Firecrackers during Deepavali?

I am in awe of the New Malaysia. I mean, so much has happened in the last one year, hasn't it? No, make it the last seven months. So much has happened in the last seven months. Where the Indian Malaysians are concerned, their lot seemed to have improved tremendously in the last seven months. Who says the Indians in this country are lagging behind the Chinese and the Malays economically? Who says the Indians are poor?

I've just returned from paying a Deepavali visit to a friend in Simpang Ampat. He had invited us over for a Deepavali meal and over dinner, our conversation turned to the din that erupted at midnight when the clock struck 12 to herald the start of the Festival Of Lights.

Din? Sure. Even my Indian friend was surprised by the noise going on around him. Weren't you aware? Here at my house in Bukit Mertajam, I could hear firecrackers going off solidly in the distance for something like 20 minutes. And it wasn't in Bukit Mertajam alone. On facebook, people were writing that they were living a surreal firecrackers experience. Every where, they wrote, firecrackers were simply being let off. Someone living in Sunway, Subang Jaya estimated that firecrackers there were going off for about a half-hour. A friend's son travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Penang by bus said that he couldn't sleep as even on the bus, he could hear firecrackers.

Now, isn't it wonderful that the Indian Malaysians now have the money to burn on firecrackers? Who says they cannot afford to burn money? There you have it. They are rich, man, they are richer than the so-called economically rich Chinese and they are richer than the so-called politically rich Malays. So now there is no need for the political parties or any group of people, political or non-political, that claim to work for the rights of the Indians in this country. Who needs them? No, sirree, as of midnight, 17 Oct 2009, the Indians have been exposed as being far better off than previously suspected. Hah!

Either that, or....someone is secretly paying for and approving the firecrackers to be let off on Deepavali night. There must be a reason or a motive behind all this and I cannot for anything fathom it.

Which brings to mind another question. I wonder why the Police have not taken any action against the people who let off the firecrackers all around the country. Isn't the ban on firecrackers still in effect? If not, why was it lifted and when was it lifted? How come, all of a sudden, firecrackers had been successfully smuggled into the country if the ban had not been lifted? If the ban had not been lifted, has our Malaysian Customs failed in their duty to detect people importing the firecrackers?

(And right now, at 10.40pm on 17 Oct 2009, I still hear firecrackers going off non-stop in the distance. You'd think that this is Chinese New year but no, it's Deepavali. Firecrackers. Deepavali. Firecrackers. Deepavali. Money is being spent on firecrackers for no apparent reason or for reasons unknown to me. All very mysterious, indeed!)