Why I am motivated to participate in the 8th ASEAN-KOREA Frontier Forum because I want to be the presenter for Malaysia to show to the other Asean countries the uniqueness of my cultural and democratic constitutional monarchy that Malaysia take place. As we all know that Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multilingual society, and the many ethnic groups in Malaysia maintain separate cultural identities. Malays, who make up more than half of Malaysia’s population, play a dominant role politically and are part of a group identified as Bumiputra.
Their mother tongue is the national language of the country. According to the definition of the Malaysian constitution, all Malays are Muslims. The Chinese have settled in Malaysia for many centuries and form the second largest ethnic group. The first Chinese to settle in Malacca gradually adopted elements of Malaysian culture. The “Malaysian Indian” Indian community in Malaysia is the smallest of the three major ethnic groups, accounting for about 10 percent of the country’s population. They speak different South Asian languages.
Diversity of races, religions and cultures is a significant characteristic of our nation. Malaysia is a multiracial country with a rich cultural heritage. Unique to Malaysia is the ‘Open House’ concept where during the various cultural and religious festival like Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Gawai Day and others, friends and families and even strangers would visit the homes of those who are celebrating the festival, to wish them well and enjoy the feast prepared by the hosts. Although the visitors may be from different races, they still can tolerate with each other and live under the same roof where they celebrate the festival together. This will help to strengthen the ties among themselves.Moreover, the stability and peacefulness of Malaysia is also a uniqueness of us. We live harmoniously in a country where there are no wars and conflicts among Malaysians.
War is dreadful and it may deteriorate humans’ lives. We are fortunate that our country is safe and runs off the war. So, people can live safely here. Somehow, Malaysia is a paradise for those Iraqis or Pakistanis. Besides, our country is freed from natural disasters such as earthquakes. Earthquakes may bring death and destroy many buildings.
Therefore, Malaysia is unique because of the stability and peaceful environment. On top of that, there are many places of interests in country such as beaches, islands and rain forest. Malaysia’s rain forest is considered as the oldest in the world. The diverse species of animals and plant life continue to excite a great deal of scientific research. Many believe that some undiscovered plant may hold cures to many currently incurable human diseases.
There are many islands in our country such as Pulau Langkawi, Pulau Redang, Pulau Ketam and many others. Pulau Langkawi has a lot of historical information. Those who are in favour of history can go there to explore the history of that place. All the beaches in those islands are beautiful. The sand is soft and white. The accommodation is well-established and that makes those islands ideal places to visit.
