PENNING this on the eve of Christmas, my thoughts were drawn to how the major Christian festival is celebrated both in our country and in neighbouring Indonesia.

Two public events this month highlight how Christmas celebrations in Malaysia and Indonesia navigate similar issues pertaining to religious expression for minorities in Muslim-majority societies.

The first was a large-scale outdoor Christmas carolling event around Jakarta’s iconic Bundaran Hotel Indonesia sponsored by the provincial government and attended by its governor, Pramono Anung Wibowo.

Such a public celebration endorsed by no less than the governor is not without controversy. A predecessor of Pramono, in fact, banned an earlier celebration within the city’s National Monument (Monas).

Pramono, a senior political figure of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or better known by its Indonesian acronym PDI-P, has staked his commitment to religious pluralism through various symbolic initiatives. These include the so-called Christmas Carol Colossal, with young men and women dressed in festive costumes belting out familiar carols around the massive roundabout known for its equally massive traffic congestions.

Pramono’s assurance that he will be governor for all the people of the Indonesian capital, irrespective of their ethnic or religious backgrounds, must be soothing to those who care about the city’s — and the country’s — diversity.

After all, it was not that many years ago that a massive crowd swarmed the same roundabout calling for the jailing of the then-Christian governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, over a Quranic misquote.

The wonder of it all is that unlike Malaysia, Indonesia is constitutionally a secular republic. Despite a Muslim-majority population, it does not accord Islam the status of official religion.

Now back to Malaysia, where a 5,000-strong crowd gathered for the Mukah Christmas Festival Parade 2025 in Sarawak.

The multicultural gathering was led by Mukah member of parliament Datuk Hanifah Hajar Taib, who is also deputy health minister.

The event drew nationwide social media attention, reinforcing the argument that Sarawak serves as the national showcase for inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony.

Context is important here.

Mukah is home to the Melanau people of Sarawak. What’s truly unique about this group of Sarawakians is that they are divided into Muslim, Christian and animist faiths — all of them represented within a single family in some cases!

Hanifah herself boasts an impeccable Melanau lineage, being the daughter of the late Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud and grand-niece of the late Tun Abdul Rahman Ya’kub — both of whom served as Sarawak Yang di-Pertua Negeri.

This writer will not go so far as to unreservedly extol Sarawak as the national paragon of multi-cultural harmony.

But, let us just say the state’s multiculturalism is built on the happy amalgam of various minorities, to which all Sarawa-kians belong.

That is Sarawak’s true uniqueness: tolerance and harmony are inbuilt, as no single demographic can claim pre-eminence as a majority group in this state.

So there you go: a vibrantly unique state within an equally unique federation, where the majority must contend with an economically high-achieving minority with sufficient numerical strength to also make its mark politically.

No wonder we are so frustratingly “mixed-up” as a nation — perhaps in the very best sense of the word. I reckon ours is inarguably sui generis as a nation.

The writer views developments in the nation, region and the wider world from his vantage point in Kuching