AS Malaysians, we pride ourselves on being a united front. We do, however, have our moments of disunity, which is typical in this multiracial, multicultural and multi-religious society of ours, where, at times, sensitivities are rubbed the wrong way and slights felt.
But this is not uncommon elsewhere in the world either. The United States, for instance, prides itself on being a multicultural society.
But its history of slavery and ongoing battle with racism belie the word "united" in its name. Despite being emancipated in the 19th century, African Americans are still very much maligned in their own country.
The Black Lives Matter movement is a look at just one aspect of the racism that particular community faces. Recently, there has also been an uptick in hate crimes against Asians, particularly in California.
Malaysians are, relatively, united; the only real blot on our history was the May 13, 1969, racial riots. We have shown, time and again, our united front, especially when it comes to disasters, natural or unnatural, even if they happen annually.
It happens in good times, as well, during major sporting events. It does not matter to us what our athletes' skin colour may be. We all cheer them on, revel in their successes and commiserate when they do not win.
The Covid-19 pandemic is one example of how we have been united. We have banded together to respond to this nationwide crisis. When the Movement Control Order (MCO) was first announced in March last year, there were not many complaints.
Apart from a few, we followed standard operating procedures (SOP) and managed to bring the numbers down.
Many who are not frontliners did their bit to aid others and are still doing so. Yes, we have our differences, perhaps, in how the pandemic should be handled, but these are expected, especially when we have never faced such a crisis before.
It was, therefore, appropriate — and gratifying — that Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin mentioned that the unity and empathy of Malaysians had been brought to the fore by the pandemic when he launched the National Unity Policy and National Unity Blueprint 2021-2030.
The prime minister mentioned the slogan "#KitaJagaKita" and commended the rakyat, who had assisted the government in spreading positive messages, supporting the MCO efforts and adhering to the SOP. He also said we needed to keep this up.
Indeed, there is no other way. It is only through unity that our fight against Covid-19 can succeed.
If we all do what needs to be done, even just by following the SOP, we can win this fight. If we do not, then we will fail as a nation and we will, each of us, fail our nation. It is as simple as that.
We should, however, not just stop there. We need to be united in everything we do, every aspect of our lives. By staying united in everything we do, we will bring this nation forward and make it even more a paradise in which to live.
We are "Malaysian first" and we must prove it. United we stand, divided we fall — a cliched phrase, yes, but in times of unprecedented great stress on the country, it is the best formula for our circumstance.