In the midst of the Hungry Ghost Festival when spirits roam the earth, it’s fairly easy to spot prayer items on the temporary altars placed by the roadside. To avoid trouble, or precisely, supernatural encounters, all you need to do is leave the items undisturbed.
But, what if the prayer items are causing a nuisance to others? Just this morning (August 12), the Facebook page 原来是这样 new 保护人民 shared a couple of images that show prayer items and incense left on the road. The issue here? The items were hogging a parking space.
According to the caption of the post, the cleaners of the road have raised the issues a few times, but to no avail.
“There’s nothing wrong with prayers but the parking space is very limited. Please clean as you go!”
The prayer items were “parked” in the middle of a parking spot and a road sweeper had to clear the items from the parking spot.
“Where’s your empathy?”
The post has gained a lot of attention on social media and most Malaysians have expressed anger at what they had to see. One user has described the action as rude and questioned about the lack of empathy of the person who left the prayer items there.
“Food wastage, and contaminating the place!”
“Please clean up when you’re done.”
Another user has said that in Singapore, people are not allowed to leave incense and prayers unattended on the road.
In the meantime, a user has also shared the image of parking spots being “hogged” by joss papers, causing inconvenience to road users and road sweepers.
“Morality is so important. Don’t ease yourself at the expense of troubling the others.”
Another user highlighted how religion does not preach about bringing inconvenience to others, and that cleaning the place after prayers is not only preserving the environment but also a form of respect towards the road sweepers.
“The road sweepers might not be able to touch our prayer items due to cultural differences, but they’re obligated to clean as it is their responsibility. Some people even throw the joss papers around and contaminate the area as the papers fly around.”
As we are still in the midst of the Hungry Ghost Festival, have you seen any prayer items and incense being left unattended in the middle of the road?
Also read: These 7 Creepy, Spine-Tingling Real-Life Malaysian Ghost Stories Will Give You The Chills!
