Lau (fifth right) with others during a Peace Lanterns handing over ceremony.
SIBU: For the first time in the history of Sibu YMCA, over 20 peace lanterns will be sent to Japan for participation in the Hiroshima Peace Lantern Floating Ceremony slated for Aug 6.
The peace lanterns were decorated and designed by students of SMK Sacred Heart, SMK St Elizabeth, SMK Luar Bandar and YMCA Kindergarten.
Sibu YMCA will collect the lanterns and send them to Hiroshima before July 17.
Receiving the lanterns from the participating schools yesterday, Sibu YMCA president Temenggong Dato Vincent Lau Lee Ming described the event as a meaningful one in line with YMCA International’s effort to promote global peace.
He said conflicts in some nations appeared never ceasing, but people elsewhere on the globe should not take the tragedy for granted.
“Another world war is possible if such conflicts are allowed to linger on,” he said, reiterating the need for people all over the world to help promote peace.
The Hiroshima Peace Lantern Floating Ceremony, Lau said, is a wonderful expression of people’s hope for peace.
“People here may not get close to the feelings compared to the people of Hiroshima who had truly experienced the tragedy of the atomic bomb and felt the trauma and the sadness,” he added.
Hiroshima was hit by an atomic bomb over half a century ago on Aug 6.
For that reason, the Peace Lantern Floating Ceremony is scheduled for Aug 6 to commemorate the occasion.
“In the evening on Aug 6, many people will gather at the riverside of Peace Park in Hiroshima carrying with them paper
lanterns decorated with paints, drawings, cut outs, poetry, writings and messages to express their hope and appeal for peace.
“When the sun sets, the peace lanterns will be illuminated by candles and placed in the river.
“And they will calmly drift past the Atomic Bomb Dome and as the night carries on, tens of thousands of Peace Lanterns will float in a long procession which is a very moving expression of people’s hope for peace,” Lau said.