Kuala lumpur: Residents are coming together, hands busy with lanterns, plum blossoms, and live plants, to transform the 600-year-old Swee Nyet Keung Temple into a vibrant, festive space ahead of the Chinese New Year celebrations.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the temple's decoration committee chair, Foo Mei Lin, said nearly RM10,000 was spent beautifying Kelantan's oldest temple, with locals starting the work a month ago. She mentioned that the funds came from local Chinese community collections and NGOs supporting the temple's beautification.

Foo Mei Lin noted that each year, Swee Nyet Keung Temple attracts Buddhists celebrating the New Year, with decorations typically put up a month beforehand. The decorations use gold, red, yellow, and pink to symbolise prosperity, festivity, and blessings for the year ahead.

Resident Chan Kim Lan, 64, shared that the decorations are still done daily by volunteers, with their close-knit community making task-sharing easy. She explained that residents who work during the day come to the temple at night to complete their tasks.

Lai Boon Hiong, 51, added that they are currently working on installing replicas as additional decorations for the temple. He stated that all the decorations must be new, so they are replacing the old ones for the Year of the Horse and expect everything to be ready before the Chinese New Year.