How Love Transcends All

The festive season has always been held up as a symbol of the TRADITIONAL family structure. This year, we revisit the notion of family by putting the SPOTLIGHT on three diverse families, showing that despite their differences, these stories don’t need to be melodramatic or overwrought; they can be quotidian, too. A polyamorous single mother, a pair of national athlete sisters, and a married lesbian couple tell us about how love transcends all

- Hillary Kang

SILAT CHAMPS Nurul Shafiqah & Nurul Suhaila ARE FAMILY FIRST, COMETITORS SECOND

As two similarly-aged sisters who compete in the same sport, the comparisons were inevitable. Surely either Nurul Suhaila or her elder sister Nurul Shafiqah – both decorated silat practitioners who started the sport together as youths – had some form of sibling rivalry going?

Not quite. There's nothing but love between the two siblings who finish each other's sentences and share a penchant for waffles and ice cream outside of the ring. When a recurrent knee injury forced Shafiqah to bow out of the sport some three years ago, it was Suhaila who was her pillar of support.

It took me a few months to really decide because we'd been doing silat together throughout our lives, says Shafiqah, 27. Later, when Suhaila won her first world title at the 2018 Pencak Silat World Championship, it was Shafiqah who was cheering the loudest in the stands.

The two sisters – who playfully admit they've shared a room for some two decades – have always had an easy camaraderie. This, despite being complete opposites – as Suhaila puts it. She's a hundred per cent introverted, but I'm more of an ambivert, says the 26-year-old. But even though you might have teammates, supporters, your family is different... You know that when she's cheering for you, when she's supporting you, she genuinely wants you to win.