Tuesday, November 6, 2007

It is So Unsafe Out There- even during Eid


Giving have been a norm and tradition in our country. That’s why giving ‘duit raya’ and ‘ang pows’, etc have been a must.

The amount to be given have also increased from year to year. As for this year, there are rarely people give ‘duit raya’ less than RM5. I was not aware of those anyway. But my kids have been receiving at least RM5, even from someone we rarely know.

We, on the other hand should be grateful for this gesture. Grateful and thankful.

But there are still people who are taking advantage of this situation. During Hari Raya, there will always children from other village walk around from one house to the other, from one village to another, visiting ‘neighbours’. Eventhough I don’t think a house which is more than 5kilometres than their own house as neighbours, moreover it’s a house of someone they haven’t even met.

What do you think? Do you think this ‘norm’ is normal? Or it shouldn’t happened?
As we are aware, visiting friends and relatives during this festive season is highly suggested as this is the time for us to ask for forgiveness and to strenghten the bonds (because we rarely meet). To forgive and forget.

There are even some of this children who steals from the host. One of my distant relatives who of course, being too kind and generous to invite this kids in for tea, only to end up with one of the kids stealing his mobile phone.

In the news a few days after 1st Syawal, there were two girls who went to an ‘unknown’ house for ‘hari raya’. Ended up being raped by the host.

Is this habit (or is it the tradition) of visiting other people houses a good one. Or should we discouraged the children.

I think it’s a good thing as long as we visit our friends and relatives, together with the parents/adult. Children going out on their own to houses that they are not familiar with, shouldn’t be practice nowadays….it’s just not safe…for the host and also the children.
Will that dampen the spirit of ‘Eid’?

6 comments:

me said...

Yeah I agree with you..

Tho it's something we gonna miss doing when we turn adults. Walking from house to house with children of same age.. But yeah its not safe anymore. Kalu kt kampung umah makcik pakcik tua boleh la kot.. Hehe.

Salt N Turmeric said...

masa kecik2 dulu, kita cuma berjalan kat sekitar rumah aje. kalau kena naik bas bagai, minta maap ajelah. bebudak sekarang, diorang nampak duit aje.

pernah during raya a few yrs abck, we had a few kids datang and when we asked where they were from, we found out tht they had to take 2 buses! imagine tht!

ZazaHardy said...

i agree with you as well. kalau zaman dulu orang duduk kampung, everyone tends to know everyone...boleh la jalan from house to house. but for them to take busses just to go round to houses, areas which they are not familiar with, knocking on doors, ringing their bells, mintak duit, tak patut be a practise today.

what my grandad used to do was to invite them makan instead of giving money. but they prefer dapat duit raya...

memang betul, sekarang ni dah tak selamat dah...

Z

drNO said...

intan- ye..mcm x sesuai la..
in my kg...ada ramai bdk2 yg the parents galakkan jalan jauh2, sometimes from a few kampungs a way, going from house to house, bukan nk mengeratkan silaturrahim (which is the exact purpose) tp sbb nk kumpul duit raya je...
n it is so not safe....

drNO said...

princessjournals- yes..that's what been happening in the kampungs nowadays...
kdg2 (sorry to say) mls nak layan...bcoz, masuk2 je pagar terus ckp, kitorg x nk mkn...so...nak apa sebenarnya...if bg je duit raya, cpt2 pg...

drNO said...

Aidan's mama&papa- mmg x safe...
if invite masuk mkn...diorg x kan balik selagi x hulur kan duit raya...they will just sit there..like forever...
yg lg rude tu...mmg terus terang ckp, kami dtg nk duit raya...
semua dah menyimpang from the true concept of raya..