The writer believes in religious freedom with everyone answering only to God, but when people insult a religious festival, there has to be someone with powers to put a stop to that.
LET me first make a confession. I am a bit of a recalcitrant. I suffered a retinal detachment and underwent an operation a couple of weeks ago. And despite the sage advice of the doctor, I still decided to go to Penang for Thaipusam.
It’s an event I have only missed once in my entire life, and even that, it was because I was critically ill on a hospital bed.
There’s just so much to take in; the colours, the sights, the dances, the thaneer panthals where generous Hindus – including yours truly – provide food and drinks to the more than million-strong crowd at the festival. It’s not just Indians, the Chinese and other non-Hindus join in, too.
But there were sights I wished I did not have to see, even with one good eye. As groups walked around with placards calling for a green and clean Thaipusam, rubbish was strewn everywhere.
The paper cups from the thaneer panthals lined the roads, as did plastic mineral water bottles, food packets and remains of fruits. The rubbish bins by the roadside were overflowing.
There was another infuriating sight – of kavadis left by the roadside for the garbage men to pick up the following day. Some were already broken by the kavadi bearers and their friends.
It made me angry. It was an insult to the festival, the deity and the religion. It is bad enough when those of other faiths demean your religion; when those who claim to profess the same faith do so, too, it becomes unacceptable. Unforgivable even.
The guys who did that should be barred from even coming near the Thaipusam festival for decades.
The organisers have to bear part of the blame. For some reason, the temples were ordered to close early.
In fact, the Muneeswarar temple at the foot of the hill was locked up at 10.30pm. Ditto for the Waterfall hilltop temple.
Yet, the temples remained open until well past 3am a day earlier when the two competing chariots were delayed yet again. Why not on Thaipusam day, too?
I remember as a kavadi bearer many years ago when the temples were kept open until the last kavadi arrived. The temples’ office bearers would come down the hill and urge the kavadis to hurry up. Back then, it was a festival that prioritised the faithful, not the convenience of those in power.
We would take the kavadis home where prayers would be held two days later. Only then could a kavadi bearer break his fast and eat non-vegetarian food.
This year, with the temples closed early, I saw kavadis being dismantled some 2km before the end of the journey. The top half, largely made of polystyrene, was left by the roadside while the lower metal half was taken home.
The kavadis were also slowed down by the massive crowds, which stopped to gape at the beautiful, large chariots that were pulled by kavadi bearers with hooks on their backs. At around 10.30pm, there were still more than a dozen chariots and kavadis still on the road, a full kilometre away from the hilltop temple.
The early closure of the temples was still no excuse for anyone to dump their kavadis by the roadside. Those who do so should be punished. The problem is no one really has the powers to enforce any kind of disciplinary action against them.
The council can probably fine them for littering, and the cops may also fine them for being a nuisance, but there’s really little else anyone can do.
So, maybe a ministry for non-Muslim religions may not be a bad idea. Or, at least another department under the Prime Minister’s Department. After all, we do not have a real Religious Affairs Ministry, only a minister in the PM’s Department who is in charge of Islamic Affairs.
The new department could work with religious bodies to draw up guidelines and set up enforcement bodies to act against those who insult the religion at festivals. I believe it is not against any law to set up such a department.
Let me be clear, I do not wish to see a body that governs how one practises his (non-Muslim) religion. That is between the individual and God. But there has to be decorum at festivals and events that are held sacred.
The National Unity Ministry is not equipped for such things. It is the Religious Affairs Ministry that fits the bill. We could learn a thing or two from the Indonesians.
They have a full-fledged Religious Affairs Minister. The former minister famously said that he was a minister for all religions and would serve all.
The current minister, Nasaruddin Umar, has introduced a “curriculum of love” for religious teachers – one that promotes tolerance and respect for all religions, especially among the young.
“Currently, many religious teachers teach that their religion is the most correct, while others are considered wrong or heretical,” he was reported as saying. “What would happen if children are taught hatred in a very pluralistic country like Indonesia?”
To him, love and tolerance are more important. More recently, he said the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts in early March, was also a time for people of different religions to embrace each other.
Indonesia, incidentally, is the country with the biggest number of Muslims in the world, making up 87% of the 277.5 million population. Christians make up just over 10% while Hindus and Buddhists make up about 2.5%.
Our Malaysia is a plural nation too, with about 64% Muslims, 18% Buddhists, 9% Christians and 6% Hindus, among others. Like Indonesia, we should also be working on promoting love, understanding and tolerance among the religions.
That’s where the National Unity Ministry comes in.
So far, though, it has not been the most inspiring of ministries but has recently set up an inter-faith harmony committee to increase respect and understanding among religions.
It’s a first step, but we will have to wait and see how effective it is.
As someone who is now legally blind in one eye, I must say I don’t see much happening anytime soon.
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