BY EDWINNIE EINSTEIN UNJI
KUCHING: The festive mood of Hari Raya Aidilfitri fills the atmosphere as New Sarawak Tribune catches up with some celebrants who were on the go enthusiastically making their way to purchase bus tickets at the Kuching Sentral bus terminal.
For Muhammad Firdaus, he excitedly said this year would be the first time he celebrate Hari Raya with his first born child.
The 32-year-old chef who is working at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur was preparing to upload his stuffs into the bus storage and head back to Betong for the occasion.
“I work in Kuala Lumpur as a chef in a hotel and this is my second year coming back to Sarawak to celebrate Raya with my wife.
“Currently my wife is still in post-labour after she gave birth to our first child, so she went back to Betong earlier than me and is now at her village, Kampung Manggut in Debak,” he said.
Reflecting on the experiences celebrating Raya, he said the celebration here was more jovial compared to Semenanjung Malaysia.
Meanwhile for Syafida Jemberi, a 25-year old lass who works in Johor will be riding the bus to her home town in Betong.
“Even though I work very far in Johor but for Raya celebration, I always come back home to Betong whenever I can,” said said.
Among the many travellers at the bus terminal who are mainly Malaysians or Sarawakian, New Sarawak Tribune also met with an Indonesian who decided to go back to her hometown.
Erizkya Ayu, a 27-year-old from Pontianak said that she is currently studying in Taipei but decided to come back home for Raya.
“It has been two years since I came back home for Raya and I truly missed it there,” she said.
Ayu relayed that her university gave students one month study leave due to the recent earthquake that devastated Taiwan on Monday (April 8).
“After the earthquake, we were given online classes but since it is almost Raya, I decided to go back to Pontianak to take the opportunity of the one month long study break,” she said.
She also shared her experience in celebrating Raya in Taipei, where international, Malaysian and Indonesian students would go to the mosque together and celebrate Raya.
