WHEN was the last time any of us, and this goes beyond urban areas, actually socialised, fraternised or in today’s parlance, hung out, with someone from another community, or ethnicity?

You know, beyond the workplace, during social, cultural and religious occasions. Anyone still does open houses and welcomes neighbours and schoolmates of different communities?

Why, you might ask? Simple, we are Malaysians but we don’t really know each other that well, even after 60 years of Merdeka.

You see, the absence of empathy is putting ordinary Malaysians on confrontational mode on the road, in the neighbourhood and workplace. And in cyberspace too, especially in social media.

What happened in Johor yesterday between a motorist and those attending Friday prayers is not going to be an isolated case or an aberration if we all don’t take a step back and understand that we are not enemies.

A simple misunderstanding. The inability to recognise that prayers are going on. The inability to see that haphazardly parked cars can cause traffic issues not just for motorists but also your co-religionists.

How is it, we can pray peacefully but find it difficult to handle our daily lives and misunderstandings in the same manner?

It happens for another occasions too. The complaints about loud prayers, smoky ceremonies, traffic congestion and road closures that only goes to show that we really don’t know each other as well as our parents did back in the time.

Diversity is not only celebrated during festivals but everyday with tolerance, respect and understanding. Have we lost this as we become more urbanised, modern and progressive?

Or are we just threatened by the fast pace of life that we retreat into silos, in the comfort of our own kind that we forget this is a country of many, not a few? That we have always celebrated our diversity as harmony and unity, not discord and divisiveness?

Perhaps, even worse, the sense of community has given way to the self. That we are the ones in a rush for success, and the rest don’t matter.

And that everyone else is the other, not part of us. We see one another as different, not as fellow Malaysians. We are in our own silos, not in one big family. We are five fingers, not one hand.

So, not much point showing unity when we win the Thomas Cup or snag a few medals at the Olympics and then go at each other’s throats at the first sign of a misunderstanding. That we are right and the other is always wrong.

We have to get over this mindset. We lose Malaysia when we Malaysians fight each other for the slightest of reasons.

We can all sing the national anthem “Negaraku”, but when push comes to shove, we have to believe and say it’s “Negara Kita”. – May 6, 2017.