'Perpaduan' best when politics, religion absent

LETTER | Much is being made of the #Solidarity4peace rally held in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. If it is for ushering in a new era of race relations, well and good.

Then, from now on we should be seeing a spontaneous mixing of the races without any organisers behind them, and anyone making derogatory statements about such mingling of the races should be immediately taken in for some tough counselling.

This morning I experienced perpaduan at its best at a Hindu wedding ceremony in a Hindu temple. There were a couple of dozen Malay Muslims, including several ladies with head-covers, present at the temple.

They were right inside the temple where the ceremony was going on and they didn't show any "sensitivities". The ladies were even posing in front of the alters with deities and taking pictures.

I'm sure they didn't lose even a tiny bit of their Islamic selves and neither were they drawn to change their religious beliefs.

I must say it was the most beautiful perpaduan I had seen in recent times. Perhaps this could happen because the occasion was held in Penang.

The religious bodies and leaders should take a lesson from this. Having rallies is no use if they do not result in people changing their views of others faiths and freely mixing with people of other beliefs.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department would do well to put his perpaduan plan into practical action and lead the way for the general public.

He should spontaneously and together with his officers drop in at churches, Hindu temples, Chinese temples and other prayer houses to say "hello" to the people gathered there and create bridges between them and those of different beliefs from them.

There is no need to bring any material gifts. All that is required is their mere presence, smiling faces and polite words. It is these that go a very, very long way towards creating genuine perpaduan.

Looking forward to Mujahid doing more than just organising rallies.

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