SUNGAI PETANI: Kedah Barisan Nasional government today vowed to retain Thaipusam as an annual occasional public holiday for the state for as long as it remains in power.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah said the occasional public holiday for Thaipusam which was introduced in 2014, would be retained should BN returned to power after the general elections.
Bashah said the state government is unable to make Thaipusam as an official annual public holiday as all existing quota for the state public holidays has been filled up.
"Based on the Constitution, the state is entitled for a number of public holidays each year and all of them had been filled up.
"As such, for Thaipusam we want to assure the people that for as long as BN rules the state, it will be retained as an annual occasional public holiday.
"That is why it is paramount for the Indian community to support the BN government to govern the state," he told reporters after attending the Thaipusam celebration at Sri Subramaniya Swami Devastanam Temple in Jalan Kuala Ketil here today.
Present was Kedah MIC chairman Datuk Jaspal Singh.
Bashah said over 200,000 Hindu community in Kedah are able to celebrate Thaipusam peacefully and hoped that the good relationship among the state multi-racial ethnic would continue to be preserved.
On the same note, Bashah said the federal government has channeled RM900,000 allocation for Indian community development through the state government.
He said the allocation has been distributed through the Parents-Teacher Association of Tamil vernacular schools, temples and also non-governmental organisations.
Meanwhile, Jaspal lauded the state government pledge to retain Thaipusam as an annual occasional public holiday for Kedah.
Translated from Berita Harian