Selangor State Level Wesak Celebrations 2012

Wesak commemorates the three important events in the life of the Buddha- His Birth, Enlightenment and Passing Away. These events took place on the full-moon day in the lunar month of Vesakha, which falls between April and May in our conventional calendar. Officially, the first full-moon day of May is designated as Wesak Day in Malaysia. Amongst Buddhists, it is also known as Buddha Jayanti – the Birth of the Enlightened One. Wesak has been declared as a public holiday since 1962, in recognition of Buddhism being the religion with the second largest following in the country.

After His Enlightenment, the Buddha wandered through many parts of India for forty-five years, compassionately disseminating the message of peace without any discrimination as to who his listeners were. Millions followed His teachings and realized their greatest potential as human beings – having attained that unshakable peace of mind and liberation from suffering.

The Buddha left behind a rich legacy of teachings - the Dhamma-Vinaya. Over the last twenty six centuries, people continue to look into His sublime teachings for solace, inspiration and guidance. Throughout history, the disciples of the Buddha – monks, nuns and lay people – have faithfully carried out the message of the Great Teacher, persistently and diligently serving the world with compassion. The contribution of Buddhism towards the spiritual and cultural advancement of humanity is indeed most valuable, and is even recognized by the United Nations.

Recognizing the Buddhist community’s contribution to the state and being the second largest religious community in the state, the State Government of Selangor for the second year continuously will be holding an official Wesak celebration at the Jubli Perak Auditorium, Shah Alam at 7.00 pm, Tuesday, 1st May 2012.This event will be officiated by the Dato’ Menteri Besar of Selangor; Y.A.B. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Abdul Khalid bin Ibrahim.

The program during the celebration includes performance by some of the popular Buddhist performing groups in the country which includes Bodhi Group, Big Chip and Guan Yin Foundation. Dances will be presented by the internationally acclaimed Dua Space Dance Theatre while the Tzu-Chi Buddhist Merit Society will be performing Hand Gestures accompanied by songs. The Fo Guang San Malaysia will be presenting an animation on the Buddha and also other performances.

There will three Wesak Day Floats exhibit outside the auditorium building and an exhibition on the Life of the Buddha will be displayed at the ground floor of the building.

Admission to this celebration cum concert is free of charge. Members of the public are advised to arrive early as general seating’s are on first come first serve basis. Light vegetarian food will be served from 6.00pm onwards at the banquet hall before the performances starts.

Press Release on Selangor Wesak Celebration

Press Release by Mr. Loka Ng Sai Kai, Chairman of Selangor Buddhist Development Committee and Working Committee Chairman for the Majlis Sambutan Hari Wesak 2011 Peringkat Negeri Selangor in conjunction with the Majlis Sambutan Hari Wesak 2011 Peringkat Negeri Selangor organized by the Selangor State Government with the support of Buddhist organizations in Selangor.

Dated : 5th June 2011                   Time : 8:30pm

a. Buddhist community began to request for Wesak to be declared as a public holiday since 1926 when the then abbot of Mahindarama Buddhist Temple, Ven. K. Gunaratana make the proposal to the then colonial government.

b. During the Japanese occupation, a Japanese official in Dec 1944 urged the Penang Buddhist community to make representation to the Japanese government to declare Wesak in the coming year as a public holiday.

c. After World War II, the British government said it will only consider declaring Wesak as a public holiday if both the Mahayana and Theravada traditions can agree on a same date to celebrate Wesak day. A meeting on 1st March 1949 at Penang Buddhist Association agrees to celebrate Wesak Day on the full moon of May.

d. On 12th April 1949, the colonial government declares Wesak Day which falls on 12th May 1949 as a public holiday in Penang, Melaka, Kedah and Perak. Government servants who are Buddhists in Selangor, Kelantan, Perlis, Terengganu and Negeri Sembilan were given a holiday on Wesak Day.

e. After many years of efforts by Buddhist and political leaders, the Federation of Malaya government finally declares on 3rd Jan 1962 that the government had adopted the day of Wesak as a public holiday for the whole federation beginning from 1962.

f. The ability to make Wesak as a public holiday was a memorable event and great achievement in the annals of Buddhism in this country. It has united the Buddhist community to work for a common interest in seeking the government’s recognition of the community stature as the second largest religious group in the country.

g. For many years after 1962, the Buddhist community noticed that while the Prime Minister will regularly issue public congratulatory messages in-conjunction with important celebration of major religions in Malaysia, the Prime Minister’s message for Wesak Day was always conspicuously missing. It was only in 1999 after years of representation by the Buddhist community leaders that the then Prime Minister began issuing congratulatory message for Wesak Day.

h. In the 1990s, the government began organizing official state or national events for major religions in this country. But official state or national events to celebrate Wesak Day was never organized by neither any state nor federal governments.

i. Requests have been conveyed to the federal government to organized official state events for the day of Wesak but it just fell on deaf ears.

j. Looking into the past efforts of our Buddhist predecessors, the Buddhist community just wanted to be given the necessary respect and recognition as the religion with the second largest following in this country. Based on the year 2000 population census, the Buddhist population comprised 20.2% of the citizens in this country.

k. Tonight on the 5th of June 2011, the Selangor State Government had taken the lead by organizing the first ever Selangor State Level Wesak Celebration in-conjunction with this year’s Wesak Day. Never in the history of the nation have any state or even the federal government had ever organized an official state event for the day of Wesak.

l. We would like to congratulate and thank the Selangor State Government for this noble effort and undertakings. More than 45 major Buddhist organizations in Selangor had come forward to join hands to support the State Wesak Celebration.

m. Buddhist performing groups like Messengers of Dharma, i-gemz, One Voice One Melody, Persatuan Penganut Agama Buddha Bodhi KL, Pei Jie & Fo Guang San, and Mahindarama Sunday Pali School from Penang and came forward to perform in this event. Professional dance groups Dua Space Dance Theatre and The Temple of Fine Arts are also involved in the performance.

n. While Selangor had taken the lead, we hoped other state governments and the Federal Government will take cognizance and organize a state event for Wesak in the near future.

Historic Wesak Celebration in Selangor

History was created on Sunday 5th June when more than 1,200 people gathered at the Auditorium Dewan Jubli Perak, Bangunan Sultan Abdul Aziz, Shah Alam to attend the first ever Selangor State Level Wesak Celebration.

The historic moment began when the mostly Buddhists audience rise to sing the Song of the Triple Gem. It signify a breakthru for the state and the nation as the Wesak event was the first time any state or federal government had ever organized and hosted an official Wesak celebration in conjunction with Wesak Day since independence.

When the Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) Tan Sri Dato' Seri Abdul Khalid bin Ibrahim, who is a Muslim arrived to launch the event together with his wife,  he was given a rousing welcome by the audience. Accompanying him was Selangor State Assembly Speaker Dato' Teng Chang Khim, Exco member Ean Yong Hian Wah and  organizing chairman Loka Ng Sai Kai, who is also the Buddhist representative to the Selangor State non-Muslims Committee.

Others who were present during that memorable night includes senior monks from all Buddhist traditions namely Venerable Jue Cheng of Fo Guang San Malaysia, Ven. Datuk Dhammaratana Maha Thera of Buddhist Maha Vihara and Ven. Yango Rinpoche of Vajrayana Buddhist Council Malaysia, leaders from more than 45 Buddhist organization based in Selangor and president of the Malaysia Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism Rev Dr. Phillips Thomas. A group of international students from nearby universities also attended the celebration.

The crowd roared with claps of approval when organizing chairman Loka Ng Sai Kai  congratulated the Selangor State Government for listening to the voices of the Buddhist community by organizing an official state celebration in honour of Wesak Day. He also urged other state governments to follow the Selangor footstep in organizing official Wesak celebration in their respective states.

Tan Sri Abdul Khalid bin Ibrahim in his speech praises the Buddhist community for their contribution through welfare, social and educational programs carried out by various Buddhist groups in the state. Khalid also shared his concern on the need of more land to build Buddhist temples to cater to the increasing number of Buddhist devotees especially in urban areas. He also proposed from next year onwards the Wesak floats procession organized by Buddhist groups in Petaling Jaya and Seri Kembangan which attracts thousands of local and foreign visitors will be inserted in the annual calendar of Tourism Selangor.

The celebration was injected with performances by some of the popular Buddhist performing groups in the country which includes Messengers of Dharma, i.gemz, Bodhi Group, One Voice One Melody and Mahindarama Sunday Pali School. Dances were presented by the internationally acclaimed Dua Space and the Temple of Fine Arts. The Fo Guang San 24 Seasons Drum Troupe also gave a splendid performance.

At the end of the celebration, Khalid and all the religious leaders joined the performers on stage to sing the Happy Wesak song. The event on Sunday night will be etched in the memory of not only the audiences present that night but also the Buddhist community as the breakthru event in the annals Buddhism in Malaysia. - Loka SK Ng

Direction to Selangor Wesak Celebration

Direction to Auditorium Dewan Jubli Perak, Bangunan SSAAS, Shah Alam for the Selangor State Level Wesak Celebration on 5 June 2011

PM skips Wesak do

Is there any coincidence that  Prime Minister Najib Razak will be travelling overseas during this year's Wesak celebration which falls on May 17?

In recent years, it has been customary for a Malaysian Prime Minister to join the Buddhist community to celebrate Wesak Day with high tea in one of the local Buddhist temples. This practice is similiar to the PM's visits to other places of worship during other major religious festivities celebrated in the country.

It was reported Monday in the national news agency Bernama that Prime Minister Najib will be attending an investment function in New York on May 17. This means he will not be in the country for the customary goodwill visit to a Buddhist temple to celebrate Wesak with the devotees. The Buddhist community in Malaysia is the second largest religious group after Muslims in a country which has various public holidays commemorating many religious and cultural festivals.

Reliable sources revealed that the Prime Minster initially plans to visit a major Buddhist centre in Petaling Jaya but changes his plan recently. In his absence, the Minister of KPI and Unity Koh Tsu Koon are expected to represent him to attend the Wesak function in Petaling Jaya.

While PM Najib will be skipping the Wesak do this year by flying out of the country during the most important day for Buddhists, the community will be as usual carry on with their routine of prayers, meditation and performing charitable deeds on the Holy Wesak Day.

The Buddhist community all this while has been self reliant in managing and maintaining their religious affairs with minimal support or interference from the government. With or without the PM presence on Wesak Day, would it make any difference now? - Loka SK Ng

In unity we stand with Thai Buddhists

A week before Vesak Day the Thai government decided to face-off with the Red Shirts. The Red Shirts, a group of pro-Thaksin supporters has encamped themselves in central Bangkok for three months by constructing barricades around them with tyres and bamboo sticks. The Thai government led by Abhisit Vejjajiva managed to apprehend the core leaders of the Red Shirts and demolished the barricades.

The whole world was monitoring the situation in Bangkok and many travel advisories were issued by many countries advising their respective citizens to avoid visiting Thailand especially in hot spots areas. The situation in Thailand was of concern to many people, locals and foreigners alike.

For a group of Malaysian Buddhists, the situation in Bangkok affects them too as they were bound to attend the annual United Nations Day of Vesak Conference hosted by the Maha Chulalongkorn University in Ayutthaya from 23 - 25 May 2010. There were concerns by many  regarding the loss of lives during cross fire and by snipers in the Bangkok encampment.

At last, just as other foreign delegates, nearly all in the Malaysian group flew into Suvarnabhumi International Airport on 22 May and transferred smoothly to their respective hotels without any inkling or traces of the shooting incidents happens earlier. As the Thais used to say, it is as smooth as silk. We were never in any occasion or have any thoughts of being unsafe, felt threathened or insecured when we were in Thailand throughout the whole conference.

Even though night curfew was enforced by the Thai government during our stay in Thailand, we never felt any sign of curfew being fully enforced especially when we were staying in Ayutthaya. A group of us were even moving along the main thoroughfare in Ayutthaya and taking the "Tuk-Tuk" transporter back to our hotel during the curfew period. Not even a soldier or military officer was seen!

The only time the foreign delegates really sees a "strong" presence of military officers was during the opening ceremony when the Crown Prince and his wife were in attendance. About 100 soldiers were seen outside the conference hall where the opening ceremony was held. In the hall, some high ranking military officers can be seen sitting in the front rows when the Crown Prince officiated the conference. 

The only time when the delegates stepped into Bangkok was during the final day when the conference was held at the UN Escap Convention Hall. As usual practice all visitors to the UN office have to walk through the metal detactor and personal hand carry need to be hand over for scanning. A regular visitor to this place will not be bothered with this security check.

The Thai government has been very supportive of this conference for the last few years. One of the highlights of the conference was the surprised announcement on the development of a World Buddhist Park near Bangkok. This shows how much efforts Thailand is putting into to support Buddhism and Buddhists worldwide.

During his closing speech, the Rector of Maha Chulalongkorn University, Venerable Dharmakosajarn, who is also the conference chair thank all foreign delegates for taking the effort to travel to Thailand to attend and support the conference in the midst of the internal conflicts.

As for me and also for many foreign delegates it is the spirit of standing in unity, side by side with fellow Buddhists in Thailand  that motivates us to be with them during their period of uncertainty and crisis. The UN Day of Vesak Conference this year delivers not only the Bangkok Declaration 2010 but also the true spirit of the Dharma Brotherhood that radiates and glows in the heart of all Buddhists in the celebration of the sacred Vesak Day. - Loka

Once in a Wesak

I used to be very occcupied with organising events in the month of May. The most important event of all was Wesak Day which usually falls on the first week of May. The other event falls on May 15 of each year which is the National Youth Day.

Wesak Day has been a busy day for me for many years since I graduated from university. The first few years was busy promoting and selling children story books based on the past life of the Buddha which is the Jataka Tales.

These books were produced by a group of Buddhist friends who graduated from UKM. I was handling the printing and marketing aspects while the others were involved in art work, story line and translation ( English to Chinese). We even recorded the stories on tape in a innovated "home" studio of an old friend.

Being in marketing, I know Wesak Day will be "The Day" to sell our books at the temples as that will be the day which attracts the most devotees to the temple. We know we have a good product but we need to have the right place, right timing and right crowd and all a troop of volunteer promoters to introduce and sell our books!

Using whatever contacts I have developed within the Buddhist community since my university days, stalls or counters selling our Jataka Tales books were set up in major Buddhist centres in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Penang. All the arrangement paid off as we managed to sell about 3,000 copies of the books within one day!

That was the good old days. Our sale counters are no more in existence at the temples during Wesak nowadays. The books are no more in print and the company publishing it already shut down. All of us had moved on with our own life. A dream to flood the market with the locally published Jataka Tales for the benefit of the local Buddhist children in mind remains buried in the heart. Maybe some day some one will seek this dream and realise it?

Whatever the end results of our past efforts, it is already in the past but one thing I am very sure. Those books that we published more than 15 years ago are still read by some Buddhist kids at the Sunday Dhamma schools or in the comfort of their homes. My kids read all those books and I am proud to tell them that their parents were part of the team that produced those books.

Some years later when I was leading the UKM Buddhist Alumni, I initiated the "mobile temple" concept where our group will pick a place or town which do not have a Buddhist temple and consecrate an "instant temple". While the intention was for our members and friends to celebrate the Triple Holy Day in communion and fellowship, the purpose was also to provide the opportunity for local residents to celebrate Wesak at our mobile temple.

The first place where a mobile temple was set up was at Frasers Hill which do not have a Buddhist temple or centre. We rented a colonial bungalow with a large hall and with the ingenuity of our members, we managed to transform the place into a temple overnite! The main altar was set up using customed-made tables which can be dismantled and transported even in a Kancil.

We raised and tied the Buddhist flags all around the "temple". Some of the local residents and tourists that managed to find our new temple was very happy indeed. The moment they steps into the shrine hall, they will find the Buddha welcoming them. Their happiness are reflected on their face when they kneel and bathe the Baby Buddha.

There were Wesak Dhamma talks by members of the Sangha, meditation in the cool atmosphere and the candle procession in the carpark. It was such a wonderful Wesak. At least tourists with Buddhist background will not miss their Wesak prayers. The idea was, if you do not go to the temple, the temple comes to you! - Loka

Week of Wesak

Last one week was a religious week for me where I attended an international Buddhist conference, discussion with a string of Buddhist clerics and scholars, interviewed in a Buddhist satellite tv channel, participated in the Wesak Day celebration in my family regular temple and chaired the committee election of a Buddhist society I formed some years ago.

The United Nations Day of Vesak was held from 4 - 6 May 2009 at Maha Chulalongkorn Buddhist University in Ayuthaya, Buddhamonthon Temple and UN ESCAP office in Bangkok. This year's theme was "Buddhist Approach to Global Crisis". The sub-theme deliberated on pollitical, environmental and economic situation affecting the world today.

With the conclusion of the conference, a Bangkok Declaration was issued. It will be more productive if the organisers will follow through with the relevant international agencies to present the results of the conference for further actions.

While in Bangkok I was invited by the Dharmakaya Temple as a guest in their satellite TV station Dhamma Media Channel to share on my role in the World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth particularly as director of the organisation development unit. I was also asked to comment on the recent UN Day of Vesak Conference and it's probable impact to the community.

During Wesak Day my family and I were at a local temple situated near my house to pay respect to the Lord Buddha and participated in programs arranged by the temple. This is also the temple where my children attended their weekly Dhamma school. The temple was crowded with devotees coming in droves and Puja service was carried out in spread out sessions to enable all devotees to attend it inside the main shrine.

The UKM Buddhist Association had their annual general meeting one day after Wesak. I chaired the election session which elected a new team comprising many new faces lead by Leow Hoay Hoay. With so many fresh faces, hoped it will also develop fresh ideas to uplift the organisation. - Loka

Happy Wesak

Wishing all readers a Happy and Blessed Wesak 2009.

As we contemplates the Birth, Enlightenment and and Maha Parinibbana of the Lord Buddha, keep in mind the Teachings of the Lord Buddha that exhorts us to strive on diligently in our daily living.

We need to be engaged with the community and aware of the happenings around us.

Seek and help the needy,

Acknowledge those worthy of praise,

Support Dhamma propagation,

Be a constant missionary.

All things subject to change,

Be one ourselves,

Do our duty now,

As tomorrow may not come.

Buddha shown us the way,

Walk the path of purification.

Prayers for His Highness

The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah will be undergoing open heart surgery at the Stanford University Medical Centre in Palo Alto, California on May 2, 2009.

The State government had requested all Selangorians to pray for His Highness speedy recovery.

For all Buddhists who is celebrating Wesak Day next week, please remember to pray for the Sultan's good health in your daily prayers and blessing service.

Dhamma for Politicians

Wesak Day falls on May 9 this year.

Malaysian Buddhists will be celebrating this Triple Holy Day that commemorates the Birth, Enlightenment and Maha Parinibbana (death) of the Lord Buddha. Preparations are currently underway in Buddhist viharas and centres all over the country.

Amongst the to-do-lists will be invitations to VIP and VVIPs to grace this most important occasion in the Buddhist calendar.

For temples in states governed by the Pakatan Rakyat alliance, it will be interesting to observe how the temples decides on their guest of honours. Previously it will be an obvious choice when VIPs are drawn from assemblymen, members of Parliament or Cabinet members from the Barisan Nasional fraternity. The political scenario now had changed. Some of those in BN already fallen from their political seats. The choices of the Buddhist temples on the VIP list will be affected too.

If a temple is within a PR represented constituency, will the temple invites only the ADUN or MP of the day or will it also includes the area former BN ADUN or MP who has been helping the temples previously even if they act on their official capacity.

Buddhists need to be not only colour and party blind but have a sense of gratitude to those that have assists them in the past. Buddhists need to show the way that the Dhamma is to be shared with everyone disregards of the person or persons political stand or affiliation.

Whether they are frm BN or PR, they are still living beings that need to walk the path of purification. It is a Buddhist vocation to share the Dhamma and make Dhamma known, far and wide even to the heart of each and every politician that walks through the gate of the temple. Buddhist temples need to educate all of them to understand the Teachings of the Buddha.

What will be the best option if not inviting them to listen to the Dhamma. Once, maybe it is just a usual function for them. Twice they may just remembers Buddha is actually not a God but the Fully Enlightenment one. Thrice they will be able to mental recite the Ti-Sarana. And so on... No one knows where they will be heading next. The seed of Dhamma need to be planted and nurtured.

Ehi Passiko. Come and see. That's our clarion call. We are the missioners that will seek out those with dust in their eyes and share with them, the Noble Teachings of the Buddha, which is good in the beginning, good at the middle and good at the end. We seek not for them to change their faith but to build their lifes and others better through Buddhism.

So, by this Wesak Day hope to see the PM and his line-up of cabinet members; Menteri Besar and his troop of exco members joining the Buddhist congregation in listening to the values of the Teacher of mankind and all beings.

The gift of Dhamma excels all other gifts. - Loka

UN Day of Vesak 3

The UN Day of Vesak celebrations held in Vietnam this year provided me some interesting observations....

First and foremost is that no decisions are considered final unless approved by the government. Whatever the organising committee discussed, debated and decided upon will still need the final green light from the powers-that-be.

It seems the Vietnamese had one thing in common with our country's spirit of "Malaysia Boleh" in breaking records, they practically tried to break as many records as possible. They even had a huge "Little Buddha" balloon floating on the convention center ground. Did I missed their version of the "Vietnamese Books of Record"?

There is no problem in getting youth volunteers from the universities for the celebration but don't expect the volunteers to know much about Buddhism. Even getting local participants to fill up the 4,000 seats in the convention throughout the 3-days conference is easily done. I salute them.


Never can I imagine an ordinary chap will be given VVIP treatmet by a socialist country? A Buddhist worker from Malaysia, Goh Seng Chai (pic), was provided a chauffeur driven car with traffic police escort during the week-long event!
Does this guy sounds like or looks like a Malaysian minister? Maybe to the Vietnamese, he sounds like and looks like a minister!


Group photograph means you go to a same spot like everyone else and then take your own picture with your own camera. There is no such thing as a group photo taken by a officially appointed photographer.

UN Day of Vesak 2

The UN Day of Vesak 2008 at the National Convention Center, Hanoi, Vietnam were attended by about 4000 participants.

I was there as a member of the International Organizing Committee.

United Nations Day of Vesak

The United Nations started to observed the Day of Vesak at UN Headquarters and other UN offices since 2000. The resolution on international recognition of the Day of Vesak was adopted by the UN General Assembly at its 79th plenary meeting on 15 December 1999.

In 2004, Thailand was appointed to coordinate with other Buddhist countries to celebrate the Day of Vesak both at the United Nations in New York and its regional office. Since then an International Buddhist Conference on the United Nations Day of Vesak (UNDV) has been held every year in Bangkok, Thailand.

The most recent UNDV conference was held from 13-17 May 2008 at the National Convention Center, Hanoi, Vietnam. About 4,000 participants including 700 foreign participants from 74 countries attended this year's conference with the theme "Buddhist Contribution to Building a Just, Democratic and Civilized Society".

HAPPY WESAK

Happy Wesak to everyone.

Just came back from Hanoi after attending the United Nations Day of Vesak celebrations from 13-17 May 2008. Will write about it later.

It's Time to Share

The wrath of Cyclone Nargis had brought tremendous pain, sufferings and lost to the people of Myanmar. While over here in our country, the Buddhist community are busy preparing to celebrate the Triple Sacred Day of Wesak on May 19, 2008.

During Wesak, many devotees will be visiting Buddhist temples and Dharma centres to join in the congregation for the most important occasion in the Buddhist calendar to have prayers, meditation and merit-making.

While doing all these good deeds, do remember those brothers and sisters whom had lost everything if not all due to the natural disaster that strikes Myanmar few days ago. If we still remembers the tsunami disaster in 2004, the recovery process for the victims will take a long time; economically, physically and pyschologically. Hence, the initiative to help the cyclone victims must be a long term plan.

It is usual for many aids agencies swamping in to help the victims as an immediate response after the disaster but when all the media hype and publicity drained out, these aid agencies will pull out leaving the victims to fend for themselves, without any post disaster recovery program to help them to claim back their normal life.

It is my fervent hope that some of the Buddhist centres in Malaysia will adopt certain temples or villages affected by the cyclone for at least 3 - 5 years to enable the villages/temples in Myanmar to stand on their own in the post disaster period.

In the spirit of Wesak, I like to proposed that Buddhist centres allocates certain percentage of their Wesak collection for the next three years to help these villages or temples in Myanmar.

Buddhist brethrens need to care for and support each other especially in times of need and challenges. If the Buddhists do not reach out, are we leaving it to others to reach out to the suffering victims?

Buddhists Apathetic?

Before and after the general election on March 8, I was asked a similiar line of question by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Why Buddhists are so quiet on issues affecting the people?

This was raised because in comparison to the other major religious groups, which in one way or another has been voicing our publicly their views and concern on the state of the nation.

The Hindus' was actively putting across their views and demands via Hindraf, the Christians were having forums in their churches and advocating their rights via sms'es and internet and Muslim groups issuing statements on their views and concerns.

What did the Buddhists do?

Nothing. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Right. Spot on!


When one aspiring politician raised the same issue with me few days after the election, I commented the Hindus and Christians already make their positions very clear and no one would doubt who they voted in the election. But what will be the implication if the Buddhists jumps into the bandwagon and be vociferous in their quest for their needs. Will it create a situation of the "nons" on one side of the field and the others on the opposing side? So, the Buddhists just kept quiet.

Well, this line of justification is only to pacify ourselves (the Buddhists) that we are peace loving and status-quo people and do not like to start any inkling of possible confrontation with the authorities or powers-that-be.

Buddhist leaders in this country has the tendency of solving arising issues or problems affecting the community in a "closed-door meeting" and non-confrontational approach. Most Malaysians will not even notice, because it was not in the press or blogs, that issues affecting development of Buddhist temples can take nearly 20 years to solve! In some cases, the Buddhist leaders always hoped that when the general election is looming, the powers-that-be will fast-tracked the approval for the temple development. Occasionally the wishes became a reality but sometimes it turns into another round of nightmare after the election. The actual approval are not forthcoming and will take another term of government before the matter is seriously look upon again before the next election.

Buddhists are really very patient. We will meditate and have prayers over the matter again and again. Year in, year out. We always hoped the solution will be forthcoming during the term of the current menteri besar, if not we would have to start all over again if a new MB came along.

Going back to the subject matter, are Buddhists really too soft on issues affecting the community?

It's not really the case but it's just that Buddhists especially the leaders are usually low risk takers and are not keen to rock the boat. They prefers the "follow the usual way" approach. When they faced any problems related to temple lands or visa for missionary monks, they will approach politicians from MCA to help them to solve it. How often have we heard of Buddhists approaching non-MCA or non-Gerakan political parties for help to solve problems related to their community? With the MCA and Gerakan washed-out from the west coast states, will the Buddhists shift their source of assistance to parties from Pakatan Rakyat? We shall wait and see.

Buddhists need to be aware of their rights just like any other religionists of this country. We are not seeking to be treated better at other peoples' expense nor be given special treatment. We just need to voice out our concerns and needs to the powers-that-be, whichever side of the political divide.

The Barisan Nasional need to take cognisance that the only religious group that did not openly state their demands and show any sign of their political stand is the Buddhist community. If BN is wise, they better do the needful to ensure this community will maintain their non-political stance. Buddhists has been keeping a low profile in the recent general election. No public demands or press conferences to demand for anything at all. As seems the Buddhists are very contented indeed. Is that so? Or the Buddhists has been taken for granted?

Bear in mind that while the Buddhists is the second largest religious group comprising 20.2% of citizens of Malaysia, we are only accorded ONE religious public holiday while the others like Christians and Hindus are having at least one and a half public holidays. Christians are having Christmas and Good Fridays in Sabah & Sarawak. The Hindus public holidays includes Deepavali national holiday and Thaipusam in five states and Kuala Lumpur.

Maybe the government want to consider Ullambana, Kwan Yin Birthday or Kathina? Maybe not. Already too many public holidays! Just provide us suitable tracts of land and a matching grant to develop our Dhamma education centres.

For many years the Federal government has funded official events to celebrate Hari Raya Puasa , Chinese New Year, Christmas, Deepavali, Gawai (Sarawak) and Kaamatan (Sabah). What about Wesak Day? When will the Federal and State governments, BN or PR , realised they forgotten or conveniently forgotten to sponsor an official event to celebrate Buddhists most important religious event?

Shall we as usual, keep quiet and wait and see which government, BN or PR, to be the first to response to this matter! Or shall we take this directly to the states and federal governments?

I am looking forward for the PM, Chief Ministers and Menteri Besars for all Malaysians to attend a Wesak Open House this year.