.png)
MIC deputy president M. Saravanan has an interesting suggestion. He wants the government to replace “Diwali” with “Deepavali” on festive arches and banners in Kuala Lumpur and Brickfields, arguing that Deepavali is the officially gazetted name in Malaysia and better reflects the cultural heritage of our predominantly Tamil-speaking Indian community.
Interesting. Because when my Hindu neighbours send over their festive palagarams (sweets and cakes), they usually refer to them as Thebali palagaram. Afterall, the festival itself is referred to as Theba Oli or the festival of lights.
Thebali sounds more like Diwali than Deepavali, kan?
Anyway, fine.
Now, what about our Malaysian Punjabi friends who do refer to the festival as Diwali and not Deepavali? They are Malaysians too, aren't they?
So, if a Punjabi Malaysian walks past a banner that says Deepavali, does he feel represented? Or must he quietly accept that his version of the festival has been left out of the picture?
Because, surely, being a minority within a minority doesn't mean you get a smaller share of cultural recognition.
Yes, the majority of Malaysian Indians are of South Indian heritage, particularly Tamil. And yes, maybe most of them prefer Deepavali to Diwali. But acknowledging one community's preferred terminology doesn't automatically make another community's terminology wrong.
Diwali and Deepavali refer to the same festival. One term is widely used in northern India and among Hindi-speaking communities, while the other is familiar in southern India and among Tamil speakers. The linguistic differences are real. So are the different communities that call Malaysia home.
Must one be right for the other to be wrong?
Now, I am sure there are readers who are ready to leave a comment asking why a Muslim writer is sticking her nose into matters that don't involve her. Well, fine.
Let me divert this conversation to a place that concerns me more. Now, let's apply this logic to Hari Raya.
Every year, as Hari Raya approaches, my social media timeline fills up with greetings of Eid Mubarak.
From official banners to e-cards to sampul raya, it's always Eid Mubarak.
Even during Ramadan, people talk about iftar when referring to the breaking of the fast.
Excuse me. Since when did the Malays become Arabs?
Shouldn't we stick to Selamat Hari Raya and berbuka puasa? After all, those are the Malay terms we know and use here.
If we are going to argue that a festival's name must reflect the language and cultural identity of the majority celebrating it in Malaysia, we should be consistent.
Or is it perfectly fine to use Arabic when it comes to Islam, but suddenly a problem when Indians use a term associated with another Indian language?
If Saravanan wants to have the Hindu festival gazetted as Deepavali and not Diwali, can someone also start the effort to have the Malay festival referred to as Hari Raya and not Eid Mubarak?
The thing is, language can accommodate more than one way of saying the same thing. Cultural identity is not diminished simply because someone uses a different word. Being Malaysian doesn't require us to flatten every difference until everyone sounds, speaks and celebrates exactly the same way.
If a Punjabi Malaysian wishes someone a Happy Diwali, is that less Malaysian than a Tamil Malaysian wishing someone a Happy Deepavali?
If a Malay Malaysian says Eid Mubarak, is that less Malaysian than saying Selamat Hari Raya?
If a Malaysian chooses to say Happy Chinese New Year, is that any less valid than saying Gōng xǐ fā cái or Kung hei fat choy or Kiong hee huat chye or Sin ngien fai lok?
The beauty of being Malaysian lies precisely in our ability to understand what these greetings mean to one another, even when the words are different.
Of course, there is a separate question about official terminology. If Deepavali is the name formally gazetted by the Malaysian government, the authorities can explain that policy and apply it consistently. That is an administrative matter.
But recognising Deepavali as the official term on government banners doesn't mean we should overlook the perfectly valid use of Diwali by other communities. We can respect Tamil culture without erasing Punjabi culture.
Malaysia is not a cultural photocopier. We don't have to make every copy look identical to prove that we belong to the same country.
I thought one of Malaysia's strengths was that we could celebrate our differences. Apparently, we now need to agree on what to call them, too.
Fine. If we are going to start policing festive greetings according to the language of the majority, perhaps we should prepare a national guideline.
Deepavali, not Diwali.
Selamat Hari Raya, not Eid Mubarak.
Berbuka puasa, not iftar.
And while we're at it, should we replace Selamat Hari Natal with Merry Christmas? After all, the majority of Christians in Malaysia use the latter.
Actually, never mind. At this rate, we'll need a committee just to wish one another well.
Fa Abdul (fa.abdul.penang@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
