WITH Covid-19 infection numbers across Malaysia still quite high, it looks as though Chinese New Year celebrations this year will be a largely quiet affair. We spoke to four Malaysian-Chinese about how the MCO has affected their festive plans, and their hopes for the coming year ahead.
Helena Tay, 39
Tay and her husband Richard Eames, also 39, reside in Perth with their eight-month-old son Lennox. With the number of Covid-19 cases in Western Australia under control, the couple had initially hoped to celebrate Chinese New Year with Tay’s parents in Malaysia.
“My parents were keen on celebrating either Christmas or Chinese New Year with us, but strict travel restrictions in Australia stopped us from flying back,” Tay said.
“But we are able to talk to them through FaceTime almost every day.”
Tay and Eames still want to give Lennox a taste of the festive season at home, albeit on a smaller scale. They bought him a festive outfit, and have planned a steamboat dinner, which is how they usually celebrated the occasion at home in previous years.
“We’re also planning on visiting some Singaporean friends in Perth, who also face a similar situation of being separated from their family,” Tay said.
Eames added: “Having to spend this Chinese New Year here is obviously frustrating, because we really want our son to meet his grandparents. But we understand, since we also went through a lockdown in Western Australia while he was a newborn.”
The couple are hoping that the situation would improve within the next few months, and hope that once international flights are cleared, they would be able to bring their son to Malaysia for the first time.
“We’re looking forward to him being able to meet the family in Malaysia. There’s going to be lots of catching up to do, and lots of kisses and cuddles,” Tay said.
“It’s sad that they’ve missed so much of his early months, but we’re hoping to be able to make it up to them someday soon.”
Cynthia Yen
In previous years, homemaker Yen and her managing director husband Oliaei marked the festive season in a big way, with a huge open house and inviting about 200 extended family, friends, neighbours and colleagues over to enjoy a huge buffet and watch acrobatic performances by a lion dance troupe.
Yen recalled: “It was a flurry of activities, with clothes-shopping for the whole family (she has a family of seven, including a live-in helper), decking out the home in new year decor, heading to Petaling Street to check out even more decor items and to purchase cookies, snacks and gifts. I’d host a reunion dinner at home where my parents and brother’s family will join.”
This year, the celebrations will be muted.
“Sadly, I have not prepped at all, as this will be the first time I will be ushering in the Lunar New Year without my mum. She passed away in June last year due to cancer. Coupled with the fact that we are in the middle of an MCO, there doesn’t seem to be too much of a Chinese New Year feel.
“I’ll probably pick up festive cookies from a few stalls at the morning market, as a way of supporting small business owners. I’ll definitely put up some Chinese New Year decor just so the kids can experience the atmosphere. But it will not be as extravagant as in past years.”
However, Yen and her family are looking forward to a time when the situation will improve.
“The effects of the pandemic will continue, no doubt, but I hope that by the next Chinese New Year, the numbers will be low enough that we will not be subjected to an MCO, so I’ll be able to have small gatherings with extended family, and even visit close friends.
“I am holding on to the hope that this situation will right itself, so I’m staying optimistic that we’ll all be out and free again. Life will revert to what it was, maybe not fully, but that’s alright. We’re resiliently moving ahead.”
Jess Lee, 38
For business development lead Lee, Chinese New Year is usually the time that she travels from Kuala Lumpur back to her hometown in Segamat, Johor to be with her extended family, with her car filled with festive goodies.
“Also, I would hold an annual gathering with my classmates,” she said.
“This is the only time I get to meet them as some of them work in different countries or states.”
For someone so used to shopping and arranging gatherings during the festive season, the ongoing MCO has led to some big changes.
“This year, I think we have cut down on the preparations. Or rather, there is a lack of motivation as we are pretty sure we will not be able to celebrate like we did before.”
“Anyway, my friends and I have made some back-up dinner plans in the likely event that we will have to stay in KL due to the MCO, and fortunately, we are also neighbours in the same condo.
“In the event the MCO is lifted and interstate travel is allowed, we would most probably travel home for Chinese New Year, but cut down on the visiting.”
In regard to the pandemic situation, she is remaining cautious for the year ahead.
“For now, I don’t even dare to think that far ahead. I just hope the situation will get better, and when interstate travel is allowed, I’ll be looking forward to going home to visit my parents.
“Being at home with family is the best feeling, whether or not it’s Chinese New Year.”
Edmund Tiw, 60
Chinese New Year is an important occasion for wealth planner Tiw and his family members. He grew up in a small fishing village in Tanjung Dawai, Kedah.
His mother was left a widow at age 30 after the untimely death of her husband in 1967, becoming a hawker to help support her seven young children. Tiw, the middle child, was only six years old at the time.
Tiw and his siblings would occasionally help their mother prepare food for her business, as well as take on odd jobs around the village to earn some extra income.
“There was a lot of hardship,” he recalled.
Eventually, Tiw and most of his siblings left their village to pursue higher studies, and settled in different states around Malaysia. However, they would all make sure to return to their hometown to celebrate Chinese New Year together, with their respective families.
“The happiest memories are of us coming home for Chinese New Year,” he said.
Tiw, a husband and father of three grown sons, recalls the joy of reuniting with his mother and siblings, while his sons would have fun gathering with their cousins.
“Our celebrations would last three days and two nights. The past 10 years, the celebrations have taken place in the homes of my two older brothers who still live in Kedah. My 86-year-old mother now lives with my second brother.
“The entire family would stay over between the two houses, prepare food together, have barbecue or steamboat, and karaoke together into the night. The younger and older generations would take turns eating throughout the day, and we would just catch up and enjoy each others’ company.”
This year, with interstate travel prohibited, Tiw said relatives who are living in the same state have decided to have small gatherings among themselves instead.
“Our family relationships are very strong, so Chinese New Year is an extremely important occasion for us all to reunite.
“We are really praying hard that once the vaccines arrive, the situation will improve and that in 2022, we can have a normal family reunion for the festive season.”
