Syed Saddiq Proposes Two-Day Holiday For Deepavali Following Students’ Dissatisfaction

By Lara Kramer  •  17 Oct 2022 in News

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Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, following nearly 500 messages mostly from Hindu students discussing their dissatisfaction towards the mere one-day holiday practice during Deepavali season, has called for a two-day holiday instead.

“Why is the Deepavali holiday for only a day? That’s the most common message I receive from students. Furthermore, Monday is a holiday, and the next day they are expected to attend class again. I propose it be extended, for the sake of fairness, just like Aidilfitri and CNY. We should sympathise with them,” he said.

“Kenapa cuti Deepavali sehari je?”

Itu yang ramai mesej saya.

Ramai students pulak tu.

Isnin cuti, hari esok tu terus kena masuk balik kelas.

Saya nak cadangkan Keluarga Malaysia panjangkan sikit.

Biar sama macam Hari Raya dan Tahun Baru Cina.

Kesian mereka. pic.twitter.com/kj5drJolYY

— Syed Saddiq (@SyedSaddiq) October 16, 2022

The former sports and youth minister also shared a screenshot of one such message where a student noted, “It is just for one day, we cannot even celebrate our festival as we have classes to attend the following day. This prevents a lot of us from visiting home to celebrate with family members.”

In line with that, a netizen also suggested that, in the case where the festival falls on a Monday, students should be entitled to an additional day off to travel back to their universities, especially when they are in the habit of travelling to their hometowns miles away.

Syed Saddiq also shared a follow-up tweet saying that using the excuse “Sama macam dulu” (the same as before) would simply not suffice.

“We ought to improve where possible,” he said.