Malaysian Interfaith Network

Kuching: 22 June 2006:- This morning, the mayor of Kuching north, Datuk Chan Seng Hai held a reception for the members of various religions to formally receive the religious titles which had been presented to him on 5 May.

The Bahá’í Faith was represented by Michael Kho and myself. I was also representative for MIN – Malaysian Interfaith Network.

All the other representatives of the various religions were present, Datuk Putit Matzen (Islam), Mr. Goh Leng Chua (Buddhist), Mr. Ambrose Linang (secretary-general of Christian Churches of Sarawak), Mr. Santokh Singh (Sikhs), Kapitan Komurusamy (Hindu Sangham). I was very pleased to see Datuk Putit, because he came with only two days notice and joined in very well with all the other faiths.

The reception was held in the MBKS Library. The mayor stated that he was very happy to have this event and show inter-religious harmony in Sarawak. He then invited me to say a few words.

I remarked that this was history in the making because it is the first time that a municipal council in Malaysia has accepted to place religious books of all the faiths on display for the reading public.

There was a previous occasion when the State Library had a similar event. But this was a first for any municipal council.

I then proposed that the mayor could consider displaying a large banner giving the Golden Rule of all
religions in the MBKS building. He was favourable to this idea and agreed to display it in the library. I had two such large banners which I had purchased from KL and offered them to the library. I hope in the next few days, this will be effected and we will see the Faith mentioned with all the other religions also.

Datuk Putit then spoke and expressed his willingness to support such interfaith activities and that there are many ore books which they can offer. Representatives of ther faiths also said a few words. Michael Kho also spoke and mentioned progressive Bahá’í thoughts. The mayor then proposed a photo-session and we took pictures. He requested that I should present a few books to him. (they asked me to present the books in the photo because it was my initiative). There was a good turnout of reporters and many pictures were taken by the Press.

The mayor is leaving office, but he instructed the librarian to give us all support and co-operation in all
matters which may be brought up. He suggested that I could be the point person for interfaith collaboration in this library project. When Datuk Putit suggested that he would be nervous about all kinds of books presented to the library, he agreed that if book donations were made
directly to the library, they would inform me and I would then contact the religion involved and get their agreement. He said that there is a lot of seditious material concerning Islam being circulated.

It was a very enjoyable and fruitful event. I pray we will be able to follow up on this. It was very heartening to see the respect and cordiality shown to the Faith by all the other representatives.

Report by Dr. John Fozdar