Hari Raya at Sri Perdana

RAYA PUASA celebration, like most Malaysian religious festivities, is not confined to Muslims only. Of course it is paramount to the Muslims. But Malaysians and residents of other faiths too partake in the Raya festivities.

Some sent greetings to their Muslim friends or visited them. Strangers greet each other as if they are friends. Strictly from the religious point of view, the Hari Raya Puasa or Eid is “compulsory” for a day only - on the 1^st day of the Muslim month of Shawal, the 10^th month in the Islamic calendar.

On that day, Muslims are forbidden from fasting. But in Malaysia, the entire month of Shawal is celebrated as the Raya month. It’s cultural and only in Malaysia that the Raya open house is held in a big way.

Today’s Friday sermon at the mosque I attended applauded the Raya open house as being in line with the Quranic revelation "O Mankind, We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other. Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous of you" (Quran 49:13).

So, whether visiting Raya open houses or joining their Muslim compatriots in the “balik kampung” exodus, the non-Muslims have their own ways of partaking in the Raya holidays and with that create their own memories of the event.

A Visit To The PM

AFTER a long absence from the Prime Minister’s open house (since the mid-2000s), I went to one yesterday hosted by Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, his wife Rosmah Mansor, and members of Cabinet. A handful of Ministers and Deputy Ministers were on hand to receive the guests.

After not having had any form of communication with the Prime Minister’s Office since 2009 (except for 2 meetings with the PM, each arranged by Proton and Pemandu respectively for reporting purposes), it came as quite a surprise that during the fasting month I received two invitations from the PMO – one for a media breakfasting, which I could not attend because the fax went astray, and the other for the Raya open house.

PM and Ministers receiving guests

 

 

It was interesting to see the comings and goings of the ordinary folk and the society’s bigwigs. While I was there, many leaders of the Barisan Nasional component parties – past and present – came calling; the likes of S Samy Vellu, Tan Koon Swan and Chua Soi Lek. Then there were members of the corporate elite like Shahril Shamsuddin, Yeoh Tiong Lay, Azman Mokhtar and Kishu Tirathrai.

Also present were former Prime Minister (Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former Deputy Prime Minister (Tun) Musa Hitam and their spouses.

Memories of Old Times

SEATING beside Musa was an opportunity to relive the old times. As ever, Musa was cheery and not averse to cynicism and occasional sarcasm.

He taught me a lot about the economy, in particular about trade and commodities, back in the late 1970s when I was a reporter with the Business Times and Musa was Deputy Trade Minister and later Minister of Primary Industries.

It was in the latter job that he was faced with the challenge of mitigating the downward spiral of rubber prices. The slump in rubber prices had accorded the young rebel rousing Anwar Ibrahim the reason and opportunity to organise the 1974 Baling rubber smallholders’ protest.

Anwar was detained under the ISA and I went to Baling a couple of times with Musa to meet the smallholders. Several programmes were launched.

Among them were extending Risda’s replanting subsidy to smallholders who occupied state land “illegally”, setting up hostels in towns for rubber smallholders’ children, launching price support system and, at the international level, establishing rubber stockpile by the natural rubber producing countries. Then Malaysia was a respected negotiator and drafter of international and regional treaties and agreements.

The two Chinese undergraduates who sat with Musa at the table had a lot to benefit from the old pro. They were among interns of the Perdana Leadership Programme who were invited to the open house.

Abdullah’s Awakening

THE big talking point was (Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s new book – The Awakening” – in which, according to newspaper reports and reviews, he criticized Dr Mahathir.

Well, if Dr Mahathir could criticize Abdullah, why should we be surprised if likewise Abdullah criticizes Dr Mahathir? The Malays say “pulang paku buah keras”.

It’s funny that some people appear to be upset and start to lash out at Abdullah. I am sure Dr Mahathir is more than capable of defending himself should he decide to.

Last but not least, I thank two of PM’s “allies” who “escorted” me to pay my respect to him. One is PM’s close friend and my colleague at the NSTP, Randhir Singh, and the other is Hardev Kaur, also a colleague at the newspaper group. Hardev has been working for the PM for some years now.

I told Randir not to read too much into my visit to the PM. This is Hari Raya not pilihan raya (general election).