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177 Nations of Tasmania podcast - Episode 31 - Learning about living together from Sarawak

Writer's picture: Mark ThomsonMark Thomson


I feel like I manage to find something different to learn from with each story in this podcast series. Perhaps I could also say that though there are common themes across them all and sometimes even similarities between cultures that are quite geographically and climatically distant, but there is always a different angle that emerges.


I guess what struck me in my interview with James about his growing up in Sarawak in Malaysia, was how the different ethnicities, with their different traditions and beliefs, had learnt to get along and where celebrating eachother's different festivals and traditions together was quite a normal thing. When you grow up with schoolfriends from different cultural backgrounds to your own, it does I think help develop a level of open-mindedness and empathy. That being said, there are certainly examples of ethnic conflicts around the world where neighbours who were on good terms for years have turned on each other as one group slaughtered the other, but for me, my takeaway is that it shows that diversity doesn't have to mean conflict or disharmony, as some people might suggest.



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