This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 18, 2017 - September 24, 2017

A popular song from 1979 goes:

Digge ding ding ding, digge digge ding ding

Hey di hey di hoh

Digge ding ding ding, digge digge ding ding

Hey di hey di hoh

Then the chorus kicks in:

Hooray, hooray, it’s a holi-holiday

What a world of fun, for everyone, holi-holiday

Hooray, hooray, it’s a holi-holiday,

Sing a summer song, skip along,

holi-holiday

It’s a holi-holiday….

That song by Boney M was such a big hit that Indonesian band Pancaran Sinar Petromak did their own take of it called Bapak Dapat Lotre while Susana Kwan of Hong Kong included a Cantonese version, Summer Delight or Ha Yat Dor Foon Heung, in her album Wing Han Dik Foo Pak. A year later, it was the turn of Denmark’s Birthe Kjær to pay it tribute — in Danish, with their tune Hurra! Hurra! Sikken dejlig dag.

Okay, enough of that useless history lesson.

But considering the staggering number of public holidays we celebrate here, that song should have a special place in Malaysian hearts, don’t you think?

We have public holidays at the federal and state level and holidays depending on one’s ethnicity... you name it, we have a holiday for it.

And recently, when we emerged SEA Games champions with the highest tally of gold medals, what do you know, yet another public holiday was declared!

So who cares about productivity, output and efficiency?

With so many holidays, it has got to a stage where sometimes, we don’t really know what it is we are celebrating.

What’s more, if a holiday falls on a Sunday, it will be carried forward to the following day, so Monday will be a holiday. Who doesn’t look forward to a blissful long weekend?

Talking of holidays, with Malaysians being so affluent these days, we travel quite a bit, and London seems to be a favourite destination. Some who head there can’t even speak English.

That reminds me of a funny anecdote, a conversation that took place in a café a few months ago:

Man says, “Datuk how are you?”

Datuk replies, “I’m good ... back from Spain.”

Man: “Are you back from Madrid?”

Datuk: “Didn’t I just tell you I’m back from Spain?”

Sigh.

While most would love getting more holidays, like in all things, there are others who hold a different view. They complain about lower product yields, higher operation costs and the need to pay double wages. These people would usually be the bosses.

And they cite statistics to back their argument. Recently, one corporate chieftain said declaring public holidays on an ad hoc basis was detrimental to industries in the country as it could affect their productivity and efficiency. “Unplanned or ad hoc public holidays are disruptive to business” and could cost the nation RM1.5 billion per day, he was quoted as saying.

But the majority, I think, would not mind seeing workers getting extra pay because of an unplanned holiday.

That reminds me of a joke about the boss who arrived at work in a brand new Ferrari. He told his staff, “If you work hard, put in all your hours, don’t take leave and strive for excellence, I’ll get another one next year, maybe even a better one.”

One thing right about Malaysia is the huge number of holidays, so keep ’em coming.

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