Mid-Autumn Festival

As the Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner, as usual many cultural activities will be organised by various religious groups and clan societies with the aim of preserving and passing on this meaningful tradition and heritage to the next generation by getting the young's involvement in the activities. In fact, the worries of lost tradition is as real as it gets, as the true meaning behind the Mid-Autumn Festival has been lesser known nowadays, to many young people it is becoming more and more like a season of gift exchanging, about moon cake and lanterns and stuff like that. Let us all be reminded that the true essence of Mid-Autumn Festival is about family reunion; it is a time where families returning home and getting together again after a long separation. In this regard, I hope everyone will take the opportunity during this meaningful reunion day to return home, spending time with your parents, brothers and sisters for a reunion dinner at least, showing your gratification and concerns with each other which definitely means a great deal and is heartwarming especially to our old age parents. Being the most celebrated festival among the Chinese, it is one of the most important occasions of our traditions which is now regarded as a cultural heritage. However, Mid-Autumn Festival in Malaysia is rather special in that it usually falls between Merdeka Day (31st August) and Malaysia Day (16th September), thus it should be a special day for us as Malaysians to cherish a harmonious and united Malaysia as a nation. We should also bear in mind that the national unity and harmony achieved so far should not be taken for granted, we should not allow any deliberate attempt to challenge and sabotage the national unity and harmony especial our delicate racial relations of which when hurt, requires a lot of effort to restore. As such, we should take the unrest in West Asia as a lesson; once national harmony and stability is destroyed, the one who suffers the most would be the people and the economy.