BLIA SNZ Sub-chapter Presidential Election
This year’s Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island New Zealand sub-chapter presidential election was held on the 25th of September at the South Island Fo Guang Shan (FGS) temple. BLIA South Island New Zealand President See Shen Lee led the event, and was joined by Vice Presidents Elsa Lee, Louisa Kuo and James Low, other commitee directors and members making up about 30 people, joined as well by temple supervisor Venerable Jue Xi.
The electoral seats were divided into three sub-chapters, namely: the North one sub-chapter, West one sub-chapter, as well as the English sub-chapter. After counting all of the voters’ votes, the person with the highest and second highest number of votes are designated as the President and Vice-President of the sub-chapter respectively. After much discussions and tallying of the results, we have Lu ping Bi and Mei-Hwa Chen for the North one sub-chapter; Louisa Kuo and Heidi Lee for the West one sub-chapter; Sally Lim and Jessie Teo for the English sub-chapter (the former being the President and the latter being the Vice President).
BLIA South Island New Zealand President See Shen Lee thanked everyone for participating, and congratulated the newly elected sub-chapter leaders. Also, she announced the creation of the “Working bees” group, to be led by Bernie. It is hoped that all the leaders will guide their members to finish tasks within their domains, and that they will also play a proactive part in taking up roles during activities to help the temple.
Venerable Jue Xi said that the sub-chapter’s presidential seats are held by more experienced personnel this time, giving rise to an old mentor-young apprentice model, so that the more experienced can mentor the next generation’s leaders. In other news, Venerable Jue Xi also announced that the Sunday Buddhism Classes will commence on the 23rd of October, and it is hoped that all interested members will eagerly sign up to it. Other than that, there is also the Coffee Book Club where group leaders will be facilitating discussions around Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s “Humanistic Buddhism – Holding True to the Original Intents of Buddha”. Finally, Venerable Jue Xi wishes that everyone will take an active interest in the upcoming Annual General Meeting on the 2nd of October.