KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 (Sin Chew Daily) — The 59-year-old lecture hall of the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences in Universiti Malaya has been given a facelift, thanks to Fo Guang Shan Malaysia.

Both UM Vice Chancellor Datuk Abdul Rahim Hashim and Venerable Jue Cheng, Chief Abbess of Fo Guang Shan for Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, were at the launching ceremony on September 2 after the completion of the refurbishment.

The Fo Guang Shan education center under the Fo Guang Shan Malaysia collaborated with Universiti Malaya to set up a "Humanistic Buddhsim Research Center" in the faculty this March, the first humanistic Buddhism research center in an institution of higher learning in Malaysia.

As a renowned university built in early days, many buildings in Universiti Malaya are more than 50 years old. To offer a better learning environment for students, Fo Guang Shan has refurbished the lecture hall of the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

In his speech, Abdul Rahim thanked Fo Guang Shan Malaysia for giving the lecture hall a much needed facelift.

He said Universiti Malaya had been maintaining close ties with members of the public, adding that Fo Guang Shan's contribution was an evidence of good collaboration between the universiti and a third party organization.

Abdul Hashim said academic research carried out by the Humanistic Buddhism Research Center would be vital for the multiracial and multireligious Malaysian society.

"The research center will help enhance ties and better understanding among religions and ethnic groups," he said.

Ven Jue Cheng said Fo Guang Shan hoped the refurbished lecture hall would serve the students better.

She said Fo Guang Shan started with education as founder Master Hsing Yun set up a total of five universities in the world. Academic collaboration, cultural and religious interactions would be able to carry out between Universiti Malaysia and the five universities for researchers to exchange views. 

Upon the completion of refurbishing work, the Humanistic Buddhism Research Center will be established as the Chinese studies department of the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

Wong Tze Ken, dean of Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, thanked the support of Fo Guang Shan Malaysia.

He was impressed that the refurbishment only took three weeks to complete.

He said Fo Guang Shan's support had set a good example of supporting the university by an organization.

He was also grateful to the annual grant provided by Fo Guang Education Center.

"The support and collaboration have made interfaith dialogues among researchers possible. The grant can also be used for research in ties between the community in Malaysia and humanistic Buddhism," he said.