Thaipusam is a religious celebration, which is celebrated by Hindus all over the world. In Malaysia, Thaipusam is the grandest Hindu festival. Batu Caves is one good example for Thaipusam day where more than one million devotees gather on this day. Besides that, even thousands of tourists pay their visits on the Thaipusam day to witness this great festival. Thaipusam is not only celebrated in Batu Caves but everywhere throughout the country.
Unfortunately, it is sad to say that so far only Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Selangor and Penang is given holiday for Thaipusam. The strangest part here is that even people in Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur do not get a holiday on Thaipusam day. Cities like Kuala Lumpur, which is, comprised of mixture of people from every state of our country, do not get a break on this day. Most of these people who celebrate Thaipusam usually, take personal leave on this holy day.
Although, so many people have requested to declare Thaipusam as National holiday for decades and most of them who done so are not even with us today but a national holiday was never declared until today. Why our government is still hesitating to declare Thaipusam as a national holiday? Even though this may sound like a small issue but even this tiny matter can determine a good and better national unity and integration.
Therefore I kindly request the government to declare Thaipusam as a national holiday starting from the year 2003.
The Sun, 10 April 2002
Kavya, January 2003
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