Who is ‘we’? What Olympians reveal about the Malaysia we want

Razif and Jalani Sidek’s bronze medal in Barcelona in 1992 gave Malaysia its first Olympic podium finish and changed the scale of what the country believed was possible. (Facebook pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: When a Malaysian athlete medals on the world’s biggest sporting stage, the reaction among millions of people is almost instinctive.

We won.

It is the language of sport everywhere. But in Malaysia, a country of different races, religions, cultures and regions, that little pronoun invites a bigger question: who is “we”?

That question sits at the heart of a Malaysia Day reflection by the Malaysia Olympians Association as the country celebrates Malaysia Day today.

For Noraseela Khalid, the association’s president, the Olympic journey is about more than medals. “It is also about belonging and what it means to carry the name of a country into the world,” she says.