How does Kuala Lumpur celebrate?

From sun set to the early hours of the morning, when the streets are finally empty and the city quiets down, when all shops are closed, there are always restaurants open in KL. Plastic tables and chairs fill up the parking spaces in front of the restaurants. A big screen TV playing anything from the latest movies to football matches. Those are our mamak stalls. The term "Mamak" refers to the Tamil Muslims who own and operate the restaurants. Mamak stalls also refer to smaller stalls that serve Malay or Indian food by the roadside. The typical drink they serve in such stalls is called teh tarik or "pulled/poured from high" tea. To attract customers, many mamak stalls serve entertainment as well as food; their flat-screen TVs often play the latest sports events. When we watch our favourite sports, we feel transported into a different reality. There is no need for a holiday. We only need our teh tarik and good football or a badminton match. We cheer and jeer together. That is how part of our city celebrates.

Kuala Lumpur celebrates 17 public holidays in a year. These holidays include birthdays of important figures, New Year’s Day, a few religious celebrations, and even two national days. There is no doubt that we are a city that knows how to celebrate. Celebrating New Year’s “Days” is perhaps one of the most important events. There are three different New Years in a year for us. The first New Year follows the Gregorian calendar which is our official calendar, the second New Year follows the Chinese lunar calendar and the third one follows the Islamic calendar. We may have our fair share of racial tension and problems in our country, yet all of us love to share when it comes to celebrations. Whatever races we may be from, we celebrate all our holidays together.

Fireworks and firecrackers are also part of the celebrating tradition that we share. Firecrackers are meant to ward off evil spirits during Chinese New Year celebrations; they have always been part of the tradition. As we share each other’s celebrations, we also share the firecracker tradition. As far as I can remember, the ban for burning firecrackers started some time back in the 1990s. Yet, firecrackers continue to be smuggled into the celebrations and the firecracker tradition remained with us until today. Whether it is legal or not, this tradition was picked up by everybody and became a symbol of celebration.

Public holidays and shopping also come hand in hand. The day of celebration is often the day to impress our neighbours, friends and family with our wealth, taste and status through ownership of luxurious items. So we also spend a lot of celebration time in shopping malls. We shop less for the spirit of giving and more for the spirit of owning. Malay, Chinese or Indian, we are not that much different. The most common greetings during the Chinese New Year celebration is “gong xi fa cai”. It can be loosely translated to wishing each other good fortune and prosperity. In the true spirit of the language, the “fortune” and “prosperity” refer specifically to wealth. And the only way to demonstrate a good year that has passed and to welcome the upcoming year is to have everything new.

In spite of all the consumerism, most of our celebrations are in fact about our family. Whether we live near or far, we come together once a year, at least. It can be a cheerful get-together or it may be just for having some mundane conversation over dinner. These celebrations are rituals that demand our presence, whether we like it or not. Don’t we all need some form of celebration to distract us from our daily work routine and to divert our attention from the seemingly unending chores in order to spend time with family and friends? It may be an elaborate dinner with the family or just a teh tarik by the road side, we all enjoy the break. It helps us to get back on track in our city.