In the city, we often hear people say, "I don't know my neighbours. However there is a community in the heart of the city that begs to differ. In our residential area, you get to experience a true community where everybody knows everybody.Where you will be welcomed with a smile and an open heart by your neighbours.Where diversity is celebrated with gatherings be it Buka Puasa, Mooncake Festival Halloween, open house, weddings or just for fun.Where everyone watch out for each other. You are never at a loss should you need help be it a recommendation for a good restaurant, electrician or if you run out of gas when you are cooking. There is always someone to lend a hand.I am proud to be part of this community and how we celebrate diversity without prejudice.

My journey to know other Malaysians started off as an idea at the end of 2014 when a lot of negativity surfaced around Malaysia. There were devastating occurrences, one after another, and it felt like we had gone through a lot of challenges in such a short time. Many Malaysians took to social media platforms to rant. It felt as if there were no possible solutions other than contributing to the already negative remarks. It came to a point where I prayed and asked God, “Is there anything I can do with who I am and what I have, to show that this country is not as woebegone as it seems?” Immediately, I sketched down my thoughts, took time to observe my surroundings and from there, I asked myself what I loved about Malaysia. It was the beautiful tapestry of the people, the Malaysian humour, the culture, the celebrations and the land. Finally, I asked myself, “What is one common factor that all Malaysians can relate to and love a lot despite everything?” The answer to that is obviously, Malaysian food! Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate. Moreover, Malaysian food takes bonds to the next level and we Malaysians know that! Our food has always been the gesture of peace which allows us to sit, eat and enjoy one another's company despite our differences. It is our differences that makes us unique. Our food is a symbol of our unity. That was when I thought to myself, “Why not showcase our own various faces using the food of Malaysia?”That led me to using food as the key element to tell stories and the idea of The Rojak Projek was thus born. Colour-blindness has always been the go-to trend to address unity in diversity. Although it was a great concept, we looked at it in a different light. I had this desire to move from being colour-blind to colour-embracing in a time where the call for unity has never been more profound. To us, the beauty of being a multicultural Malaysia shouldn't be diluted to shades of grey because beauty lies where our colours are!It occurred to me that the variety of Malaysian food is similar to the diversity in all of us. There is laksa in Johor, Sarawak, Kelantan, and Penang, and they are all different. Can we really say they are the same? No, but do we love them all? Of course we do! It is those differences that make the dish special! Once I had developed the idea and sketches, I started approaching others and getting them on board to give this project a shot.So on the first day of 2016, our first 60 artworks of creative and positive perspectives on how our Malaysian diversity is truly beautiful were shared. This was done through a series of conceptual artworks featuring yummy Malaysian food of our friends, with their vision for one Malaysia. These artworks are not only about the beauty in variety of Malaysian food but the underlying deeper message that our diversity is equally beautiful.We pushed this project further as we travelled around Malaysia from 2016-2017 with two key things in mind — to film a documentary of our journey where Malaysian stories are collected as an attempt to understand different cultures in different states and to continue our art movement while learning more about our Malaysian food which lead us to know more about other people and cultures.By 2017, our journey allowed us to produce 540 artworks showcasing Malaysians from all the different states. Why 540, you wonder? Because it was 54 years prior to 2017 when East Malaysia was included as an essential part of the Malaysian federation. Without Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia would not be Malaysia. The final 10, to make it to a grand total of 550, was added in conjunction with Malaysia Day* in 2018.The most vivid encounters I had on this journey was to experience the level of kindness and loving gestures of fellow Malaysians all over Malaysia who welcomed and embraced us when we really needed help. While writing this down, I can already picture all their faces from Perlis all the way to Sabah.“Next time you come back here ah, you do your art at my house okay. No problem”“When are you coming back?” In fact, just remembering the moments when we were doing the artworks in all their respective houses, just having them sit near us to ‘kay-po’ and watch how we produce the artwork was beautiful! I still hear their laughters of how they could not imagine our local food being transformed into something else. The feeling of being accepted by many around Malaysia was extremely beautiful and almost magical. There were many places where people allowed us to stay in their houses. They enjoyed whatever we were doing whether it was filming or creating the artworks. In fact, they wanted us to come back again! They didn’t charge us for anything and said since we made them smile and laugh, we were more than welcome to return. Just imagine, back then, despite our lack of funding, we continued and came out of our zones to travel around Malaysia. We didn't cover the entire country due to lack of time and budget but through the help of old and new friends and family members, strangers and the kindness of the public, we managed to travel to every state. We stayed in their respective homes whether it was in the city or villages in our short time to film our documentary and to create our artworks. People also contacted others to make sure we were safe. A specific, vivid memory that really moved me the most was to experience inclusiveness during my first trip to Sarawak back in 2016. Rachel Lee and I travelled with Anderson Kalang, a fellow Kelabit whom I met during Hari Kamaatan and Hari Gawai celebration parties in Kuala Lumpur where we had the opportunity to meet many Malaysian Borneons and captured their photographs. He welcomed us to carry out the trip together and as we got to know Anderson and his family members, they treated us with so much love and care. The level of love and hospitality with them was so unique. That gesture of love was so powerful that by the end of our trip, we were adopted into their Kelabit family. Now, I have an extra set of parents! I have Daddy Kalang who has so much patience, love and wisdom and Mummy Supang, who exudes such wonderful warmth and love towards us, alongside the other family members. Their humility is so beautiful that I am truly thankful to have such wonderful Sarawakian parents! Imagine having not only your own family but also more family members out there. I seriously think it’s so cool to be accepted by other communities. From then on, I remembered Mummy Supang naturally referring to the others in her family as “our” cousins and introducing other family members to us as our "cousins". She could have easily said, "This is Anderson's cousin..." However, she didn't. Instead, she said, "This is your cousin". ​I would like to see the growth and continuation of this newly found journey to another level. People may comment it is normal not to know your country very well, but I truly believe that we should know our people and country as well as the back of our hands, and we need to create that open platform and pathway to make it easier for people to understand one another better.Under the new movement, #RojakNation, we are on the mission to meet all of the 250 unheard Malaysian ethnicities to document and understand their cultures and traditions through their food. We are hoping that through the food artworks we create along this journey, it will enable others to know and get a better understanding of different cultures in Malaysia. We want others to know that they are welcome regardless of their nationality and it will be an honour to have them on board because we believe their participation will bring about awareness to educating and inspiring others.I truly believe it is time for this generation to take rediscovering and understanding our Malaysian people better, to the next level. To me, there is no excuse to act as if others do not exist. Now with this pandemic, it is definitely harder for everyone to do things together physically and let's be real- we also know that not everyone has the money to travel and/or experience different cultures around Malaysia. I look towards a global support and collaboration with The Rojak Projek in reaching out to many unheard Malaysian voices regardless of age, gender, race, ability or social status and to bring awareness to the rich, unseen culture that can be found in Malaysia.Malaysia tak sama kalau kita tak bersama. In English, it means Malaysia is never the same without us being together. I definitely cannot imagine my life without my Indian, Punjabi and other ‘rojak’ friends and family members. Now, I also cannot imagine life without the Sabahans, Sarawakians and Orang Asli whom I have met during my journey. I definitely look forward to meeting more such people in time. After travelling around Malaysia, I can conclude that being Malaysian means ALL OF US, TOGETHER. If we can name three races in Malaysia, why can’t we name them all (including those who are of mixed race)? My vision for Malaysia is to have Malaysians be truly proud of who we are as colour-embracing citizens of this nation. I hope to see this nation actively knowing one another and creating a strong link that bridges any gap to a whole new level. For we are one, we are many, and we are Malaysians.My vision for the younger generation is to be humble, teachable and unafraid to make new good friends of different ethnic backgrounds and to learn from one another. I envision them to be the doers, thinkers and problem solvers of this nation and to participate in nation building and contribute back in many ways. *Note: Many of us had not known about the existence of Malaysia Day, formation of federation between Malaya, North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore on 16th September 1963 as many of us here in Peninsular / Semenanjung or West Malaysia mostly celebrate Merdeka Day (31st August 1957). This was the moment when we had no idea that due to our lack of acknowledgement to Malaysia Day, it was a sign of not acknowledging the existence of others in Sabah and Sarawak.

身为马来西亚人民，我们都在这个文化大熔炉中长大。我们当中有许多人不止会说一种语言或方言，虽然我们常常忽略这些语言或方言。实际上，大多数的马来西亚人民都希望你能够根据不同的情况，而使用不同的语言进行交谈。 我本身在槟城长大，我们周围的人会说福建话，像我妈妈的福建话就说得非常流利。至于我的福建话则是从朋友那里学习的，以作为我与他们之间更有效的沟通方式。时至今日，我发现福建话无论在我的社交生活和工作上，都带来了极大的帮助。 身为一名印度籍穆斯林，我出门时都会戴着头巾。由于我的外表，人们总认为我是马来人，当我用马来语或英语与他们交谈时，他们并不会感到意外。 但当我开始说泰米尔语时，事情就开始变得有趣。你会看到人们脸上浮现出惊讶的表情。然后，当他们听到我讲印地语时（我从电影里学习到的），人们经常会感到惊讶。当我开始用福建话交谈时，他们的下巴就会掉下来。 我觉得这种颠覆人们预期的表现非常有趣。 当我在印度求学的时候，我和同伴们在很多时候都会说马来语，因为非马来西亚人听不懂我们在说什么。我们在语言上的独特优势，让马来西亚学生深感自豪，并有助于我们更加团结。 我的语言能力，已经证明能让我在工作中占有很大的优势。我能够更容易地与不同种族的病患沟通。当年长的病患听到我会说他们的语言时，他们会变得更加放松，也更加舒适。 这里我想到一个有趣的经验。几年前，当我在双溪大年（Sungai Petani）的苏丹阿都哈林医院（Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital）工作时，发生了一件特别有趣的事。我在男病房值班巡视时，碰巧在相连的4张病床躺着一名印度人、一名尼泊尔人、一名华人和一名马来人。 当我开始以泰米尔语与印度病患交谈，隔壁床的老伯（Pakcik）感到震惊。我向他解释说，泰米尔语是我的母语。 当我用印地语和尼泊尔病患交谈时，那位老伯（Pakcik）兴奋地说：“你也能说沙鲁克·汗语（Bahasa Shah Rukh Khan）”。当我开始用福建交谈跟华人叔叔交谈时，老伯（Pakcik）脸上露出的不可思议表情可想而知。 我发现，当人们意识到友族朋友可以说用他们的语言时，他们往往会变得更加友好，这确实有助于彼此的沟通和相互理解，并达到和谐共处。 当然，马来西亚有很多我喜欢的节日。我和其他穆斯林兄弟姐妹一样庆祝开斋节，但也享受着与我印度朋友们聚在一起欢喜地庆祝屠妖节。华人农历新年期间的槟城，总是伴随着漂亮装饰和舞狮表演。说着同样的语言，可以让我更好地沉浸在庆祝活动中。 我认为马来西亚人民真正很幸运。我们拥有如此丰富的文化等待着我们去一一发现。事实上，一整年下来，我们有这么多的节庆，为我们的生活增添了无数的乐趣。 我的兴趣是学习更多的语言，因为这将让我打开更多体验马来西亚多元文化色彩的大门。这可以说，是最好的我。 我对学习语言的兴趣为我打开了许多大门，让我能够在丰富多彩的马来西亚体验不同的生活方式。从很多方面来说，这是对我最好的。 Zawaniah

I am a quarter Iban from my maternal grandmother and three quarter Chinese. Growing up, the Iban side of my family tree never registered high on my consciousness. It was just something that was in my blood but I never really gave it much thought partly because I wasn’t really close to my grandmother. People I meet sometimes ask about my ancestry due to my look as a friendly gesture and lucky for me the conversation seldom goes further than that. If it did, I would probably have been very lost considering how little I knew of my heritage. Most people I meet do not seem overly interested in my ancestry and I see that as a heartwarming sign that as Malaysians, we see each other beyond the colours of our skin. I took up photography as a hobby about two years ago and met Alex during a workshop. We hit it off pretty well and soon started seeing each other. I was genuinely surprised when I discovered that he too was a quarter Iban! What a small world. Unlike me, Alex was much more in tune with his roots and I started to learn about our shared heritage from him. It was fascinating learning about my roots from him and it felt refreshing to connect with this unknown part of me. That being said, I recall a book by Amy Tan in which she wrote about how the American protagonist underwent a spiritual journey after rediscovering her Chinese root. I had no such epiphany. Perhaps it was because I have been living in Malaysia all my life and the cultural shock was just not there. Or maybe it is simply the fact that writers tend to go towards hyperbole. As I continue to discover my roots, I started to give more thoughts about what makes us Malaysians. What is the link that binds us and the history that unite us? I remember two specific incidents that I should share here. I meet plenty of tourists in my work and I recall this particular white American gentleman a couple of years ago who mentioned that he sees plenty of segregation in Malaysia during his time here. The comment came as such a shock to me and I remember that I did not know how to reply. Incidentally, just a week later, I hosted an African American gentleman and he remarked on how amazing to see people of different races living in harmony. Make what you will of the two incidents. I know that it is not enough to draw a conclusion on how the world view us and there is probably no further meanings to be drawn other than the opinion of two people looking at a scene and arriving at different conclusions. This revelation is very interesting as looking at the world through the camera lens, I begin to pay more attention to what I see in front of me. I am by no means any good at taking pictures and would love to have more time to explore the art. However, the few times I had the chance to walk around in Kuala Lumpur, I saw many scenes of people from all walks of life rubbing shoulders with each other. People of all races dined at the same stalls, bargained from the same vendor and walked along the same paths. Everyone just going about life in the best way they know. As Malaysians, we talk a lot about our multiracial society and our unity. Once a while we read about stories of racial tension, and there are times where we also read about stories that highlight our racial harmony. But at the end of the day, do people really think that much about their race as they go about their daily lives? Maybe I am the odd ball here who is never particularly interested in exploring my roots. Not that I see it as inconsequential, but I value the experience I lived and am living with those around me. My friends and I from school laughed about the same jokes and funny things that happened in our lives. My colleagues and I work towards our collective vision for our work. And my fellow Malaysians and I strive for a better tomorrow for all of us. After all, we are a relatively young nation and the future will be built upon our shared experience going forward. Lastly, I like to share with you a picture I took on one of my walk around in KL city. I don’t know if the picture is any good from an artistic point of view, but it is one in which I really like. Flora Tan

我是慧端，她是Amirah。是我的马来好朋友之一。自从上了高二，我们才算真真的认识，真的有去了解对方。随然种族不同，但我相信这不是我们交朋友的目的，对吧？我们真正熟悉还不到1年吧，但我相信我们的友谊能够一直持续下去。 我们有很多的共同点，有一样的爱好，有一样的梦想。在我们成为好朋友的当儿，确实是有很多人会说，你最近怎么都跟马来人这样好，还是什么什么的。 我觉得能跟她做朋友是一件很开心的事，我们经常鼓励对方，关心对方，了解对方。我也会试着去了解她们的习俗，她们的宗教。在过程中，你会发现很多不一样的事。 我们在学校随经常整对方，但回到家还是会聊个不停。 我真心的很喜欢和马来人做朋友，我觉得很有趣可以经历不一样的事情。我们也已经约好一起去爬山，旅行。能的话还要一起实现我们的梦想。 对于其他人而言，在面对不同种族的友情时，又会有什么看法呢？希望大家都能试着去交不同种族的朋友，我相信你的人生会更加的丰富，你会过得比现在快乐的。

BEARDS OF MALAYSIA Beards of Malaysia founder, Prakash Daniel has always been a fan of photographing people. What started out as a fun project of photographing his friends with beards, took a different outlook. The project looks at the various ethnic groups that spot the beard. It also showcases lots of people from all walks of life. From professionals to foreign workers, the project has been very interesting. Beards are regarded differently in different parts of the world. There are many factors on why one keeps a beard. Religious, cultural or even a fashion statement, every beard is unique. Beyond capturing striking portrait photographs of bearded men, Prakash Daniel also manages to get his subjects to tell him their stories. One of his photographs that are part of this project was one of the winners of the South East Asian entry of the Kuala Lumpur International Photo awards 2016. ============================================================================== Narrations: Satvinder Singh hailed from New Delhi, India. This 39-year-old gentleman has been in Malaysia for the last five years. He works in the cow farm and sells the produce at the Sentul morning market. He said, "I have had the beard since young and it is part of my religion. I will be heading back home in a couple of years’ time after saving up."

Assalamualaikum dan Salam sejahtera Dunia sekarang penuh dengan perkauman di dalam negara kita ( MALAYSIA ).Kenapa kita perlu perlu nak berbalah dengan agama dan bangsa orang lain.Perlu ke kita menyalahi seseorang tapi sampaikan satu bangsa lain pun tempias sekali.Perlu ke kita racist. .Satu gambaran saya bagi kan seperti jika satu video youtube itu ada pergaduhan antara satu lelaki melayu dan satu lelaki cina dan cuba kita baca komen-komen di bawah nya mesti akan tulis *** cina dan *** melayu.Kenapa kita cuma sebut bangsa sahaja dan kenapa kita tak sebut lelaki melayu di dalam gambar atau pun lelaki cina di dalam gambar tersebut.Perlu ke kita bercakap pasal bangsa.Jatuh air muka kita yang duduk di dalam satu negara yang aman ni iaitu negara MALAYSIA.Biar lah kita duduk di negara MALAYSIA ni dengan aman dan damai dan tiada permusuhan antara perkauman bangsa dan agama.Kita sepatut nya merasa bangga kita berada di negara yang tercinta ni.Ini lah negara kita dan tanah tumpah negara kita. - MALAYSIA -

I am a painter who is keen on depicting the appearances of different people in the world. I believe in realism and I am constantly searching for new forms of contemporary realistic painting. It isn’t an easy feat to be a realistic painter in Malaysia. Many think that realism is a derivative of the socialist country, and we haven't had such an ideology to support this art form. On top of it, realistic paintings are often thought of as less avant-garde due to its conservative style. Despite the difficulties I’ve faced in my journey of becoming a realistic painter, I remain optimistic in negative situations. The series City Tales consist of eight individual paintings. They were created to express concerns of the everyday Malaysian set against our social themes. As a realistic painter, I respond and record livelihood issues as well as existing principles. For example, "City Tales II 百無聊賴" reflects my driving experience in Malaysia. The traffic situation in Kuala Lumpur has been particularly bad in recent years. I could stuck in traffic at any time and at any location, so often that I feel my life is consumed mostly on the road. I chose to absorb the visual similarity from Japanese Ukiyo-e and traditional Chinese New Year woodcut paintings to reflect the deformity of public social issues with a dash of humour. The messages I want to convey are all written on the painting itself and suggested by the title. They are coded onto the surface of these paintings and aren’t difficult to understand. To me, the content beneath the art formality is more important. This series of works are intended to convey a common social experience under a multi-ethnic social structure. I think language transmits emotional temperature and ethnic characteristics. Each different languages and its respective proverbs accounts for its ancestral life experiences and values. Although there may be structural differences between languages, surprisingly, it seems coherence all the languages. Due to language differences, it is easy to be misread or misunderstood or it might even lead to conflict on a more serious note. However, the differences in languages are also an important factor for civilization. It is by these great people, the human civilization that exists today is formed through the mixture and injection of respective cultural essence in their own languages. I have titled pieces in this series with idioms in three different languages to emphasize the stimulus brought on by social complexity. It often promotes evolutionary changes within individual cultural development. Multicultural societies such as Malaysia are excellent platforms for people to contrast, to exchange and to build up better cultural qualities.

About My BFF ( Eng & Fiet) Cepatnya masa berlalu.My bff Fiet is come from Kedah and my name is Eng from Sarawak.Kami telah berkawan selama 11 tahun.We will always celebrate our friendship anniversary.We start know each others when enter first day university(MSU). Fiet sangat malu dan seorang pendiam.At first right kami memang x sebulu.. Gaduh is always happen sampai nak putus kawan pun pernah and we staying together 4 years, sharing makan and masak sekali(but mostly saya yang banyak masak and fiet sedia bahan). And the most x boleh lupa we always will sharing each other problem and feeling dekat bawah pokok.Perasaan waktu itu sangat best sampai boleh sembang sampai 2 3 pagi okey!hahaha! Even we not staying each other now we still will meet every month sebab memang akan rindu each other. Yang pasti fiet memang kawan waktu susah dan senang.Even we always gaduh, salah seorang mesti akan mengalah and memujuk balik. Yang pasti Eng sorang yang sangat garang ya!haha!Kalau bab pergi jalan, both of us memang suka.Tapi Eng ni x berapa lasak kalau adventure sangat.And Fiet is hiking lovers.But one thing yang agak same is apa yang saya suka or fiet suka at the end mesti same2 akan suka punya.Bab makan memang on all the time.Can say 90% tu same la bab food ni..Ramai kawan yang ask, how you can bff with Malay? actually i REALLY NO ISSUE WITH THAT..For me, as long we really respect each other is really no issue. I also quite close with Fiet family..They treat me like own family and let me learn their culture very well. I am so lucky to have her as my BFF... :) Now both of us still in mission fat to fit!. Dulu both of us sangat bambam and now consider a bit loss kg but our journey still long way to go. Hopefully one day our mission will achieve just for our health.Anyway one thing i really sayang this BFF because she always can support me, persuade me,even can tahan kena marah with me,guide me whenever i really need someone at my behind. I love you My Dear Friend, Cik Fitrah Binti Abdul Razak..

It's a story of us being Malaysian. We live in Malaysia with multi races. I came from a family of mix races marriage of Chinese and Pakistan. I am a Muslim. Having to live in a family of mix races, teach me on being open to all races and respect other races and religions. Back in 1980's, during my school time, we enjoy learning and get together with other races. It all comes with respect. However, sadly to said that as age goes by, people had lost the respect to each other and being racist. In many occasions, I felt irritated to hear about people cursing or disrespecting others about their races. It is all about respect and not racist. I had friends from many races that respected me although I am a Muslim and I respected them as they are. We do not mixed politics, religions in our friendship. We respect each other and care for each other. Malaysia has become a country that no respect being put to the community of multi races. Let's all embrace and put back the respect to each and every one in the country despite their races and religion. We are Malaysian. We are One and We are united as Malaysia.

Being Inside A Mixed Race- Single Clique! At the age of 25, the expectations of getting married, welcoming babies, having a successful career and properties are what dreams are made of. It is also a part of social convention of our generic youngsters. Some people are blessed with “the whole-package spouses”, some are blessed with good fortune, some are blessed with pink of health and sometimes, some are blessed with a circle of irreplaceable friendship. You can’t always get the whole thing because that’s just break the system but just more than enough to live day by day with good memories before your demise. This is the part where the “some people” includes my girls and i. Being single with them throughout primary and secondary schools teaches me the importance of having your friend’s back. This include when you brought illegal items to school, didn’t finish yesterday’s Biology homework or when Ainur keeps on breaking the test tubes during Chemistry experiments. It also includes a compulsory tour at the local hawker stalls for keropok and air soya plastik for membawang session at the longkang nearby our school. Yeap, we surely did that for 10 years. Being single with them throughout varsity means life is not always with rainbows. You have more time to visit Renu in the hospitals for treatments, you have more phone calls about break ups, you have time to make visit when Ainur’s mom passed away. More than ever, you have time to console Maryam when her family is leaving for Pakistan for a few months and she is feeling stressful with patients and medical exams. Being single with them throughout working days teaches me a lil bit of kindness is what it takes. Giving countless motivation to others when she (Saufiah) herself are working her ass off in the law firm. Being more patient than others even when she (Renu) used to be discriminated in her workplace. Being more tolerance when we failed to meet her because she (Maryam) knows our hectic schedule. Being an adaptive person when she (Ainur) should belongs in another field of expertise. Being the good listener even when she (Larry) has her own problems. And just then, i realized we are like a melting pot of emotions and lives. Whether she is an Indian or Chinese or Pakistan, it doesn’t matter. Because by the end of the day, we are conveying messages and feelings in language form , not through races, religions or beliefs. We are connecting towards one other through laughter, tears, screams and countless fights as a circle of single people. We are celebrating our single days without an ounce of ill thinking about one another or supremacism. We are just a tiny clique in the billions of people that tries to bind this sisterhood as long as we could because being single with one another at this moment is too precious and priceless. Skin colour or bloodline does not define us differently as sisters.