‘Join different festivities to promote understanding’

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians from different backgrounds should be encouraged to take part in the festivities of other communities to enhance interracial understanding.

Centre For A Better Tomorrow (Cenbet) committee member Derek Low Eng Tack said this is pertinent at a time of heightened tension among those from different backgrounds.

“Asking the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to stay away from ‘buka puasa’ events is uncalled for.

“It smacks of racial superiority,” he said.

“It is even more unfortunate that such calls came on the eve of Ramadan which is a month of love, patience, and compassion,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Low said joining other communities in their celebrations has been a tradition in our plural society for centuries.

This practice has enabled us to know each other better.

Low said the last thing we want is for Malaysians to stay ignorant of the cultural practices of others and allow prejudices and unfounded fears to fester.

He added that at a time of widening gap between those of different backgrounds in this country, we should encourage Malaysians to reach out to each other, not stay even more inward-looking.

He urged the public to promote plural cultures, not any single culture.

“Asking Guan Eng to convert to Islam in order for him to attend ‘buka puasa’ events also misses the point.

“Non-Muslims joining Muslims to break fast is an act of reaching out and of simply being Malaysian,” Low said.

He added that fasting and breaking of fast is practised in many cultures and one needs not be Muslim in order to fast and break fast.