'Open houses' to welcome political season in Malaysia again

KUALA LUMPUR: It is Chinese New Year season in Malaysia, and as Malaysia is a multiracial country with ethnic Chinese making up around one-fifth to one-fourth of the population, the annual festival is also a public holiday here. For Chinese Malaysians, the "substantive" festivities would last for around a week or two, starting with the family reunion dinner when on new year's eve family members scattered around the country, if not the region or even the world, would come back home to sit around the family dining table to enjoy a sumptuous meal, through visits to or gatherings of friends over the first days of the new year, culminating in either the celebration of the so-called humankind's birthday after a week, or the lantern festival after two. Thus far this year I have attended at least two rounds of gatherings with my high school classmates in my hometown of Kota Kinabalu.

But for the wider Malaysian population, the Chinese New Year celebration could actually last up to a month, similar in length to the Eid al-Fitr festival for the Muslims, as well as the harvest festivals of the natives of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia. The main reason for the "prolongation" of the celebration has to do with a multiracial or transracial custom, perhaps unique to Malaysia (and perhaps Singapore and Brunei too), of hosting "open houses." Traditionally, during these cultural festivals, Malaysians of the relevant ethnicities would literally throw open their home gates to welcome not just their friends and extended families, but also all and sundry from across racial lines and religious beliefs, and treat them to ethnic food items. It is perhaps a voluntary, bottoms-up approach in promoting cultural harmony and national integration in Malaysia, as people from vastly different backgrounds partake of each other's cultural celebrations, and are thus more sensitive to and appreciative of the cultural nuances of each other.