Cleaning the grave, burning paper money and lighting joss sticks are part of Qing Ming Festival tradition.
MIRI (April 6): The Chinese community here are finally able to perform their filial duty this year to clean the graves of their departed family members, after two years of not being able to do so due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
Though Qing Ming Festival or grave-cleaning festival falls on April 5, some of the Chinese families chose to do it early to prevent crowding and traffic congestion at the cemetery.
Chairman of Miri Chinese Charitable Trust Board, Temenggong Yong Vui Seng, told The Borneo Post yesterday via phone interview that the board had prepared and placed huge rubbish bins at Krokop, Riam and Lambir cemetery sites to prevent indiscriminate rubbish dumping.
“The past two years, due to the movement control order (MCO) and restrictions by the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), Chinese weren’t able to perform their filial duty on this day.
“After the restrictions have been eased and reopening of international borders from April 1 onwards, we can see that many of those who work overseas have returned home for Qing Ming.
“We have prepared early as rubbish dumping issue is one of the major issues at these cemeteries,” said Yong.
Being able to reunite with families after two years of not being able to do so is definitely a moment to be cherished, yet, Yong reminded Chinese families to not take the current situation for granted.
“Covid-19 is far from gone. Worst when the virus continues to mutate and create new variants. New variants may soon become resistant to the Covid-19 vaccine, and because of this, all the standard operating procedures (SOPs) have to be followed to protect ourselves and loved ones,” said Yong.