Tangau, a former federal minister, said such a policy would allow employees to take turns celebrating their respective holidays.

“I am not calling for an increase in the number of public holidays, which may reduce productivity.

“Instead, I am suggesting a more innovative way of managing our public holidays – keep the total constant, but allow members of a minority to trade some of the lesser holidays for their own festivals,” he said in a statement.

He said the number of business days could be increased and minority community members could observe their holidays without feeling excluded.

Tangau said the Sabah and Sarawak governments could lead by promoting “floating holidays” to honour their rich heritages, such as Kaamatan, Kalimaran, and Gawai.

Earlier, Utusan Malaysia reported that a doctor of Indian descent serving in Sarawak questioned the government’s dual standards and differential treatment of civil servants when it comes to observing Thaipusam, which falls tomorrow.

The doctor was quoted by the daily as saying that Hindu civil servants in the state were not allowed to take unrecorded leave. Instead, they are only allowed to take regular leave.

On Jan 4, Kedah menteri besar Sanusi Nor rejected a proposal to designate Thaipusam as the state’s annual public holiday.

In response to a request from the Malaysian Indian People’s Party, Sanusi told FMT that the state had exhausted its “quota” of annual public holidays.

Thaipusam is only recognised as an annual public holiday in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor, Penang, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Johor.