KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 – The panda cub born to giant pandas Xing Xing and Liang Liang made her public debut for the first time at the National Zoo here on Tuesday. The panda cub born on Aug 18 was placed in a glass room from 2.30pm for public viewing.
Natural Resource and Environment Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the cub went on display three months after birth, and seems to be a huge draw for zoo visitors set to increase by 25 per cent. This moment was eagerly awaited by visitors and with various promotions conducted by the National Zoo definitely there’ll be an increase in visitors,” he said at a media session introducing the young giant panda here.
Wan Junaidi also announced the one-month competition date to name the panda cub starting from Nov 17 until Dec 17. He said people can participate in the competition by visiting the ministry’s official portal, and the conditions are, the name must have a beautiful meaning, must be original and be able to be translated in many languages.
Wan Junaidi said the decision of naming the giant panda will be announced after obtaining the consent of the two countries, China and Malaysia. The panda cub will be sent to back to China after two years of being here, while its parents will stay on for 10 years under the agreement between Malaysia and China. However, Xing Xing and Liang Liang arrived here from Beijing on May 21 last year as a symbol of 40 years of diplomatic relations between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.
