Deepavali do turns into Tourism M'sia-style event

When Perkasa invites you to a Deepavali open house, one could only think of the many things that could possibly go wrong.

After all, the Malay rights group's disastrous Chinese New Year open house last year highlighted how ignorant it was about other cultures.

Perkasa had dished out white 'ang pows' instead of red at that Chinese New Year open house - a colour often associated with death on what should have been an auspicious day (left).

So it was no surprise that journalists half-expected another faux pas at its Deepavali open house today.

But to Perkasa's credit, it pulled off a successful event, thanks to its new found Indian NGO ally, the New Indian Welfare and Charity Association (Perinnbam), which handled most part of the event.

"During Chinese New Year next year, I will ask Percisma (New Era Chinese Association) to organise an open house as big as this one, if not better," declared Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali during his speech at the Deepavali event.

Perkasa, together with Perinnbam and Percisma, had formed the Malaysian Inter-racial NGO Council in July in a bid to deflect criticism that it was racist.

Ibrahim: Perkasa not racist

And throughout the event today, Perkasa drove this point, repeating time and again that the Malay rights group was not racist.

"Perkasa is accused of all kinds of things - that it is racist - these are not true. Give us time and we will prove that we are not racist. We are for Malaysia and multiculturalism," declared Ibrahim.

As a matter of fact, the event was indeed very multicultural, with about 1,000 people of every colour and creed filling their tummies with free food.

But Perkasa tried so hard to shed its racist label by displaying a multiracial and multicultural image that the message of Deepavali appeared lost.

And that became even more evident when the performance of Urumee Melam was joined by kompangs and a lion dance, turning the event into one that could have been mistaken for a Tourism Malaysia campaign.

Instead of an appreciation of the festival of lights - the triumph of good over evil - the open house became a "We're not a racist" drive with a token display of the culture of various races.

If posing in front of a lion dance troupe and tapping to the beat of the Urumee Melam and kompangs mean one is not racist, then Perkasa has achieved its purpose.

But someone who isn't racist wouldn't need to keep repeating that he or she is not a racist, and that is something for Perkasa to ponder on.