For this New Year, I call on all our religious institutions to offer a united prayer to ask God to help us help our PM and Unity Government fight the forces of racism and religious bigotry of one group of un-Malaysian parliamentarians and their ignorant supporters.

When Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government would cancel the New Year’s celebration, I began to have several meaningful thoughts that I wish to share with my Malaysian warga-brethren.

Firstly, I wish to say that as a Muslim and a Malaysian, I have never celebrated the New Year. For me, it is just another day with a change in one or several numbers.

It is also a hard time for me to erase mistakes in forms about which year was the present as my mind would always go on the default year of the previous one.

Growing up in Kuala Muda, Prai and then Butterworth, my mind can only recall the Independence Day celebrations on television and never any New Year celebration.

Certainly, the New Year celebration is only the culture of the Orang Puteh or Westerners as shown on the many television shows and news.

When I was in the United States for my six-year architectural studies under JPA scholarship, I witnessed the New Year celebration in New York’s Times Square on TV as well as the rowdy parties in the dormitory that I stayed in with the American and other international students.

As we were also invited, we Malays just drank Coca Cola and sat quietly as the others drank alcohol and seemed to have a great time.

Later on, the New Year celebration seemed to be started by the Malaysian government but I forget when. From then on, many Malaysians flock to see fireworks and dream of a better tomorrow.

I would sit outside my house and try to get a glimpse of the fireworks but usually it would always be too far. I have never made any effort to actually drive somewhere near the celebrations as it was not such a big deal to me.

But I was really excited about the 2019 New Year as we had a PH government.

There was not much celebration, I think, at the start of 2020 as the thought of a change in government by backdoor means was starting to be real.

Also, the pandemic was starting and there was nothing really to celebrate.

The following years of 2021 and 2022 were nothing to celebrate with the Sheraton Move and the illegitimate Emergency Declaration.

There are three main thoughts about Anwar’s announcement that I wish to share with Malaysians.

The first thought is that for Anwar to cancel the celebration when he has reached his ultimate goal of becoming Prime Minister after 24 long years and so much struggle, well… it takes a special person to say… no need to celebrate-lah, being PM is a responsibility in Malaysia and a sacred amanah in Islam.

Celebrating a position of leadership is not a responsible action of a good leader. Others like the past backdoor PMs would probably celebrate with much fanfare… but not Anwar it seems.

The second thought I had was what Anwar said to be the reason for the cancellation.

Anwar said it would not be prudent to spend money when the country faces much challenge economically and there are people suffering from the floods that are ravaging the country.

Well now, this seems to be a real leader who actually walks the talk of prudence in spending. He had foregone his salary as PM, he had gotten his cabinet to agree on a 20% pay cut and had renegotiated all crony-based projects and had now cancelled a celebration held within the last ten years or so I think.

I thought that the role of the politician is to show strength by spending and lording it up and celebrating in high fashion, but not so for this prime minister it seems.

Anwar had even gone to Kelantan to get a first-hand experience and information from the ground on the flood situation even though the people there rejected him by believing all the lies that PAS and PPBM politicians had said about him personally and about his party and coalition partners, especially the “evil DAP.”

My third and last thought is that we, Malaysians, should celebrate the New Year in place of our government.

I feel that we must celebrate the New Year because now we have a real hope in the dream of our Malaysia filled with people not like the 74 PN parliamentarians but honest Malaysians respecting one another in culture, faith and station in life as well as ever ready to lend a hand in any time of duress.

I feel that 2023 is our “sacred year” where we celebrate our Unity Government that has been endowed to us by God. Before this, I would use the term the YDP Agong’s Unity Government, but now we Malaysians must make this government OURS.

We Malaysians must take over from the hard work of the YDP Agong and help as well as nurture this Unity Government to work.

We have been presented with a coalition of diverse parties that now need to work with each other in the real marriage of hope, survival and ultimately of real prosperity.

Like any marriage between a man and a woman, the union of two diverse individuals is the miracle of the creation of a family and also the creation of real spirituality brought about by mutual understanding, mutual empathy and mutual help to build a new society that will ensure real harmony.

If PH had won with a simple majority, I know now that Malaysia would have failed completely because the forces in the opposition would be too much for any party or coalition of parties to handle.

However, this new coalition of diverse parties will be our strength because Malaysia was founded on the differences of our cultures, faiths and people bent on working together towards a future for our children and their children.

Thus, for this New Year, I call on all our religious institutions, our mosques, our churches, our gurdwaras, our temples and our places of worship to lead the celebration first in a special prayer, and then with a united prayer to ask God to help us help our PM and Unity Government fight the forces of racism and religious bigotry of one group of un-Malaysian parliamentarians and their ignorant supporters.

Perhaps the private business companies can sponsor the fireworks and also donate much money to the flood victims and we will make sure that every exploding firework is a signal of hope for a New Faith in Malaysia.

(Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at a local university and his writing reflects his own personal opinion entirely.)