Coconut prices have surged in Malaysia amid a shortage caused by unfavourable weather, prompting state and community leaders to urge Thaipusam participants to break fewer coconuts during the colourful Hindu festival this month.
Batu Caves Hindu temple committee chairman R Nadarajah said he would personally advise devotees to break only one coconut, reported news outlet the Malay Mail on Sunday (Feb 2).
“As long as you do it with genuine devotion, the number of coconuts doesn’t matter,” he reportedly said.
Thaipusam is a public holiday in Malaysia and falls on Feb 11 this year. It is dedicated to Lord Murugan, and the breaking of coconuts is a cleansing ritual and symbolises the surrender of one’s ego.
Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow and the Consumers’ Association of Penang have issued similar calls.
“Devotees should be more economical so their use of coconuts on Thaipusam does not affect food security for the masses,” said Chow at a welfare group’s Chinese New Year event on Friday.
NV Subbarow, education officer of the Consumers’ Association of Penang, urged devotees on Jan 23 to break fewer coconuts “due to a shortage of coconuts which will result in even pricier coconuts this year”.
Many participants, who include members of the Chinese community, “mistakenly think that the more coconuts they break, the more luck is showered upon them”, he said in a statement on the association’s website.
Malaysian coconuts now cost up to RM3.90 (US$0.88) each, compared to RM2.60 previously, he told the New Straits Times on Saturday. Those from Indonesia cost up to RM3 each, he said.
The shortage of coconuts has been making headlines in Malaysia due to higher demand during Chinese New Year and Thaipusum celebrations, as well as the fasting month of Ramadan – expected to begin on either Feb 28 or Mar 1 – and Hari Raya Puasa. (CNA)