As Malaysians, we are blessed with truckloads of public and religion based holidays we have in this country. Whether or not we do celebrate the holiday that we are on leave for, it definitely helps to unite and empower us as Malaysians.
However, it seems that even with public holidays, there is a bit of discrimination from one compared to another.
Recently, Muar MP Syed Saddiq took to Twitter to share an anonymous message he received from a student.
In the post, the IPTA student said that they are sending the message to express how disappointed most Indian students are with the holiday given by the government for Deepavali this year.
“It is just one day and we cannot even celebrate our festival as we have class the very next day and most of us cannot even go back home to visit and celebrate it with our family members.”
“I think I speak out for all the Indian students when it comes to this and I hope you can voice out on this issue,” wrote the student to Syed Saddiq.
In his sharing of the post, Saddiq wrote, “Why is Deepavali holiday only a day? That’s what plenty of people have messaged me. Mostly students. Monday is a holiday then the next day they’d have to go back to class.”
“I suggest ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ should make it a bit longer. Make it the same as Raya and Chinese New Year. Pity them.”
Malaysians were divided on the matter
The post by Saddiq has garnered plenty of attention. Malaysians were generally divided on the matter. Some said that it has always been that way since years ago and that it’s acceptable since Indians are a minority.
“It’s been like this for many years where they only get one day holiday. When you became a minister for a short while, why didn’t you bring this issue to parliament? Because Indians are the minority right?
“Try counting how many of them celebrate Deepavali in Malaysia. If they’re the majority then you can give them a month or two of holiday,” commented another user.
However, others said that just because we practiced it in the past doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t change it to improve.
“It’s really sad for university students and those working out of their hometown. I hope they standardise all festive holidays.”
Another user pointed that even though they’re the minority, they are still one of the major races in Malaysia.
“Their holiday falls on a Monday, this means they have to celebrate on Monday and go back to campus/work by the end of the day since Tuesday is not a holiday,” said a user.
What do you think? Should it all be standardised?
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