Lion Dance

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

I was in my room when I heard this very familiar drumming, a rhythm I was so used to since I've grown up in a street with 3 Chinese temples and which held at least 3 major Chinese goddesses colourful processions annually. I quickly opened the curtain and saw a read lion dancing in front of the new Chinese restaurant just across the street. This is the first time I saw Lion Dance in UK. It is a very busy street and the dance is so small scale that it was performed by 2 Chinese ladies and a young man was playing the drum on the narrow pedestrian path at the restaurant's entrance. A crowd of people surrounded the area to watch the performance which for seems to amuse them but for the Chinese, this is how you earn blessing, prosperity, fortune and luck by playing Lion Dance at an opening of a new business. Later, when I walked pass the restaurant to the mosque for maghrib prayer, I saw the restaurant was filled with English customers, probably to get the best offer of the opening day. This is how people appreciate each other's difference rather than fight over it.

Here in the UK, it is a very, very multi-ethnic society, especially in big cities like, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. There has been a saying here that 'in every 4 people you met, there will be at least 1 Chinese'. As I'm a Chinese, I do not wish to say that Chinese is better but this is just to imply that Chinese is everywhere in the world. It is always easy to spot a China Town in any big city in the world. However, the point of this post is to say that multi-ethnicity in UK has never failed to attract the UK "non-bumiputra" to follow and practice the UK "bumiputra" culture yet still manage to maintain and practice theirs. Among the English culture (I am not talking about modern western culture) here are: wearing tie and suit to work; tea and biscuit culture; greeting random people on the street especially in the morning; giving way by a man to a woman when walking on a narrow path; man opens door for woman even the woman is behind him; if you open a self-closed door and notice someone is behind you, you hold the door and wait for that person to come; burping is very rude; give blessing to someone who sneezes; go to pub in the evening after work; have wine reception in every formal event; have lunch on the grass if the sun is out; etc. Some are good and some are bad but the "non-bumiputra" or the "non-English" who immigrated or grew up here did not stop following the "bumiputra" culture though the "bumiputra" has never imposed this to them. Many non-muslims non-bumiputra go to pub after work to socialise with friends and colleagues, many non-bumiputra respect women in the public (not sure at home), many non-bumiputra (even are not Christians) say 'bless you' when someone sneezes. I have seen in an occasion, a practicing Pakistani muslim brother wore a Scottish kilt during a winter fair (of course the socks are very thick and cover his awrah completely). He owns a halal grocery and he always wears tie and shirt at work yet when he goes to religious and cultural function, he wears shawar (Pakistani man attire), he speaks Urdu and follow some Pakistani culture that does not contradict with Islamic teaching.

Reflecting the situation here and the situation in Malaysia, it is as though the non-bumiputra in Malaysia must embrace the culture of bumiputra even if there are some which are not attractive for them to follow. It is as though the non-bumiputra do not want to learn the bumiputra culture. It is as though the government is not happy with the non-bumiputra who openly say that they want to retain their culture. It is as though if you refuse to embrace the bumiputra culture, you are not the citizen of Malaysia.

Going back to the Lion Dance, it was loud on the street but no one complained yet they appreciated it. No one boycotted the restaurant yet they filled it in. When we have mosque open day, the majority of the participants are English who open-mindedly visited us and wanted to learn more of other's culture. When English friends invited me over for tea and biscuit, I happily accepted their invitation. I really cannot understand why the paradigm and mind-set among some Malaysians are so intolerant, either for the non-bumiputra to accept the good culture of the bumiputra or for the bumiputra to accept what other non-bumiputra's culture as long as it doesn't harm the public.

Probably the major difference between the UK bumiputra and Malaysian bumiputra is that the former has done good publicity in making their culture appears to be more attractive to others. Keris and head-hunting aren't that attractive, I supposed. As many have proposed in Malaysia, can we just look beyond the race and culture as ALLAH has created all of us equal and it has also been constituted in the UN. Racism is not just against ALLAH's law but many countries' law. In addition, bumi or earth doesn't belong to anyone in particular, none of the thing in the world belongs to anyone anyway because they are all belong to ALLAH. Once you possessed enough that you need to survive, the excess should be shared among the poor and the needy, that's why we need to pay zakah.

And btw, the word 'ALLAH' is used in the Arabic and Indonesian bibles.

ALLAHU'alam.

Wassalam.