The Chinese New Year celebration held under the ‘Perayaan Harmoni’ initiative in February.
THE state will continue fostering unity among Johoreans by hosting cultural events.
K. Raven Kumar said an initiative for representatives from various races and religious groups to attend cultural events, organised by the state government, had been launched earlier this year.
“The first event held was a Chinese New Year celebration in February.
“Next, we are looking into celebrating Hari Raya together,” said the state unity, heritage and culture committee chairman.
He said the state National Unity and Integration Department and Yayasan Warisan Johor were in the midst of deciding the date for a state-level Hari Raya celebration.
“We are still deciding on the best date, to avoid clashing with the dozens of Hari Raya open houses and celebrations that are ongoing in Johor,” he told StarMetro.
Raven said the state government was also looking at including Vaisakhi as one of the events under the initiative dubbed “Perayaan Harmoni” (Harmony Celebration).
Raven says Johor will continue fostering unity through cultural events.
“The Johor Sikh community has reached out to us and expressed interest in welcoming Johoreans from all walks of life to join them in celebrating Vaisakhi in the future.
“We are happy to add it to our list of festivals under the harmony celebration initiative.
“We hope that this initiative helps foster closer ties among Johoreans,” he said.
Raven said that currently, Deepavali and Christmas were among festivals included under the initiative.
“We plan to expand it to include other events,” he added.
This year’s Chinese New Year celebration was organised at the Fo Guang Shan Hsingma Si temple in Skudai in February.
Apart from people of all faiths and religions, the event also welcomed Johor health and environment committee chairman Ling Tian Soon, who was previously responsible for the unity portfolio before a reshuffle of Johor exco line-up.
