Thank you for inviting me to be in UTM this evening to attend the Cultural Night.
I have three points to make about culture.
First, culture is akin to rivers and oceans, not fortress
Some people think culture is a fortress to be defended. The rationale behind this paradigm is that culture is static and will never change. Cultural heritage is seen as a museum artifact, and many want to defend an ossified version of what they thought to be culture.
We live in a time in which there are calls for more walls to be erected, including cultural walls.
Thinking of cultures as water, rivers, and oceans, and not fortresses, is so important.
For me, culture is never static and always changing. While it is evolving, there will be new elements emerging. It is without end.
For example, many Malaysians thought that lion dance is the most important identifier of our Chinese culture since time immemorial. Many were surprised when they found out that lion dance was not very popular during festive celebrations in China. In Malaysia, lion dance only became a very important part of local Chinese celebration in the 1980s, in a certain historical context.
Some people also thought the 24 Festive Drums performance has been part of Chinese Malaysian culture since time immemorial. Surprisingly, in a nation without four seasons, it was a cultural activist in Johor Bahru who invented this performance of the 24 sub-season drum.
It is a case of invented tradition. In fact, many of our traditions are actually an invention of recent times. Cultures are always alive, and full of adaptations and innovations.
Second, forms versus substance
I enjoy being in a university environment, and I hope students here share my happiness. I also wish that students should not focus on forms but rather understand the substance of culture.
Too often in Malaysia, we spend too much energy on forms without putting equal emphasis or more on substance. I hope this generation of university students will go deep to the substance to understand history, contexts, and ideas.
Only when we understand the origins of culture, based on our understanding of its history, context, and ideas, can we stand on the shoulders of the giants to innovate and constantly break new grounds. A great nation is one that is constantly renewing its philosophical view of its existence.
Third, Malaysia as a unique global phenomenon
In my work as Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, I meet many foreign investors and thinkers. They find Malaysia a unique global phenomenon.
Many Malaysians are culturally deeply rooted. We do not see ourselves as pure economic animals/agents. We have deep passion for our cultures. Yet we coexist well.
Indeed, each Malaysian embodies multicultural existence. We speak multiple languages and we live and eat comfortably across cultures.
And, the sum is greater than its parts. When you talk to the Arabs, they will tell you how much they like Malaysia as they could feel at ease with halal food and practice their religious obligations comfortably. The Chinese from China and other East Asians are feeling at home too.
And, the South Asians are also at ease with their experience of food and culture in Malaysia.
In a complex and increasingly intolerant world, Malaysia is unique in which cultures do not subtract but add on to each other to form a coherent whole.
Malaysia is where cultures meet to flow like rivers and oceans, and where we can live harmoniously.