Chief Abbess of Fo Guang Shan Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and India Venerable Jue Cheng, Abbess of the Fo Guang Shan in Malaysia and Singapore attended 48th national day celebration of the United Arab Emirates held by its embassy in Kuala Lumpur here on 2 December.

With her are Venerable Ru Xing, Deputy Abbess of Fo Guang Shan Malaysia branch Petaling Jaya , Venerable Zhi Ping and Lim Mooi Hiang, president of Buddha’s Light International Association, Malaysia Dong Zen 2nd Subdivision where they meet diplomats from various countries attending the celebration held JW Marriot Hotel here.

UAE’s Ambassador to Malaysia Khalid Ghanim Al-Ghaith and Deputy head of mission Nailofer Mohammad Albastaki welcomed the arrival of 500 guests. A variety of Arabic specialities comprising of dates, pancakes, tea, desserts are served during the celebration.

Guests are stunned by a robot who went on stage to deliver the welcome message, followed by Agiculture and Agro-based Minister Salahuddin Ayob representing the Malaysian government and Khalid Ghanim who spoke on stage. National anthem of both countries are played. 

Videos are played to introduce UAE, an advance, wealthy and modern country.

Nailofer said UAE is a country which has more than 200 ethnic groups and everyone live under the same roof. There are mosques, catholic churches, buddhist temples and other places of worship in UAE. She thanked representatives from Fo Guang Shan for attending the celebration.

Nailofer paid the Fo Guang Shan Dong Zeng Temple a visit during Chinese New Year to join the lantern festival. She is impressed by the giant lantern festival. Khalid Ghanim also expressed interest to visit the temple in January 2020.

Both Venerable Jue Cheng and Venerable Ru Xing were seen chatting with foreign diplomats and invited the diplomats to visit Dong Zeng Temple during Chinese New Year for the floral and lantern festival.