Neighbours comes in all shapes and sizes. And even behaviour. Their different approaches to certain "neighbourly" agendas makes us think if their actions deserve some advice, critics or even adaptation for our own good.
At times, some of the neighbour's doings result in a respond of disbelief in myself. Probably, what that had just happened is something new and unusual to the belief system already established in myself. The system that was based on my previous childhood neighbourhood. Or even my own cultural and family belief.
Probably, a Muslim-Malay family may find it sensitive for a Chinese neighbour to release their cuddly little puppy in the open in the evenings. Or stepping in the little puppy's poo a little too revolting and disgusting, that while washing away with one part soil water and 6 parts of clean water is adequate, one may opt to dispose the footwear off. The Muslim Chinese family may be less offended, for they understand that it poses only a small problem and ways of getting around this trivial matter is numerous. Most importantly, the Muslim Chinese family understood that their prayer to the Almighty is not affected in anyway, for the main pillars of prayers have been met.
In the opposite, the Chinese family living in the cul de sac of the neighbourhood may find it irritating when a Malay neighbour barricade the only outlet with chairs, tables and tents in preparation to celebrate the newly wed over the weekend. There goes the weekend, stucked in the house, not being able to go out. To the Malay family, this is once a lifetime event for the new couple, and such, they deserve a grandeur laden ceremony. Never mind the jam and difficulties it may create to others. Never mind if the blaring music playing the dangduts and Hindi love songs that penetrates each and every house in the neighbourhood creates a throbbing tension headache to its occupants. For all it matters, it’s a party and a feast. Of course it will be loud and noisy!
Where is our understanding and tolerance in this? No doubt, that it requires both sides to understand each other, looking at things at each other's shoes.
These are unique in the diversity of Malaysia. Despite, there are some things that does not require any tolerance at all.
We need to maintain the cleanliness of our house's compounds. Sweeping the compound is an effort on our part to uphold this rule. The religion teaches us too that cleanliness if part of iman. How much is our understanding of this? Does it apply only to us and not to others? After being done with sweeping, the rubbish is packed and disposed off properly into a bin. The bristle end of the broom is dusty and laden with cob webs and dried leaves. It is automatic that we hit the bristle end of the broom against something hard in rapid succession to rid off the dirt. In our conscience, while doing that, we do not intend to make a mess of the neighbour's compound with our own waste products. What I saw today was shocking enough. It was against all sacrosanct principles of cleanliness and neighbourliness that we have been taught or are teaching our children. This Makcik, has got the guts to rub the bristle end of the broom against the neighbour's fences. This results in the dirt to fall into the other neighbours compound.
In a not too distance occurrence, another makcik was caught to wash her dirty mat in public. Except that the dirt from the linen flowed deliberately into the neighbour's compound. How sweet. She flipped her dirty mat over the bricked fence and flowed water on it, while scrubbing. Naturally, the dirt from the mat flowed into the neighbour's compound.
Sometimes, I wonder, if they have lost all civic mindedness.
The drain too is clogged with muck. No wonder, the leniency that we, the homo sapiens have given to the aedes aegypti to complete their lifecycles results in the never ending story of dengue. "We have paid for the taxes and quit rents, so they should be doing their work cleaning up the drains", one retorted. In this aspect, where have we put the teachings of the Quran and hadith as the main source of reference of Muslims?
Islam is the way of life. But have we applied it beyond the prayer mat and the borders of the mosque?
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