Thaipusam cerebration is over. Lots of appreciative thanks to the Hindu activists for their persistence in seeking the administration to grant the day of Thaipusam as a public holiday. All of us have a much needed rest day yesterday.
Prior to the Thaipusam, I was told that, there are SMS going around asking Malaysians of Hindu faith to boycott the famous Batu Cave temple. This morning, the MSM have reported that there are more than 1 million people visited the temple, and the SMS campaign has failed to convince the Hindu devotee to boycott the Batu Cave temple. However, the blogsphere reported otherwise. The usual crowd at Batu Cave has declined substantially. Which is which ? Do we believe the MSM or the blogsphere ? But one thing is certain, the attendance of devotees at Batu Cave temple did dropped substantially. So the fact is, there are indeed many Hindu devotees decided to boycott the Batu Cave temple and instead go to other smaller Hindu temple to perform their annual Thaipusam rites.
Sad to note that, sacred temple and religious event such as Thaipusam, has been misused by politicians to launch political attacks against their opponents. God has nothing to do with infidels's political differences, don't drag God into it.
Most of the MSM are emphasizing that there are more than 1 million people visited Batu Cave temple. Really ? The MSM also provide extensive written coverage of the MIC president, Samy Vellu, and the Thaipusam event at Batu Cave temple. It does gave me an impression that, they are trying their level best to portray to the general pubic that Samy Vellu still has considerable and majority support from Malaysians of Hindu faiths.
Frankly, it is of no concern to me, whether Samy Vellu still has the majority support or not. I guess, as a politician, only MIC members and the voters in his constituency can decide his political fate during the general elections. Can we equate the number of Hindu devotees at Batu Cave to Samy Vellu's political popularity ? Are the claimed and unsubstantiated 1 million visitors to Batu Cave temple all Hindu devotees and supporters of MIC and Samy Vellu ? My God, these devotees are there to pay homage to Lord Murugan, not Samy Vellu ! Rightly, religion should never be used as a tool to seek endorsement of political survival.
However, I do find it very amusing to read some of the reported remarks made by Samy Vellu. These are some of the quotations of Samy Vellu from MSM :
“People who send such SMS are not clean; they are dirty fellows. They are nasty, with a low quality mind and no capacity...”
Nasty, low quality mind, and no capacity... these are words usually used by uneducated and arrogant pariahs. On this auspicious religious day, maybe it is worth the while we refrained from insulting fellow Malaysians with these kind of uncultured words.
“You make me laugh. Do you honestly think Indians are that stupid?”
Sir, Indians are not stupid! Laugh all you can. Mr Samy, they are not Indians, they are Malaysians. People with differing opinions are not stupid, only people who are incapable of accepting differing opinions are stupid. Didn't your father told you so ? And don't underestimate Malaysians. Please remember, the one who laughs last laughs best.
"God knows what is happening and what we have done and he will only help MIC and BN."
I don't know, maybe God did communicated to him that he will help MIC and BN. At the rate it is going, I do honestly believe MIC and BN need all the help they can get from God. Maybe, Malaysian politicians should refrained from referencing God or invoking God to justify their political relevancy. I don't know which God he is referring to. Hindu God, Christian God, Muslim Allah, or a Universal God ? Honestly, do you think God care what political party or political values one has ? I personally think it is abusively arrogant and immoral to associate God with biased statements to justify one's intolerance to others' freedom of speech and expression.
"These are nasty, low grade fellows. They do not have the capacity to do things that comply with law and order."
Mr Samy did said "We must know how to be ashamed. Those who know how to be ashamed will not use kuils." So, is it okay for him to use kuils to conduct political attacks on others ? Honestly, Mr Samy must do what he preached. His actions must be consistent with his words. He should have the political decency to refrain from using sacred temple and sacred religious event to hurl uncalled for remarks against his political opponents.
"Who can threaten us? If anybody threatens us, we can identify him fast. It takes only five hours to find his location. He can't run away from us. I'll hand him over to the police."
In the first place, who is threatening MIC and Samy Vellu ? Is differing in opinion constitutes a threat ? But anyway, it is good to know that our Mr Samy has that kind of super capability. I sincerely hope he can make good use of that capability to help the police to apprehend the murderer (s) of Datuk S. Krishnasamy and help to locate the missing five-year-old Sharlinie Mohd Nashar. Or perhaps, offer his expertise to our Malaysian Police to help fight and reduce crimes.
It does sound like there is a political warfare between MIC and Hindraf seeking to win Hindu support in Malaysia. But so far, the war of words look quite loop sided with only MIC getting the coverage from MSM.
Honestly, in a democratic society, I believe it is the rights of unhappy devotees to send SMS or other means of communication to other Hindu devotees to boycott or support the Batu Cave temple. And equally, it is also the rights of recipients of the SMS to ignore the message and carry on to perform their religious rites in Batu Cave or elsewhere. It is not appropriate to use controlled MSM and religious platform to hurl ucultured words and uncalled for remarks to others who differed in opinions.
Be fair, and play fair. OM Namo Amithaba Buddha. Om Mani Pedme Hum....
The 4706th Chinese New Year falls on Feb. 7, 2008. This year is the year of the RAT. Chinese New Year is a good time to forgive and forget. Sincerely, if any of the postings in this blog offended your sensitivity, I would like to humbly seek your forgiveness. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish everybody a very prosperous, healthy, and happy year ahead. May all of you have a safe journey to your home town and a good Chinese New Year holiday.
