Don't you feel that this Raya feels different somehow? And it is not just me saying it ... the feel is just not there... on the first day, I said to my hubby that it appears as if we were the only ones out and dun seem to see any other Malays doing the same... not on the roads, not at the bus stops... some were saying that it is cos of the exams but dun tell me all the Malay families are having kids facing PSLE, or their O or A levels...
Even the taxi drivers are complaining that somehow they did not seem to have many Malay passengers this round... The recession hitting hard?
I dun seem to understand the recent spate of articles in the Malay papers recently criticising the way the Malays celebrate Aidilfitri... some I do agree... like the Malays who dun fast but go over the top when it comes to celebrating... or those who overspend and start overhauling their home each year till they go into debt... but is it so wrong the we visit our relatives and for them to visit us in turn? Isn't it berkat to have people coming over to our home and if we only should visit the elder and dun get visited in return... well I think it becomes very sad...so I only get visited when I grow old and not before?
And what's with the criticism of us wearing baju kurung only during Aidilfitri? Would they rather we dun wear it at all? Isn't it good that at least we do... to keep that culture alive....
Why must it always be a criticism about what the Malays do while the other cultures are praised and placed in high regard for what they practise? What about borrowing some or learning from what that is good and yet keeping our own culture alive minus the negatives? So, I am all for bringing up the spirit of Ramadan... but we do not need to denounce our spirit of visiting in Aidilfitri. There was an article highlighting how in some other cultures, families would invite others to their home for feasting during Ramadan cos this is a way of earning good deeds... but the question I have is do they invite those of the same status as them or do they invite the poor? Cos if they do the latter then good but if they do only the former, then what is so great about that? And we can also invite the poor to our home during Aidilfitri right?
Even the culture of asking forgiveness on the mornings of Aidilfitri is bashed... that is not on practised in Singapore but also Indonesia and Malaysia... that is our culture... what is so wrong with that? Isnt it a good thing as a practise? Of course, I agree that we should not just keep this practise to Aidilfitri to seek forgiveness and it should be a regular thing we do .... but to bash this just because the other cultures dun do it? That I dun get.... Diversity is not a crime...not that I know of anyway...
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