KOTA KINABALU: The federal government should introduce floating holidays to enable celebration of minorities' festivals.
Wisdom Foundation chairman Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau said Thaipusam is a public holiday in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Penang and Selangor, for all Malaysians.
"However, Hindus who live in eight other regions/states including Sabah and also the Federal Territory of Labuan would have to work and study. We can only hope this does not dampen the mood of their celebration.
"This experience has been shared by the hundreds of thousands of Kadazan-Dusun-Rungus people, the Muruts, and the Dayaks, who live outside of their home region during Kaamatan, Kalimaran and Gawai.
"It is time for Malaysia to be more diverse, equitable and inclusive towards the celebration of minorities' cultural and religious festivals.
"Don't get me wrong. I am not at all calling for increasing the total number of public holidays, which may reduce productivity," said Madius in a statement, who is also the Tuaran member of parliament.
He also suggested a more innovative way of managing our public holidays which is to keep the total constant, but allowing members of minority groups to trade some of the lesser holidays for their own festivals.
"This practice is called 'floating holidays', practised by Indonesia and the United Nations.
"For many industries, this may create a win-win situation, with workers taking turns to celebrate their festivals, the number of business days may be increased while members of minority communities can also celebrate their own festivals and not feel left out.
"Hopefully, before the law changes, some employers who support multiculturalism will also take their own initiative to introduce this innovative practice in their company," he said.
