Hunt.This program was conducted by Personal Growth Group (PGG) which is one of the club under Counseling Services Centre. In this program there are 3 international students which are 2 brothers from Yemen and a Somalian brother.It is very  interesting when dealing with them. From my observation  during the program,I can see that the two  brothers are very cool and energetic.They were very  friendly with Malaysian students and never give up in this programs.

One brother from Yemen called Ayad, like to ask my group members about Malay culture and language.He told  us that he have learned 400 Malay words and sometimes he cannot remembered all the words that he have learned. However, he ask us to correct his spelling when speak Malay.

The other brother named Mansur  also from Yemen and he likes to mix with Malaysian people and learned about our culture. Since he became the member of PGG's club, he took this  opportunity to know Malaysian very well and he also tried to the get as much he can tor build networking with Malaysian students. He also respect Malaysian culture and  he wish to visit our house during Eidul Fitri.

However,I did not have many chance to talk  with Somalian brother because of time consuming. The Somalian brother  looks steady and cool with his group members. He is enjoying today's activity.

1. To know about Batu Caves temple
2.  To know the activities held in the temple

1.        Observation
2.        Interview

On 2nd May, we have get our lunch near Batu Caves.Then,my groupmates suggested to take our lunch at Kedai Nasi Kerabu Nara.'Nasi kerabu' was most the famous food in Kelantan.Suddenly I'm shocked when it have different kind of Nasi Kerabu  which were 'nasi kerabu ayam Nara','nasi kerabu sambal tumis' and nasi kerabu merah'..I'm from Perak and before this,I did not like these 'nasi kerabu'..However,after lunch today I felt these foods was delicious..Malay culture is majority in Malaysia however,it differ in terms of dialect,food traditional,event and so on.

Good evening to everyone. Today I want to share with you about our immersion project entitled Journey to Herbal Shop. That place is located at Batu Caves as we want to get the nearest place to our Mahalah. Moreover we noticed that Batu Caves in most suitable place to conduct this project because of its diversity and different races that we know it is crucial and will make easy our project.

The objectives that we want to achieve in this project is

1. To gain knowledge about chinese herbs in detail
2. To know the importance of the herbs that they used in traditional medical setting
3. To get information about the culture of Chinese at that place

At first  we searched for the suitable place, we got some difficulties in getting the parking lot because of it is the centre of food stall, bank and supermarket. After half an hour, finally we found the vacant car parking (in front of a supermarket) and we need to walk away for 5 minutes to reach at the herbal shop.



Our first destination is Kedai Ubat Fu Sing. Firstly, we greet the worker. The worker is a lady. We tell her the purpose of our visit. But the lady said that she not really fluent in Malay. Furthermore, she said that we should get the information  of Chinese Herb from her boss. Then we tries to convince her but she still give the same answer to us.She also did not look so friendly stances. Besides, she said that her employers was having lunch at that time and she did not know when her boss will come back. We feel very disappointed because we saw her boss at the back of the shop. However, we can't force others to cooperate if they refuse right? Maybe they have their own reason.

After waiting for several time, we decided to find another place.We move to the next shop with a new hope that they will cooperate with us.



Since Chinese population is the majority race in this place, we did not get so much difficulties in finding another shop that offering the traditional chinese herbs. When move to the next place, after introducing ourselves as IIUM students, the taukeh refused to share with us about this information. He gave excuses that he cannot speak Malay fluently and if among us can speak Mandarin, he will deal with us. We tried to persuade him and told him that this is our important project that we need to finish but he still reluctant. Again, we could not get this information.

Cooperation is not there, so it's hard for us to continue with our purpose. We can understand that it is difficult for us if we interrupt their business. Even though there is no customers at that time, yet nobody wants to entertain us...pity us!

We might  feel dissapointed, but we're can still smile  :)

What  experiences that we got  today?


Ermm,  actually  even  though  they are  not  give full  cooperation  with us, here we understand  that people  have different values and  belief  that they  may  hold  since  long time ago. We know  that  perhaps there are concrete  reasons  why they are reluctant to share with us about the information.
In our opinion,  language barrier is the primary factor of this issue.Maybe the owner of Chinese Herb refuse to give the cooperation because the language barrier. They may feel difficult if they have to translate the Chinese term to Malay or English. In addition, people from different place might have different perception of each other.

But never mind. Our journey will not stop here. It is still  long that we must walk until the end.

Do you think that Malaysian people are engaged in different festival that are contradicting with their belief and religion?

For example, a Malay people visit Indian family during Deepavali.
Or a Chinese came to Malay family during Hari Raya.
Are this situation common in our society?

Some of us, Malay people for example, when they went to some ceremony that involving different races, they will feel weird and awkward. Why? Because they might think,

'Oh, that food must be cooked by non-muslim. They must put pork at that food'
'I feel awkward with the food that I ate just now. Is it halal or not?'
'Rather than I go to this ceremony, better I stay at home. At least I did not waste my time  at there'
'Oh  my God. What happen? Why they must worship that thing during open house? Annoying!'

Look. Some of us still have our own stigma about this. For us, it is better to befriend with the same race because we share the same value and norms rather than knowing people with different race and religion even though they live beside our house. Don't you think that it is shameful for us as Muslim?

Is there any surah that our God told us not to approach them or befriend with them?

Of course the answer is NO.

If we look at our surrounding outside, open up our mind regarding this, we will realize that actually we are too selfish and not practing 'weness' in our life. Can you imagine that in this world that there is people who will not help one person from his badly injured because of different races? Do you think that it is impossible to happen nowadays?

I can see that currently whenever I go to everywhere; shopping complex, lake or garden, I wills see the same situation; Malay only with Malay, Chinese is only with their Chinese friends, Indians with their friends as well. So, where is the cultural diversity here?

You got the answer. I am sure of that.

On  12th March  2012, IUM Rector Prof. Dato' Sri Dr. Zaleha Kamaruddin launched the Ummatic Week 2012 at Cultural Activity Centre, IIUM. A week long programme displayed the diversity and uniqueness of cultures at the University. The programme highlighted the cultures of various countries represented in IIUM such as those from Africa .such as Morocco , the Middle East and Asia including Malaysia. 


Our mission  to visit this festival is 

1. To get  know  each others  by acknowledging  various  Islamic culture throughout  the  world. 
2. To  go deeper   the history of each country and  understand their  norms  and  values.
3. To gain  experiences  through the interaction  with  the students representatives for each  country  (booth)