KUALA LUMPUR: The Lunar New Year open house celebrations has offered Malaysians an opportunity to meet and greet with national leaders.
Pharmacist Sujayah Suthandiram said attending the open house was a tradition by her father who would take her to the celebration to meet with the country's leaders.
The 35-year-old came to the Gerakan Chinese New Year open house with her four-year-old daughter and her parents.
"This is my first time attending the Gerakan open house. When I was younger, my father used to bring me to MCA open houses so that I can meet with the ministers.
"My daughter is four now so I want her to learn about our culture and experience the festive occasion as what I have gone through when I was young," she said.
Sujayah who earlier went to the MCA open house at their headquarters in Jalan Ampang, said she was overwhelmed to be given the opportunity to get together with Malaysians from all ethnicities at the event.
"It is very nice and welcoming, you see lots of people from different ethnicities and even foreigners here today.
"We also managed to meet and shake hands with our prime minister, his deputy and our health minister," she said.
It was a rare opportunity for a Pakistani tourist, who only wished to be known as Aleem, who came to catch a glimpse of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
"I wanted to meet the Prime Minister but I missed the opportunity, as there was slight traffic getting here. I did, however, get to sample the various dishes.
"This is the first time I've attended such a celebration and it is nice to see so many people coming together," the 28-year-old said, who came with 14 other friends.
As for Fatimah Yeop Yahaya, the joyful event was an opportunity for her to meet people from various facets of society.
"I wanted to feel the camaraderie. I used to feel it when I lived in Ipoh, Perak because we will normally visit our friends' houses during the Deepavali and Chinese New Year celebrations.
"This is the time where we can see people from all walks of life meet and gather to celebrate this occasion," she said.
The open houses were organised by MCA and Gerakan, and were attended by the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and other Barisan Nasional leaders.