The Festival of the Nine Emperor Gods (Kew Ong Yah) is one of the most important celebrations observed at Taoist temples throughout Southeast Asia. It begins with a symbolic ritual to invite the nine deities into the temple. Over the next few days, worshippers stream into the temple to pray to the Emperor Gods for wealth and longevity, until these nine deities depart on the ninth day of the ninth month.
For the past 27 years, Minister K. Shanmugam has been taking part in the celebration organised by the Chong Pang Combined Temple. It has become one of the largest Kew Ong Yah celebrations in Singapore, drawing more than 3,000 devotees and onlookers from all over Singapore.
On 10th Oct 2015, he once again joined residents in their prayers to receive the gods at Sembawang Beach. The other MPs of Nee Soon GRC all joined in, except Louis Ng who happened to be away.