A rare Thaipusam

Happy Thaipusam, albeit belated. To all my Hindu friends, allow me to believe this news. Wow!! Call to boycott Thaipusam in Batu Caves ignored, one million turn up!

I wonder why there was no brutal traffic jam... And, my nest is just three of four kilometers from Batu Caves. A rare Thaipusam, i think.

"I don't think religious people pay any attention to naughty SMSes," MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said.

Hello! Do religious people pay any attention to naughty ministers?

Samy Vellu also urged the Indian community to unite in support of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, which had protected the rights of all races in the country.

"Don't be hoodwinked by the opposition," he said. Support Barisan Nasional just because the Prime Minister declared Thaipusam a public holiday?

Well, if i go to Prime Minister's Hari Raya open house, does anybody think i will vote Barisan Nasional? God forbid, thou shall not die as not-an-astute-Prime Minister’s supporter!!

Related:

Hindu devotees boycott Batu Caves (Malaysiakini)
A different Thaipusam (Jeff Ooi)
Politics and Thaipusam (Ahirudin Attan)
Samy Pohchee: Your Waterloo in Batu Caves tomorrow? (Bernard Khoo)
Thaipusam turnout distinctly smaller at Batu Caves (Anil Netto)
Thaipusam public holiday annoucement: say thanks to HINDRAF leaders and protesters (Malaysian Unplug)
Thaipusam Holiday - Thank you Hindraf (IslandMiss)
Indian votes cannot be bought with Thaipusam holiday...psssttt try harder...!!! (YennaMike)
Malaysian Indians mark Hindu festival amid boycott call (Press Trust of India)
Malaysian Indians boycott Hindu festival (AFP)
Malaysian Hindu festival marred by race dispute (Reuters)
Malaysian Indians mark Hindu festival amid boycott call (Daily News & Analysis, India)
Hindu festival marked protest in Malaysia (Telegraph, UK)
Malaysian Hindus celebrate religious festival amid political protest (PR-Inside.com - Pressemitteilung - Austria)
Partial boycott effective on 2008 Thaipusam at Batu Caves; 1 million visitors failed to show; stall paying RM3 -6K reported losses (Multimid)
Lower Thaipusam turnout leads to wasted food (NST)

Excerpts:
For the first time in 40 years, the Divine Life Society (DLS) has actually been forced to throw away the free food it gives out during the Thaipusam celebrations at Batu Caves. The DLS ashram, located next to the Batu Caves temple, prepared food for 20,000 people but the lower-than-expected turnout meant some of the food would have been wasted.

DLS Malaysia branch president Swami Guhabhaktananda said the ashram prepared only 1,800kg of vegetables from its usual allocation of 4,500kg.

“It left us with a large balance of unused vegetables which we then distributed so that it would not go to waste,” he said.

Guhabhaktananda said he estimated that there was a 25 per cent drop in the number of people who attended this year’s celebrations.