Expo duty comes first for M’sians

ASTANA (Kazakhstan): Staff of various government departments and agencies have to sacrifice their Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations to be on duty at the Astana Expo 2017.

For Aneita Abdullah Pandian, it means being away from her husband Suheimi Abdul Samad and 13-year-old daughter Syarifa Med­dina.

“Since both my husband and I no longer have parents, the crux of Hari Raya Aidilfitri is the yearly reunion with his three brothers and I missed it this year,” said Aneita, Biotechnology Corp’s public relations and media senior manager.

Aneita, 43, who lost both parents by the time she was 21, said Raya became the pivotal celebration in her life after she converted to Islam and married Suheimi in 2004.

“I used to celebrate Christmas and Deepavali when my parents were around but both are low-key affairs now as my mother’s relatives are in Singapore and my father’s relatives are in India,” said Aneita, who is of Indian and Chinese parentage.

Aneita said her daughter was sad that she would not be around for the festivities.

Sirim Bhd consultant Ahmad Azmi Awang said his six-year-old daughter Annur Puteri Sofea was upset with him for not being around for Hari Raya.

“She sends me voice messages every day asking when I will be home,” said Ahmad Azmi, who lives with his daughter and wife Sharifah Faezah Syed A Bakar in Shah Alam.

The 43-year-old will orga­­nise a Hari Raya gathering for his family and friends once he is home.

Science, Technology and Inno­va­tion Ministry trade and promotion section assistant secretary Sharifah Najmi Shariff Abdul Aziz, 34, said she and her husband Shah Rehan Rajab were supposed to go to her parents’ place in Tanjung Ma­­lim, Perak.

“But since I am here, my husband’s family and my family went to our house in Putrajaya to spend time with him,” she added.

She said the festival in Kazakhstan was very different from that in Malaysia.

“People here just go to the mosque in the morning and go home after that. There aren’t even any decorations at the malls to indicate it is Hari Raya,” said Sharifah Najmi.

The Malaysians arrived here on June 23 and will be returning home on Friday.