Name : Faridah Az-Zahra binti Mohamed Abu Abas

Teacher’s name : Zashazlin Chiang binti Abdullah

School : SMK Perempuan Methodist Ipoh
Class : 1 Prinia

Religion is a word that we often hear in our life. However, what does religion means?
According to the Oxford Leaner’s Dictionary, religion means “the belief in the existence of a
gods, and the activities that are connected with the worship of them, or in the teachings of a
spiritual leader”. This shows that religion is a very sensitive and important element for human
beings. In Malaysia we have many religions and cultures. In order to live in harmony among
different religion and race we need to have mutual respect for each other.
One of important example how mutual respect can help people from different religious
beliefs coexist harmoniously is their worship or pray. Put simply, anyone can pick up a joss-
stick or raise his hands towards heaven and pray to his god, on Malaysian soil, regardless or
whether such a practice is offensive to a person of another religion. When everyone can
practice their own religion in their own way then there will be no fights between every
believer.
Celebration is also one of the ways to create a harmonious atmosphere. For example,
at the thaipusam festival, everyone respects the festival even though the atmosphere of the
festival is quite noisy.
The diversity of food in Malaysia can also create a harmonious atmosphere. If Islam is
invited to a feast of another religion, they will not serve alcohol or pork to Muslims. This will
result in no inter-religious strife.
As a conclusion, if everyone respects each other’s religion, this can help in preventing
conflict from happening and create harmonious society. “United we stand divided we fall.”