LETTER | Reunion dinner is different from visiting pasar malam

LETTER | I think this piece that I am writing will probably get brickbats from many people, especially those about to celebrate the Chinese New Year. This is about prohibiting Chinese from holding their traditional reunion dinners of family members not living in the same household.

The common criticism of this ruling is, if pasar malam are allowed, why can’t the Chinese reunion dinners be held?

For me, it is simple. We have spent much time and effort to get the pandemic under control. Hence, an additional sacrifice of forgoing one reunion dinner is probably justified.

Why waste everything we have worked for just for the sake of wanting to celebrate the tradition?

We must bear in mind that those family members not living in the same household but eating together is very different from one going to pasar malam.

First, we can choose to go or not to go to pasar malam. Second, if we go, we can wear masks and keep our distance. Third, we can buy the essentials we need and leave the place quickly.

Having a reunion dinner, however, is entirely different. Imagine 20 to 30 members of an extended family not from the same household gathering together - talking, eating and drinking. The masks are off, I am sure. I think the likelihood of infection is definitely more probable than going to pasar malam.

Personally, I feel that anything non-essential should remain closed and this includes hair salons, barbershops and car wash outlets. It does not matter if there are no new clusters emerging from these locations. It is about close proximity and likelihood of infection.

I know it is a difficult time for many of us. Many can’t wait to get back to normalcy. But obviously, we can’t do things at half measure. Prematurely relaxing the regulations will only get us more extensions of MCO in the future.

Forgoing one reunion dinner will not cause us irreparable harm. Continuous extension of MCO will.

In the present circumstances, anything announced and enforced by the authorities will be looked at with contempt and dismay. This is natural, especially when we are not too happy with the present government, to begin with.

Be that as it may, let’s be vigilant and accommodative to the current situation. It is good to stand up for our rights but blind defiance will not get us anywhere but more hardship and trouble for ourselves.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.