SHOPPING MALLS every year during major Malaysian celebrations such as Hari Raya and Chinese New Year and even Christmas will be noticeably decked out in festivity decorations a month before with songs associated with said celebrations echoing through the mall signalling their arrival.
While it is exciting and nice to look forward to every year, there is one major celebration that gets noticeably left out or briefly highlighted – and that is Deepavali.
According to Facebook user Angela Pang on the Malaysia Home Schooling Info group, she stated how she noticed the Christmas items on sale at a local mall but saw nothing sold nor prepared for the Festival of Lights.
“Christmas items on sale in November but nothing for Deepavali!” she lamented in her post.
Not only that, Angela pointed out how shopping malls even prioritised Halloween but not Deepavali compared to the other major celebrations.
Netizens also expressed similar sentiments to Angela’s post, observing how they had not seen malls decked out in Deepavali decorations in years while other netizens remarked otherwise, naming malls which had Deepavali decor set up.
Meanwhile, others had pointed out that shopping malls profit driven nature look at the “buying power” of its customers, also taking into account of its shopper’s demographic during each celebration in Malaysia.
“It comes down to economics. Indians do go to malls but for Deepavali, we always opt shopping for traditional wear and so there is no increased business during Deepavali season,” a netizen explained.
On the other hand, netizens also said that it is better to support establishments which have consistently highlighted Deepavali, being a major event for the Indian community in Malaysia.
“Nothing new... If we say something about this, people will think we are being fussy so we just support shopping malls which pay attention to Deepavali season,” another netizen chimed in.
While there are shopping malls in Malaysia that have decorated for the Festival of Lights, hopefully, a wider discussion can be opened up regarding the representation of Malaysia’s multicultural celebrations in shopping malls and other establishments in Malaysia.
