Wet Seeds
In just one month, I have visited Taman Titiwangsa twice. Don't get me wrong, it's no after dark, sordid cruising in the bushes, but yet another community function. This time it was an inter-faith prayer session to build a loving and caring society cum anti-crime campaign launch. The whole show was run by Buddha's Light International Chapter / Fo Guang Shan with the help from the Catholic Archdiocese, Taoist Association, Sikh Council, Hindu Sangam and 22 NGOs. Among the dignitaries were Dato' Tan Chai Ho and IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan. Overall, the whole thing was quite a flop. Obviously, spreading the seeds of love isn't exactly how most urbanites plan to spend their Sunday evenings, and the horrendous rains and flash floods just before the start of the event was an extra nail into its coffin. Anyway, after braving the rain and floods, I arrived on time to see that there was no crowd (The Star reported 3,000 attendees). There was definitely more crew than visitors. Those assigned to sell merchandise cruised the meager number of visitors over and over again, trying their luck. If you happen to soften up and loosen your purse strings, the other vultures will swarm in, pushing buns, car stickers, CDs and booklets in your face. The event started promptly at 6:30pm, but by that time, it was still drizzling and I was surprised to find that the stage had no roof. The prayers went on anyway-- Muslim, Catholic, Taoist (in a very journalistic Hokkien), Hindu, Sikh and lastly Buddhist.
With that out of the way, speeches by the VIPs. Dato' Tan was his usual self of bad Malay and shouting.. Clap, clap, clap. Yawn. Next was the IGP. His speech writer was very inspired, so it dragged for quite some time. I loved the whole "...dibelenggu social problems... phrase. As it was nearing waktu berbuka, he stepped it up a notch. After all that, a fire was lit to represent the "fire of love in our hearts". A few songs were presented by Fo Guang Shan and the Catholic Youths. Finally, everyone was given lit candles and more singing went on, namely the theme song "Spread the Seeds of Love" (kind of catchy actually). A prayer was also made to Buddha, Allah, God and all the other pantheon of gods for those who have violent tendencies. Too bad there was no crowd, and even with the rain, spirits were not dampened. Perhaps it did do some good.
Speak good words, do good deeds, think good thoughts
Inspired?
With that out of the way, speeches by the VIPs. Dato' Tan was his usual self of bad Malay and shouting.
Speak good words, do good deeds, think good thoughts
Inspired?
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