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By Mihar Dias August 2026
There are many ways to celebrate Merdeka in Malaysia. Some wave the Jalur Gemilang, some sing patriotic songs, some argue about politics, and apparently, some dead people return from the other world because they miss the country.
I recently watched a social-media video depicting a young man who had supposedly died but returned as a ghost, longing to visit Malaysia during the Hungry Ghost Festival.
Frankly, I can understand him.
Even the dead probably find Malaysia difficult to resist.
But his supernatural journey quickly became a lesson in Malaysian multiculturalism. Not the sort taught in official speeches, where everyone smiles beautifully beneath a banner proclaiming unity in diversity. This was the real Malaysian version: slightly confused, deeply tolerant, occasionally apologetic and full of food.
The ghost arrived during the Hungry Ghost Festival expecting, naturally, to find people who believed in ghosts.
His first disappointment came when he encountered Malays.
They didn't believe in Chinese ghosts.
The poor fellow had crossed the boundary between life and death only to discover that he had also crossed a cultural jurisdiction.
He floated around hopefully, perhaps expecting someone to say, “Welcome home, brother.”
Instead, the likely response was more along the lines of: “Sorry, wrong house.”
This is Malaysia at its finest.
Even our ghosts have to understand the concept of cultural compartmentalisation.
He then encountered Malaysian Christians of Chinese origin. Surely, he thought, here would be someone who understood his predicament.
But apparently, he was sent next door.
Perhaps this is the Malaysian Christian approach to supernatural customer service: We don't handle this category, but perhaps the neighbours can help.
The ghost, already confused, continued his journey.
Then came another distinctly Malaysian hazard.
A kolam.
There he was, floating peacefully through the multicultural landscape when he managed to step on a beautiful decoration made from coloured rice.
One can only imagine the ghostly embarrassment.
“Sorry.”
A ghost apologising for stepping on a kolam.
That may be the most Malaysian supernatural incident ever recorded.
In another country, a ghost might frighten people.
In Malaysia, the ghost is worried about offending somebody's cultural decoration.
And perhaps that is precisely the point.
Our differences are real. They are not cosmetic. We eat differently, pray differently, celebrate differently, dress differently and sometimes have completely different ideas about what happens after death.
Yet somehow, we continue living next door to one another.
We borrow each other's food.
We attend each other's open houses.
We learn each other's festivals.
And, occasionally, we send confused ghosts to the wrong neighbour.
Eventually, our wandering ghost reached a household where the Hungry Ghost Festival was being observed by traditional believers. At last, he had found his people.
There were offerings.
There was food.
There were all the familiar rituals intended to welcome and appease wandering spirits.
The ghost must have been delighted.
Finally, someone believed he existed.
He was even invited to enjoy the culinary delights.
This was becoming a very successful afterlife experience.
Until Grandma intervened.
She saw the ghost using his mobile phone during dinner.
And she was not impressed.
“Put that phone away!”
It didn't matter that he was dead.
It didn't matter that he had travelled from the other world.
It didn't matter that he had finally found people who believed in him.
Dinner was dinner.
Grandma had spoken.
The supernatural world could wait.
That little episode may contain more truth about Malaysia than a thousand Merdeka speeches.
We are a country of contrasts that somehow works because Malaysians have learned, imperfectly but remarkably, to accommodate one another.
A Muslim may not believe in a Chinese Hungry Ghost.
A Christian may politely direct the ghost elsewhere.
A Hindu household may have a beautifully decorated kolam that even the dead must respect.
A traditional Chinese family may prepare offerings for spirits—and still have a grandmother who believes the greatest threat at the dinner table is not a ghost but a mobile phone.
And yet, here we are.
Different beliefs.
Different customs.
Different kitchens.
Different festivals.
Different ideas about heaven, hell, spirits and reincarnation.
One country.
One flag.
One remarkably complicated dinner table.
Perhaps this is what Merdeka should remind us of.
Unity does not mean we all believe the same things. It means we learn how to live with people who don't.
The ghost in that video may have been fictional, but his journey was a rather accurate tour of Malaysia.
He discovered that Malays don't necessarily believe in his ghosts, Christians might send him to the neighbours, cultural decorations require an apology, and even in the afterlife there are rules about mobile phones at the dinner table.
He probably left Malaysia still dead, but considerably better educated.
And perhaps that is our real achievement as a nation.
We have managed to create a country where even the ghosts have to practise multicultural etiquette.
So this Merdeka, let us celebrate Malaysia for what it really is—not a nation without differences, but a nation that somehow survives its differences.
May our Malaysians remain different.
May our food remain dangerously delicious.
May our festivals remain colourful.
May our neighbours remain patient.
And if any ghosts decide to visit us this Merdeka, please give them directions.
But first, tell them to put their phones away at the dinner table.
Grandma is watching.
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