Anybody visiting Sarawak for the first time will certainly get impressed with the amazing ability of the people to speak many languages. Quite a number speak English, Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia well especially the Chinese since they have been taught the three languages in national-type Chinese primary schools. What is even more wonderful is the increasing interest of the other racial groups such as the Ibans, the Bidayuhs and the Malays to send their children to those schools. Once in the Chinese schools, they mingle with their Chinese friends and in the end a lot also learn to speak Hakka, Foochow and other Chinese dialects.
Once you can speak many different languages, you have an edge over the others when it comes to looking for jobs in this globalised world. Knowing many languages not only makes you more knowledgeable but also more tolerant and receptive to other cultures apart from your own. You always look at things differently and from different perspectives.
Whether you are at the Sunday market, food joints or the shopping malls, you always tend to come across natives speaking Mandarin to you or even more amazing your own dialects. If you bother to inquire further, you will be not surprised to learn that they come from the Chinese schools.
Sometimes it is all because of a lot of intermarriages among the people of Sarawak. They have been living peacefully together for a long time even though they comprise different ethnic groups and come from diverse cultures and religions. They have been able to accept each other ways of life. Racial slurs and derogatory remarks are irrelevant and practically unheard of unlike in other states in Peninsular Malaysia.
Religion wise, Sarawakians have the freedom to practise their own religions without any hindrance. Another interesting thing is that we even have places of worship which are located next to each other. There is no religious animosity among the different worshippers. Here you even have places of worship built as a result of financial assistance and cooperation from the various communities.
The next time if you come to Sarawak, do not speak something behind thinking that the natives do not understand what has transpired, you are certainly wrong.