KUCHING: Hari Raya is celebrated after the month-long fasting, which is always a joyous and significant event, not just for Muslims but everyone in the multi-ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic society.
Social activist Datuk Seri Ang Lai Soo said it was a fine and still thriving tradition for all Malaysians, irrespective of who they are, to be invited to take part in each other’s particular festive celebrations.
“Let’s be united in our efforts to build a cohesive, caring, progressive and vibrant nation,” he said in his Hari Raya message.
For Muslims, Ang said, it was particularly so as it marks another triumph of the human spirit against earthly temptations, as they abstain from food, drinks and other human desires from dawn to dusk for a whole month.
“This is a truly incredible feat of self-discipline, and we all know that any human endeavour worth pursuing can only be attained with some degree of perfection through self-discipline,” he said.
“We have witnessed, for instance, with awe and admiration, some global military parades and their march-pasts done with such precision to the tiniest detail, a perfect symphony of marching tunes and fully synchronised steps by thousands and thousands of uniformed men and women.”
“It would be impossible to achieve such a feat, a sight to behold, if it were not down to the determined self-discipline of each of these individuals,” he added.
Ang believed that the success of every human group or country can be distilled down to this very essence: each individual member exercising individual responsibility for self-discipline in all his or her endeavours.
In the midst of this crafty and challenging pandemic, he said, one is reminded of how important individual discipline and responsibility is to the welfare, health and overall collective good of society and nation as a whole.
“One cannot exist without the other. Both must coexist. They complement each other.
“We are rather fortunate that our society still, by and large, emphasises collective responsibilities and the common good over individual rights which sometimes, in some countries, can be upheld to the extreme,” he said.
Ang said the right of every individual to bear arms, for example, cannot be so absolute that strollers in public parks or young students in school or people in places of worship face all-too-common threats of gun violence by deranged armed individuals ever so often that fear of such violence is making people feeling so insecure the moment stepping out of the safety of their home.
The tumultuous and troublesome world today is faced with wars and conflicts in some countries. Even if they do not escalate, the ramifications of these wars will be felt world-wide in food shortages and higher prices for most essential goods as fuel prices sky-rocket. The global poor, as usual, will be the most vulnerable and feel the consequences of war first and foremost.
He said not only shortage of food and inflation, but a more serious escalation might lead to a nuclear war which will effectively be the end of civilization, as the planet earth will inevitably be highly contaminated. All warring nations need the type of discipline of Muslims to avoid such a nuclear catastrophe/apocalypse.
“The Muslim holy month of Ramadan has also been an occasion for not only for our Muslim brothers and sisters but all of different faiths to remember the less fortunate among us and to bring much-welcome relief to them.
“It is really laudable that all the great religions and beliefs like Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, and even the latest Baha’i all teach us to perform such acts of compassion for the less fortunate members of society and, above all, love for our parents and elders,” he added.
However, Ang said everyone must also always be mindful that the needs of the loved ones and the less fortunate, who are constant and extend also to the needs for spiritual guidance and human caring and counselling.
“While it is good that occasions for festive joy such as Hari Raya also make us mindful of their needs, we must try as well to make allowances for fulfilling these needs – however small – at other times through the year as well,” he said.
Even without a war, invasion, conflict, aggression or persecution, which are all unconscionable, unjustifiable and absolutely indefensible, there will always be those in constant need of others’ attention: young abandoned orphans, the chronically sick, those born with physical or intellectual disabilities and, increasingly, the elderly in the families.
“Hari Raya and other religious festivals will surely be most meaningful if we remember these people in our midst not just once a year but every day as well.
“May we all continue to live in peace and harmony, and be united in our efforts to build a cohesive, caring, progressive and vibrant nation, of which we are justly proud of. Selamat Hari Raya to all our Muslim friends wherever they may be,” Ang said.
