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Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email As mentioned in Part 0, we reached the Sri Bala Subramaniar Swamy temple at about 6.45am. We walked along the road towards the temple, and to my surprise, there was no crowd. As you can see in the photos, the roads were near empty. » Read more: Thaipusam Day Part 1
| Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email This case popped up in early January after some children books were seized from several MPH bookstores due to reports that it contained images of prophets.
Latest news is the books have been returned, but not stated in what condition. » Read more: seized books returned
| Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email More crowd expected in other venues due to boycott of Batu Caves.
100,000 to flood temple
By DHARMENDER SINGH
PORT KLANG: A flood of requests from devotees this year has compelled the 160-year-old Sri Balasubramaniar Swamy Temple here to celebrate Thaipusam on a grand scale for the first time, with an expected crowd of 100,000 kavadi bearers and devotees. » Read more: Batu Caves crowd to shift to other temples
| Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email Sunday was quite hectic since we planned to visit Maran Maranthadavar temple for its kumbhabishegam (consecration) ceremony.
Left home around 6am, taking LDP highway, passing by Batu Caves and entered Gombak to access KL-Karak highway. The whole journey to the temple took about 2.5 hours. The drive was cautious due to foggy road conditions between Karak and the Chenor/Jengka exit. The roads were clear and for most strecthes, we could only see one or two cars at a time.
We reached within 500 metres of the temple, passing by nearly a kilometre of road lined up with vehicles on both sides of the road.
We were stopped at at a roadblock and asked to divert to the oil palm estate on the right side for parking. We were guided to a parking spot, and the chinese guy collected RM10 as parking fee. Wonder if the police were in cahoots with the guy or not. 🙂 There was not much way to u-turn, so one have to pay for parking. No wonder the other cars parked along the roadside leading to temple.
We walked a short distance to temple. Outside the temple, there were stalls set up – from free medical checkup to vegetarian food. There were many traders selling souvenirs, praying items, religous knick-knacks by sitting down along the roadsides, just like pasar malam or fivefoot pavement style.
We entered the temple and bought the prayer receipt. It cost RM4. The kumbhabisegham prayers were being held under a temporary shed next to the temple. It was led by Muthukumara Gurukkal with another 10 or so assistants. The weather was getting hot and it was difficult to find a nice spot to stand. From time to time, the PA system announced sale of magazines and special religous items.
The temple was yellow in color, with dabs of pink at certain places. I felt that it could have been given a better color combination. 🙄 It had some chandelier style lights as well. No fans, since the breeze will be cooling enough on normal days.
Many people were buying yellow cloth (with coins in it) to be tied around the tree.
The crowd numbered about 2000 – 3000 people in my estimation. Very much less than what I anticipated.
The prayer went on till 10.30am. Then, the procession went around the temple and finally the procession went up the temple via the temporarily construction staircase. There were some confusion as not all were allowed to go to the top by the security people. Some prayers were recited and the ambishegam was done. Then, the security people were allowed to ask the devotees to go up as well. About 40 people managed to take this opportunity to go on top of the temple. I was too slow to react because unsure of what was happening.
At about 10.45am, the moment many devotees had been waiting for finally appeared. The workers threw buckets of the prayer water down on to the devotees. Many were drenched, including myself. Some devotees took out their water bottles and plastic bags to collect the water. It was quite hectic for the next 10 minutes or so as the crowd pushed in front and jostled for better positions.
After that, we went back into the temple to do “archanai” (prayer). There were some prayers going on, which lasted for about 15 minutes. The microphones also failed from time to time, due to dead batteries. The crowd was large, and there was no system or guide on the movement or flow of the crowd. Took us nearly 20 minutes to reach the front of the queue, only to realise that the priests were giving out vibuthi (sacred ash). “archanai” have to wait” one of the priests told me, he himself unsure how long.
We waited for another 10 minutes before queueing again. This time we stood near the Vinayagar deity side (right side of temple) together with about another 30 people. The queue was not moving at all. The priests were still doing the prayers and handling the temple donors/sponsors first. The crowd start to become agitated. Some began to shout at the priests.
Amidst this, two priests were busy peddling their wares, right in front of Vinayagar statue. Selling strings to be tied around the wrists for RM1 per string. I was really pissed off. Here the crowd is getting tired of waiting, no one is guiding or doing anything, but these two guys are busy being entrepreneurs! Luckily, another priest scolded them and they stopped selling.
The donors and sponsors were a lot and it was time consuming. There was no system at all on how to enter and exit the queue. The temple committee was no where to be seen. The priests were left on their own, earning abusive words from the crowd. Some of the priests helped to collect the archanai receipts first. I was fed up of waiting and passed the receipts with the gifts to Lord Muruga to the priest and asked them to do it later. We got out of the queue at about 12.35pm. Queueing up took up more than one hour from the time we went to the main deity’s area.
In my opinion, the organisers made a mess out of the function. The PA system was not properly utilised for crowd management. Instead they were busy announcing sales of magazines. The voice was also not clear enough. They may need to invest on proper PA system.
There were no people/volunteers to control/guide the crowd. People don’t know where to go and when to go. They just queue up and wait with the rest. This caused lots of unhappiness with the devotees.
The priests also refused to attend to the devotees, and were trying to settle the sponsors/donors first quickly. There were at least 10 priests, but not sure how they helped to reduce the problem. I think the organisers should have set out proper lines and paths using ropes or signboards so that the devotees know where to queue. They should also announce that “archanai” can be done after certain time, so that devotees won’t be left standing for so long.
Anyway, we left at around 1.15pm, tired.
| Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email According to MHS:
Malaysian Hindu Sangam president Datuk A. Vaithilingam said the Hindus here are definitely happy as the organisation had been appealing for over 20 years for Thaipusam to be declared a holiday for the Federal Territory.
Wonder how long MIC being asking for it.
Thanks to Hindraf Rally, the wish is granted in 2008! Of course, having an election around the corner plays a role too.
Worst is NST who attributed the success to MIC (Headline screams: Holiday for KL, Putrajaya thanks to MIC’s efforts). In Malay, there is a proverb – “lembu punya susu, sapi dapat nama.” (the cow’s milk, but buffalo gets name).
The news came out early when PM hinted that cabinet will consider the proposal to declare Thaipusam as public holiday, when he attended the Ponggal Festival celebration at Bukit Bintang. It became reality when he announced it on Sunday evening.
Hindu groups welcome holiday
KUALA LUMPUR: More Hindus will be visiting temples throughout the country now that Thaipusam is a public holiday in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
Malaysian Hindu Sangam president Datuk A. Vaithilingam said the Hindus here are definitely happy as the organisation had been appealing for over 20 years for Thaipusam to be declared a holiday for the Federal Territory. He urged Kedah and Malacca to consider similar appeals for Thaipusam to be declared a holiday there as both states have a considerable number of Hindus.
A Hindu NGO, Mamandram, also welcomed the good news. Mamandram president Prof N.S. Rajendran said the declaration is timely and apt.
source
KUALA LUMPUR: Starting this year, Thaipusam will be an annual public holiday in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced this yesterday to cheers and thunderous applause from thousands of Indians and Barisan Nasional supporters.
He said the decision was made after several calls were made by the MIC to have Thaipusam declared a public holiday in Kuala Lumpur.
“Yes, (Datuk Seri S.) Samy Vellu kept asking for Thaipusam to be made a public holiday, especially in Kuala Lumpur. Moreover, every year during Thaipusam, the roads in Kuala Lumpur become very congested,” he said.
Also present were Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Tan Chai Ho.
Thaipusam is currently a state holiday in Selangor, Penang, Perak, Negri Sembilan and Johor. Thaipusam is also celebrated at the Sri Subramaniar Temple on the Cheroh mountain in Ipoh, Perak and in Jalan Waterfall in Penang.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Hindu Sangam president Datuk A. Vaithilingam welcomed Abdullah’s statement. He added that for more than 20 years, Hindus had been asking for this.
Vaithilingam also appealed to Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid and Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam to gazette Thaipusam as a public holiday in their states as there was a large number of Hindus who visited Sungai Petani and Malacca to celebrate the festival.Thaipusam holiday for KL and Putrajaya
By JANE RITIKOS and MARTIN CARVALHO
KUALA LUMPUR: Thaipusam will be a public holiday in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who announced this yesterday to more than 20,000 people from the Indian community at MIC’s Gathering with the Prime Minister at the Badminton Stadium in Cheras yesterday, said he had considered the request by the MIC to declare Thaipusam a public holiday. “We discussed this matter. They said that during Thaipusam there would be traffic jams everywhere in Kuala Lumpur and it is difficult to get to work. So let it be a holiday,” he said to cheers from the crowd.
Thaipusam, which falls on Wednesday, is already a public holiday in Selangor, Penang, Perak, Negri Sembilan and Johor.
The crowd starting cheering and clapping even before he made the announcement. They cheered as soon as he first brought up the subject by relating how the Indian community at the Ponggal event in Bukit Bintang on Saturday night had reacted excitedly when he promised to consider their request.
When the crowd cheered, he said: “Why are you all cheering?” and the people replied: “Cuti! (Holiday).” “But we must continue to work. When it is a holiday, we have a holiday. But when it is time to work, we must work hard. Promise this, promise this,” he said.
MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu thanked Abdullah for the public holiday in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. “The Hindus in Malaysia have been waiting for a long time for such good news, and I hope they will not be disappointed,” he said.
He told reporters that although a national holiday had not been declared, the MIC was happy with the news. He added that the party would forward its appeal for the event to be declared a public holiday in Kedah and Malacca to the states’ mentri besar and chief minister respectively.
Earlier in his speech at the gathering, Samy Vellu said the MIC had also brought up the Thaipusam holiday request with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique.
He added that MIC was confident the Indian voters would steadfastly remain with Barisan Nasional. “Let us show to the country that the Indian community fully supports the Prime Minister. We will swim or sink with Barisan,” said Samy who called Abdullah “our leader and the leader for all Malaysians”.
Samy Vellu admitted that there were still many unresolved grievances within the Indian community. “At the heart of the problem are many issues related to delivery and implementation by the civil service and local governments,” he said.
He took to task “certain political forces” trying to weaken Indian representation in the Government.
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