Every time a festive season comes around, a full-page advertisement appears in major local newspapers. It features historical figures and talks about Malaysian values and issues of unity, with its signature “Have a meaningful [insert celebration here]”.
It is the brainchild of Penang boy Anas Zubedy, who grew up in the suburbia of Fettes Park and who speaks Malay, English, Hokkien and a little bit of Tamil. “I grew up in a Chinese-majority community, and my family was the only non-Chinese family in that area. I tend to make friends with people of other races very quickly – I have Chinese friends, Eurasian friends, Indian friends and so on. To me, everyone's the same. I don’t see skin colours.”
