Huge Turnout at Suai-Niah Cluster Teaching Conference

If number alone is to be the criteria to judge the success of a gathering, then the huge turnout at the just concluded Suai-Niah Cluster Teaching Conference is a huge success indeed!

More than 140 friends, young and old, veteran as well as new Baha’is, converged in Rumah Maxwell (formerly called Rh Libai) to attend a 2-day teaching conference that started at 1pm on Sat 10 Dec 2011 and ended about the same time the next day. The conference was one of the 5 cluster-level conferences held in Sarawak the past several weeks after the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Sarawak informed the friends in last Oct of its decision to have such conferences at cluster level, instead of holding a major one for the whole of Sarawak, after taking into account logistic considerations.

The participants were mainly from 5 clusters, namely, Bakong, Bintulu, Miri, Suai-Niah and Tatau. Representing the Spiritual Assembly in this conference were its three members, namely, Mr. K C Yong, Mrs Marilyn Lee and Mr. Robert Ting. In attendance, too, were Auxiliary Board members, Mr. Kalong Katik and Ms Leandra Alfred, as well as members of the Regional Baha’i Council North, namely, Mdm Ilam Langgoh, Mr. Nyawai Unsa and Riki Pindie.

Organized jointly by the Regional Baha’i Council North and the Area Growth Committee for Suai-Niah cluster, and with logistic support provided by the local spiritual assembly and the local community, the conference progressed smoothly without a hitch, right from the opening address by the NSA chairman on the first day until his closing address the following day.

In his opening address, the NSA chairman stated that the purpose of the conference was to keep the friends abreast of the on-goings in the Baha’i world, especially the current Five Year Plan, vis-à-vis the current turmoil in the outside world. Having seen how much better off the friends were materially compared to the old days, he remarked that it must be for this reason that the beloved Universal of Justice has invited the Sarawak Baha’i community as one of the 45 worldwide selected to participate in the international financial collaboration programme “to assist other national communities which have not been endowed materially to the same extent”. As such, he asked the friends to support this programme.

The conference proper started with a talk by the NSA chairman on “Organization and Growth of the Faith”. This is followed by a talk by ABM Kalong on “Our Role in the Five Year Plan”. After a short tea break, Robert Ting spoke about “Emphasis on Local Spiritual Assembly, Nineteen Day Feast and Devotional Meeting”.

After dinner, the conference resumed with a talk by Marilyn Lee on “Lifeblood of the Cause”, using “cerita” (stories) to drive home her points on the spiritual obligation of each and every Baha’i to contribute to the Fund as the privilege to contribute is only accorded to the believers and nobody else.

The evening of the first day ended with a social programme where friends from each cluster presented songs, dances, etc., before everyone retired for the night.

The next day started with a talk by ABM Kalong on “Extracts from the 28 December 2010 message from the Universal House of Justice”. The group then retreated to the official opening of the Baha’i Centre, which had just been renovated.

After tea break, the participants were grouped according to their respective clusters to discuss their coming activities and come up with plans which were later presented in a plenary session.

What followed were a talk by ABM Kalong on “Abdu’l-Baha – the Perfect Exemplar” and another one by Marilyn on Baha’i identity with respect to registration of birth certification and identity card, and Baha’i marriage. The subject on Baha’i marriage raised a lot of interest and request was made for a course on this to be held.

The conference, interspersed in between the talks on both days by a skit presentation on the power of confirmation as well as songs by the junior youth, ended with a closing remark by the NSA chairman.

In addition to having attained its purpose, the conference had also provided an atmosphere for great fellowship and camaraderie for the participants, especially the veteran Baha’is, as friends re-acquainted with one another after a long hiatus of big conferences like in the past.

“It is a joy to see old Baha’is, such as, Punggai and Unsa who were once great travelling teachers in their prime, at the conference,” said a participant, who added: “It is so uplifting to hear again Unsa chanting the ‘Refresh and gladden my spirit…’ prayer in his inimitable Iban pantun style.”

So, there is only one right way to describe this conference: “It is a huge success!”