Kuching Regional Conference

More than 1,320 followers of the Baha’i Faith, gathered in Kuching, the state capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, for a 2-day regional conference that started on 20 Dec, 2008.

The gathering is one of the 41 similar regional conferences held, being held or will be held throughout the Baha’i world between November 2008 to March 2009. These conferences, starting with the first one held in Lusaka, Zambia in 1 Nov 2008 and will end with the last one in Kiev, Ukraine on 1 March 2009, were called by the Universal House of Justice, the world governing body of the worldwide Baha’i communities, to provide the opportunity for the Baha’is to celebrate the feats already achieved during the first half of their current Five Year Plan and to deliberate on its current exigencies.

Among the distinguished guests in the Kuching gathering were two representatives of the Universal House of Justice, namely, Mrs. Zenaida Ramirez and Dr. Ayman Rouhani, and fours members of the appointed Baha’i Board of Counsellors for Asia, namely, Mr. Foad Reyhani, Mr. George Soraya, Mrs. Lee Lee Ludher and Mr. Jayagopan Ramasamy.

Participants from outside Sarawak numbered 110 from Indonesia, 96 from the Malaysian state of Sabah, and a few from Brunei, Cambodia, Japan and Singapore. The biggest number of participants were from all the towns, villages and longhouses throughout Sarawak.

The conference programme included two workshops and a cultural evening. Altogether, 13 clusters were identified for possible launching of Intensive Programme of Growth before the end of April 2009.