My brother in Malaysia wrote me an email yesterday, just generally updating and chatting. I think it was the Shah Alam floods last weekend which made him write. He lives there, but not in the affected areas.

He has been affected, for some time now, in a different way and has been looking for a house elsewhere.

It’s the smallest thing but I guess it’s important to them (he and his wife).

You see, they have 2 dogs. Pesky little things but I feel so only because I have always been one for bigger dogs. They have two Pomeranians and though they are lovable, the darting around and constant yelping is not my idea of how dogs should behave.

Anyway, it seems somehow dogs and Shah Alam are a bad mix these days. Neighbours don’t like it, it seems. Because of the overwhelming number of dog averse residents, no more keeping of dogs allowed for intermediate units (houses in the middle of a block, with both sides each sharing a common wall). End or corner units may have dogs but only with the neighbour’s permission.

I guess the majority is flexing its muscles. I guess it is also a reflection of the times. Tolerance is no longer fashionable. If your neighbour is different, get rid of him. Want to live amongst us? You better be like us.

But does making you more like us make you less yourself? Don’t I lose out if you are less yourself and more like me? I’m not God – why would I want you to be more like me?

How much like me do you have to be, or how much less of you need you be, before I accept you? What is the problem with me accepting you, dogs and all, or burkha and all? I guess the answer is a lot more complicated than many would like to think.

But in the mean time, a decent normal Malaysian has to move (after living in that house for 7 years) because his neighbours don’t like dogs, but he and his wife do.