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MAJLIS RUMAH TERBUKA WESAK §

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Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Peace be upon you, Salam Sejahtera dan Salam 1Malaysia!

Chief Reverend K. Sri Dhammaratana, Buddhist Chief High Priest of Malaysia

Yang Berhormat Menteri-menteri dan Timbalan Menteri

Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed a unique opportunity and experience for me to join with so many thousand Malaysian
Buddhists to wish you a Happy and Peaceful Wesak. As I understand it, today is the most significant
day of the year for nearly 500 million Buddhists the world over. It is a day for them to renew their
determination to help the world’s underprivileged and to show their compassion for all living
beings.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I understand that the Buddhist religion emphasized taking care and respecting our parents as a great
blessing for oneself. Indeed, Islam, Buddhism and the other religions as well, there are many similar
spiritual values that are cherished, such as love, care, compassion, selflessness and so forth, which
builds our moral framework and character from the individual level right up to the community and
the nation as a whole.

This is indeed very important for us as we work towards not only transforming Malaysia in a
physical sense but to build a very strong moral fiber and frame work for this nation to progress and
to transform itself to be a more successful, harmonious and prosperous nation. Otherwise, we could
easily degenerate into an uncaring selfish community which cares little for the well being of others,
including our parents and elderly folks.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As you are well aware the primary objective of our government is to realize the 1Malaysia concept
which guarantees the right of every citizen to have a sense of belonging and commitment to the
country where we think of ourselves as one family. The creation of 1Malaysia is not an option: it is
the very core of our strategy of our journey to bring Malaysia to the forefront of the world’s nations.
It has always been my firm conviction as well as that of my predecessors that religion plays a vital
role in nurturing Malaysians to be sound in body, sound in mind and sound in spirit.

It is therefore important for all right thinking Malaysians to use their wisdom to reach out and
understand the right of every citizen to practice his or her religion with dignity and without
harassment. As your Prime Minister who has the arduous task of shaping our destiny in the coming
years, I urge you to join hands with me to make Malaysia a model of religious tolerance and racial
harmony for the rest of the world to follow. Buddhists especially can make known their principle
and this is a core principle of the teaching of Buddhism which is to follow the Middle Path which
avoids extremism in any form.

We have many challenges facing us today, including the eradication of poverty as well as to
transform Malaysia to be a high-income developed nation within 10 years. And for us to face these
challenges we must recognize the basic principle of democracy which is that Rights must be
balanced with Responsibilities. It is a sad but evident fact that no one can have everything that he or
she wants. We have to accept that in order for all of us to be happy sometimes we have to sacrifice
some things for the common good. This can be achieved if we learn to see the difference and this is
very fundamental, the difference between our needs and our wants. This is encapsulated in one of
Buddha’s teachings which is Contentment is the Highest wealth. If all Malaysians learn the virtue of
contentment and eradicate greed and envy then there will be no reason why we cannot achieve great
success as a nation.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me re-iterate how happy I am to be with you as you celebrate Wesak. I come in the spirit of
respect for your beliefs and practices. I am quite aware of the tremendous contributions that
Malaysian Buddhists have made towards this nation. Under the guidance and leadership of The
Most Venerable K. Sri Dhammaratana, Chief High Priest of Malaysia, I am confident that I will be
able to rely on the support of Buddhist community in Malaysia, a key component towards realizing
our dream of a truly undivided "1 Malaysia". I urge all Malaysians to follow the example of wisdom
and compassion in action—to come together to help all living beings regardless of their ethnicities
or their religious beliefs.

I am happy to see that the people assembled here represent different beliefs and there are even those
here who are not Buddhists but have gathered here in the spirit of harmony to show their respect for
one of humanity’s greatest teachers—Gautama Buddha. His teachings on Patience, Tolerance and
Understanding have mould the cultures of untold numbers of human beings not only in Asia but in
other parts of the world. I sincerely hope that this goodwill and understanding will prevail in all our
activities and that Malaysians will continue to be an example to the world with regards to religious
tolerance, understanding and as we move forward with the spirit of 1Malaysia and together we can
count on Malaysia to be a truly great nation that we can be proud of.

I wish all Buddhists a very very happy Wesak Day.

Selamat Hari Wesak

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