Religion, Politics and Secularism
Today is Vesakh day, a holy day for Buddhism follower supposedly all over the world. But interestingly, it is not celebrated on the same day this year. Malaysia on May 1, Singapore on May 31, while Thailand on May 24. Just learned that this difference is due to the fact that two full moons happen to fall in one month based on Lunar Calendar. "Don’t sweat too much" on this one, that’s what the message delivered in the speech. What important is the spirit of Vesakh that should live.
Though not a very religious person, I went to temple with few friends in the morning. The most popular one, Ekayana Buddhist Centre in Tanjung Duren area. It was very foolish not to anticipate number of people who would pay a visit to temple on this occasion. Traffic jam happened along the tiny road on the way to the temple’s entrance. Along the road you could predict that most faces you saw were actually heading to the same destination. Reaching the main gate of the temple, I was astonished by groups of people queuing to enter the building. Should had come earlier to avoid long queue and got a quite OK spot. Nevertheless, having waited for around 15 minutes, we finally managed to slip in.
The first program carried out was Pindapatta, a tradition in which Monks carries a bowl to receive offering from peoples. The response was so huge that three trips had to be made to accommodate all offerings. Just understood later that there was more than 6,000 people attended the ceremony. A very big crowd indeed. But seems like most of them were one-time-year-round visit. Hehe.. have to admit that I belong to this group too. After the tradition, we continued with praying and paritta reading, and not to forget a few minutes of meditation.
Speaking about religion and its relation with Politics, I tend to support the idea of Secularism. In my opinion religion is one of people’s basic rights and it’s between people and his/her God, his/her believe. Thus, we should not interfere and mix up between those two. But to be honest, it’s not that easy. Even in country who proclaim itself as the most democratic nation, who is well perceived as secularism country, religion is still one area that could be decisive when it comes to election. The likes of conservatism follower will certainly vote for those who campaigns on traditional value which includes some religious stuff.
In regard to above, I was surprised during the Vesakh Day ceremony I attended. Never come across my mind that a Governor candidate would pay a visit to the temple and delivered a speech. It seemed fishy. Quite funny that he’d take that chance to proclaim himself officially as candidate for Governor seat. Although no "direct message" was uttered out, you’d be a fool if you didn’t understand the meaning. A man sitting next to me was saying "Haha.. a campaign". Dunno if it was meant for joke but to hear a greeting sent out in front of wrong audience is ridiculous.
Well, well, enough on politics. Happy Vesakh Day. May I spend more time to make more progress in spiritual side. Hopefully =)
