SOME relatives from outstation came by for a visit last weekend. Over Sunday breakfast, the conversation veered towards short holiday breaks, among other things.
One Kuala Lumpur-based relative discussed the merits of various short hops out of the city.
For a slightly longer trip, he recommended driving from the federal capital to Penang, with a stopover on the way there or back in Ipoh.
These are, of course, two of the most charming cities but the food choices there are always a welcome bonus.
But beach bums that he and the wife are, this relative lamented that the best beaches (and priciest resorts to go with them) in Penang are mostly choc-a-bloc with foreign holidaymakers.
At the more moderately priced resorts popular with local visitors, one has to be prepared for often unseemly scrambles at the buffet tables.
Places such as Port Dickson are nearer the city and therefore convenient for weekend breaks, but then if the idea is to get away from the maddening crowds, many others in the city tend to have similar ideas, so the appeal of easy-to-reach getaways may lose a bit of lustre.
Road links are top-rate in most parts of the peninsula, so reaching most holiday spots is mostly effortless. My relative rooted for the beaches of Cherating in Kuantan. The only drawback there is that rough seas this time of year make the east coast challenging for beach-goers.
Why Kuantan, or the east coast? For one, the beaches there are much less crowded. But my relative finds the people travellers encounter there a major plus point.
From the attendant at petrol stations to resort workers, one is likely to meet the quintessential gentle Malay, sincerely happy to meet and chat with you and going out of his or her way to assist.
At this point in our leisurely and mostly pleasant breakfast chat, politics rudely interrupted by way of another older relative.
Out of the blue, he started singing the praises of the Jewish people, complimenting them for being financially shrewd and technologically advanced. Those are, of course, well-worn caricatures of Jews and mostly true, to be sure.
This relative then went on about how foolish our government is to be so vehemently anti-Israel.
I was not in any mood to delve into the intricacies of international politics (and the especially treacherous Middle-Eastern variety), except to comment in passing if there is anything in the DNA of Jews which makes them who and what they are, generally speaking, of course.
Nothing was offered that morning about the related and undetachable link between Israel or the Jews and the suffering and oppression of Palestinians — both Muslims and Christians — in the Holy Land.
What moves me to write this piece is how our very own frustratingly bifurcated politics finds a reflection in Israel and the hopelessly divided and violence-prone larger Middle East.
It only makes me wonder: is politics the precursor of natural fissure points in any society or is it these pre-existing social fissures which ultimately define our politics?
Is the land of the gentle Malays found in the east coast that my Kuala Lumpur-based Sarawakian relative finds so appealing somehow “spoilt” by the large-scale arrival of non-natives to the west coast tin mines and plantations (through nobody’s fault, except perhaps that of the colonial-era merchant class)?
That fact alone reverberates till this day in the way our politics is now largely shaped. Despite all that, I think one inarguable ideal that most Malaysians can agree on is that of a “non-racial” Malaysia. The tricky bit is to arrive at a consensus about what “non-racial” means in practice and reality.
A basic ingredient in arriving at any such consensus is one that I find sorely lacking in many Malaysians: empathy for the thought processes of other Malaysians.
Malaysia resembles a marriage and as in any marriage, it will perhaps be forever a work in progress. A marriage only succeeds if both parties accept that certain peculiarities of the other are innate and will never change.
The marriage will thrive when both parties move from accepting differences to respecting them.
Happy holidays to all Malaysians, in their bewildering diversity!
The writer views developments in the nation, the region and the wider world from his vantage point in Kuching, Sarawak