Source: New Straights Times, The Star, and Malaysian Buddhist Association. The secretary-general of the Malaysian Buddhist Association (MBA), Lim Then Pong, confirmed that the MBA had recommended to the Malaysian government to gazette May 1, 2007, as a public holiday for Wesak Day,as it conformed to a resolution on the matter passed by the World Buddhists Conference in 1950 in Sri Lanka. Note, however, that as May 1st is already a public holiday, Wesak Day will be observed as a public holiday on May 2, 2007, in Malaysia. Meanwhile, neighboring Singapore will observe Vesak Day, 30 days later, on May 31st, 2007.Analysis: The discrepancy that exists in some years between the Singapore and Malaysia dates for Wesak, dates back from 1946 when talks began in Malaysia to include Wesak as a public holiday in Malaysia. The Chinese Buddhists wanted to celebrate the occasion on the 8th Day of the Chinese 4th Moon, but the southern Buddhists (Sinhalese, Siamese and Burmese) insisted on the "orthodox" day i.e. the Wesak Full Moon Day, as observed, for example in Sri Lanka. Wesak, as defined in southern Buddhist countries cannot occur outside the month of May (in fact it cannot even occur on the 31st of May), while the calculation method used in Singapore does sometimes lead to occurrences of Vesak in June (it was observed on June 2, 2004, for example).
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