The Ketupat

We, Malaysians adore food. And as the Muslims of our nation celebrate their New Year, the other races, jump in at the opportunity to savour their festive delights. One of them, is their signature dish – ketupat (pronounced as keh-too-phat). It is a savoury rice dumpling wrapped in woven palm leaves and then sent to be boiled or steamed. Thereafter, the rice expands and fills the whole pouch of woven leaves.

Let’s weave this illustration as an analogy for our lives.

To make a good and solid ketupat, it requires the right kind of leaves with the right size. Failure to do so, will lead to rice being spilled or worse still, an empty ketupat. So the question to you is, what are our lives being woven with? What kind of “leavesâ€? are we choosing? The right “leavesâ€? – integrity, honesty, discipline, freshness and humility… or the wrong “leavesâ€?? You see, what weaves us today, will make us the person we are tomorrow. If we’re looking for a generation of leaders by 2020, do we start five years later? Or now? If we’re looking to lead a life of comfort and stability… does financial planning start now, or when we’re 45?

Choose the right “leavesâ€? with characteristics that will reflect on our future. As the celebration for our Muslim brothers and sisters culminates, all Malaysians, rejoice… for our differences and myriad of backgrounds that Malaysia has woven together. And today, we can proudly call ourselves – Bangsa Malaysia.