The Britannica encyclopedia defines pilgrimage as a ‘journey to a shrine or other sacred place undertaken to gain divine aid, as an act of thanks giving or penance, or to demonstrate ones devotion’.
The tradition of pilgrimage is important for followers of practically all the major religions and faiths in the world. Like our Muslims brothers and sisters, followers of Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Sikhism, the Baha'i faith etc, have also their religious obligation to pay homage to their scared religious sites at least once in their lifetime
Pilgrimage to the holy land of Mecca by Muslims in Malaysia is superbly organised, coordinated and facilitated by the Tabung Haji or its relevant agencies. Year in year out, thousands of Malaysian Muslims from all walks of life make the once in a lifetime spiritual journey to Mecca to fulfill their religious obligation.
Among these pilgrims many are serving civil servants. These civil servants are granted paid leave for the whole duration of their stay in Mecca to fulfill their religious obligation. The granting of paid leave for these civil servants to fulfill their important religious obligation in the holy land is indeed a highly commendable and noble gesture by the government.
Having said that, I wish to draw the attention of the government to the plight of the non-Muslim government servants who wish to perform their once in a lifetime pilgrimage too. Non-Muslim civil servants who wish to fulfill their religious obligation to their respective sacred pilgrimage sites (overseas) are somewhat restrained or unable to undertake this important spiritual journey due to the lack of annual leave.
Many of the middle and lower-category non-Muslim civil servants tend to run out of leave. Granting paid leave to this group to perform their respective religious pilgrimages overseas will go a long way towards promoting Malaysia globally as a multi-religion country which practices equality in the freedom of worship as enshrined in our constitution. More importantly, it augurs well of our Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's ‘1Malaysia’ policy.
If the authorities agree in principle to grant paid leave to this group civil servants, they can then seek the advice and guidance of the Malaysian Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Taoism (MCCBCHT) on the details such as quantum of leave, identification of holy sites etc.
Perhaps the MCCBCHT - which is highly respected for its professional role in moderating non- Muslim religious matters with the government - should explore the possibility of expanding its responsibilities to include the coordinating and facilitating of holy pilgrimages for non-Muslims in the country in the near future.
