Over 20,000 people attended the royal Aidilfitri celebration at Istana Besar in Johor Bahru, with guests queuing from early morning to meet the King and Queen.

JOHOR BAHRU: His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, and Her Majesty Raja Zarith Sofiah, Queen of Malaysia, hosted a grand Aidilfitri open house at Istana Besar here today.

They were accompanied by the Regent of Johor, Tunku Mahkota Ismail, and his consort Che’ Puan Mahkota Khaleeda Bustamam.

More than 20,000 people of various races attended the celebration, with members of the public beginning to queue outside the palace gates as early as 6.30 am.

Many arrived with their families to experience the festive celebration at the palace, which featured more than 17 food stalls.

The offerings included crowd favourites like ketupat, lemang, rendang and KFC, as well as various traditional kuih.

The Queen spent time personally greeting members of the public in attendance, accompanied by Tunku Mahkota Ismail and Che’ Puan Mahkota Khaleeda.

Most guests told Bernama they were excited to have the opportunity to meet members of the royal family.

Civil servant Zairi Karim, 42, said this was his fifth time attending the palace open house.

“I will still come because I want to meet our beloved royal family,” said the father of four.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia student Adamu Chiroma from Nigeria, dressed in full baju Melayu, said he was happy to celebrate in a foreign country.

“Today, the food is very good, and Malaysians are very generous,” he said.

Also present at the event were Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi and his wife Datin Sharmin Fazlina Mohd Shukor.

 The Sun Malaysia