PETALING JAYA, May 21 — The Covid-19 outbreak in the country has altered many Hari Raya traditions, like going back to your hometown to spend time with your family.
With many Malaysians feeling a little low in spirits this festive season, residents from the Public Works Department (JKR) quarters in Sungai Besi are set on changing the tone.
Resident community chairman Abd Wahab Ismail, 56, told Malay Mail that they were inspired to create the playful “Raya KL Je” (Just Raya in KL) message, using traditional oil lamps for their fellow residents and countrymen to “lighten” the mood this Raya season.
“My friends and I planned to do this after realising that many residents won’t be able to go back to their hometowns and will ‘just Raya in KL’ due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“So we thought that this could help bring some of the spirits of Raya back to our residents.”
Setting up oil lamps, commonly known as lampu pelita, around households is a Malay tradition used to signal the end of Ramadan and celebrate the start of Aidilfitri.
Wahab added that the project helped to liven up the surroundings, hopefully giving residents something to celebrate and enjoy together.
“We just wanted to give everyone something to cheer about and celebrate this Raya. So we thought that using the oil lamps would be a nice reminder of what it’s like to spend Raya back in our hometowns.”
Wahab said that everyone in the residential community at the quarters chipped in their own money to bring this project to life, installing 200 oil lamps to form the worded message.
“We started doing this last week and it took us about a week to plan and buy all the items needed to make the message,” said Wahab.
“The community here spent about RM500 in total to buy all the essential items including diesel, oil lamps and wooden sticks.”
The lighted formation will be lit up every night, from 8 pm until dawn, right up to the second day of Raya, as Wahab hopes that this little project will take the residents’ minds off the troubles they have been facing.
He also said that Malaysians should embrace the “new normal” of Raya this year and refrain from venturing back home in order to keep everyone safe.
“We should just spend Raya with our immediate family for now. We all have to make sure that we adhere to the directives of the MCO and follow all of its SOPs.
“I know it’s hard because we usually celebrate big, with everyone around us, but what is more important now is to take care of our family’s health and safety.”
Wahab hopes to build on the joy created thus far by their project, as he plans to acquire fireworks for everyone to play with on the eve of Raya.
