GEORGE TOWN – Hindu devotees are urged to abide by the state’s directive to defer the annual Thaipusam celebrations to next year on the back of rising Covid-19 cases.
Penang Hindu Endowment Board chairperson Dr P. Ramasamy said the devotees are urged to pray at home. If they wish to pay homage at the temples, they must abide by the strict standard operating procedures (SOPs).
“We are facing a serious threat from the virus. We must defeat it and to do it, we must stay home,” said Ramasamy.
In an earlier press conference, Ramasamy had said that the decision to postpone the religious rituals had the blessings of every stakeholder and it was made in consultations with the public health authorities.
Penang is one of the six states in Malaysia currently classified with the red zone status, as infections continue to rise with 111 recorded yesterday including one death.
Ramasamy, who is the Penang’s Second Deputy Chief Minister said that Thaipusam is one Hinduism’s revered religious events but due to the need to protect the public, it was best that the celebrations be called off for now.
In Penang, thousands throng the temples at the waterfall area for the annual Hindu pilgrimage where devotees carry kavadis and milk pots.
For the first time in over 200 years, Thaipusam will not be celebrated out in the open here due to the pandemic.
But from January 27, 28 and 29 – which marks the start of the chariot procession, Ramasamy said that prayers would be conducted only for the temple committee members.
Lawyer S. Raveentharan said that the endowment board made a spot-on decision as the state does not want the people to be fatherless, motherless, or childless due to the spread of Covid-19.
He said that the people must respect the decision and adhere to the SOPs at all times – The Vibes, January 8, 2021.
