Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Being Malaysian

Today is Hari Raya Aidilfitri and it is also a public holiday. A much-awaited one for me. I will have five days off, including Saturday and Sunday. Such a luxury, eh? For this holiday, I have planned to just laze around doing the things that I like - reading, watching tv, surfing the net and most important of all, spending time with Iyan. I'm sure many of those who celebrate Hari Raya held open houses today because this is the tradition and culture that we, Malaysians practise, no matter what race and religion we belong to. Even the Prime Minister and his cabinet ministers held open houses. As usual, we see droves of people thronging these open houses especially the ministers' on this auspicious day. It is not so much for the wide array of food. It is more for the solidarity among friends. Everyone can visit each other without being worried about anything because we live in a peaceful country. We know that we can go out safely and return safely. The same can't be said for some countries where there is violence. I know I would never know how fearful the people in these countries are each time they had to leave their homes to go somewhere. That makes me appreciate this peaceful country more. Ever since young, my siblings and I have been taught not to look at skin colour or race, we all live in Malaysia and we are all Malaysians. Hence, we have learnt to treat everyone the same. We played and laughed together. I remember that my sister would bring her friend of another race home after school and this friend would have lunch with my family. She would stay, take her shower and study at our house. My parents did not treat her differently and I hope that I will be able to emulate that and treat every Malaysian the same. To all my Muslim friends out there, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and have a wonderful weekend.

jennyiyan's recollections...

No comments: