Thomas Tan
The newly registered Federation of Petaling Jaya Chinese Associations (FPJCA) hosted a Chinese New Year celebration dinner at the convention hall of SJK (C) Yuk Chai, Taman Mayang in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, 11th February, 2012.
The dinner saw more than 800 guests, including political leaders from opposing sides shook hands and sat on the same dining tables, forgetting their differences and sharing the festive cheer together.
Among the VIPs present were Deputy Finance Minister Dato’ Donald Lim Siang Chai, Petaling Jaya Utara (PJU) MP Tony Pua, Petaling Jaya Selatan (PJS) MP Hee Loy Sian, Kampung Tunku state assemblyman Lau Weng San and MBPJ councillor Tiew Way Keng.
A 9-course Chinese cuisine was served and local songstress provided the entertainment by belting out popular Chinese New Year songs.
The “Choy San Yeh” or God of Prosperity went around from tables to tables to distribute ang pow to all the guests present including the VIPs.
The guests gave a loud applause when it was announced that Dato’ Donald Lim Siang Chai, adviser to the Federation made a donation of RM20,000 to the federation.
Federation president Dato’ SC Wong and committee members including the VIPs went up on stage to ask everyone to raise their glasses to toast together for a prosperous new year.
Speaking at the dinner, Kampung Tunku state assemblyman Lau Weng San urged the federal government to lift the deadline for the people to apply as well as to appeal for the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) or 1Malaysia People’s Aid program as a lot of people were facing difficulties in beating the deadline.
Lau said the federal government should also provide more aid to the people and not only doing that once every four or five years when the general election is around the corner.
“It should emulate the Selangor state government whereby all its programmes are opened year long without any deadline,” added Lau.
Under the BR1M aid, a one-off payment of RM500 cash is given to eligible housholds earning monthly income of RM3,000 or less. The closing date for application has been extended to 10th Feb which is now closed whilst the appeal date for unsuccessful applicants has been extended till 15th March.
On the Federation, Lau said: “The Federation of Petaling Jaya Chinese Associations is now formally registered and has a bigger role to play not only in promoting unity among Chinese in Petaling Jaya but also to promote Chinese culture and heritage in Petaling Jaya.”
“The Jalan Sultan Heritage Protection campaign led by Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall is a good example on how a Chinese-based NGO works to preserve and protect cultural heritage in Jalan Sultan.”
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