sarawakbahai.org

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.

There were 218 people participating in the children’s festival 2004; a total of 70 children, 75 junior youths, 16 youths and 57 adults out of which about 60 were unexpected turn-ups. We are very happy to have quite a large number of seekers among our participants. About 15 children, 20 junior youths and 2 parents were seekers.Programmes were catered for 3 groups, the children, the junior youths and the parents.

The junior youths were sub-divided into about 10 persons per group for workshops and performance. Lee Yih Ven and Kenneth Jampang were the main coordinators for the junior youth programmes and other facilitators for each sub-group were appointed to assist with their workshops and performance.

On 11 September 2004, a group of Kuching friends led by Dr. John Fozdar, a member of NSA Sarawak, visited Mr. Koh Sze Hock and his wife in Batu Kawa, a suburb of Kuching City.

“It was a very enjoyable meeting and the friends promised to keep in touch with Mr. Koh and his wife,” wrote Dr. John in a recent report on the visit.

“Mr. Koh was a young man in 1966 when we visited long houses along the Samarahan river and the first Bahá’í communities outside of Kapit and Limbang began to spring up. Kg. Turong, Betong Kanowit, Merang and a few others were among the first to have believers,” he said.

Today, an interfaith delegation comprising of members of the Muslim Faith, the Anglican church and Roman Catholic church, the Kuching Buddhist Association, the Hindu Temple Association and Sri Mahamariamman Temple, the Sikh Temple Association and the Bahá’í Faith paid a courtesy call on His Excellency, the Governor of Sarawak.

HAIFA, Israel, 11 February 2004 (BWNS) — The Baha’i International Community today launched a Web site presenting the design of the Baha’i House of Worship to be constructed in Chile. The site is located at http://temple.cl.bahai.org.
The site, in both Spanish and English, features an animated tour, a slide show and “fly-through” of the Temple, accompanied by text.

Canadian architecture firm Hariri Pontarini Architects received approval by the Universal House of Justice to develop its competition-winning scheme for the Temple in the environs of Chile’s principal city, Santiago.

BULAC, Philippines, 29 November 2002 (BWNS) — In a festive celebration featuring prayers, speeches, music and dance performances, and a “barrio fiesta” atmosphere, the Baha’i community of the Philippines officially inaugurated its new radio station on 26 November 2002.

Located in a rural district about 30 kilometers from the city of San Jose on the main island of Luzon, the station will feature programs designed to promote social and economic development in the community at large. It will also serve the Baha’i community in the region with programming designed to promote moral, spiritual, and human resource development.

Friends, the NBYC of Sarawak is working on a big programme for the upcoming school holiday. There will be Ruhi courses for youths all over Sarawak. We know that our youth do not have much money so the plan is to allow them to attend the courses in their own communities in rural areas. The NBYC has discussed with ATCs in several clusters regarding the programme. Clusters that have confirmed they will be organising a programme are Serian, Lundu, Sebuyau and Simunjan. We are contacting ATCs in other clusters such as Sibu, Niah, Bakong and Limbang to study how we can collaborate.

The President of the Republic of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, and his family visited the Baha’i House of Worship here on 29 October. He was the first head of state to visit the famous “Lotus Temple,” as the House of Worship is popularly known, during an official state visit.

The President was accompanied by a delegation of about 30 Icelandic dignitaries, including the Foreign Minister, Haldor Asgrimmson, and his wife. They were met by the Secretary-General of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of India, Ramnik Shah, the General Manager of the House of Worship, Shahin Javid, and a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Asia, Zena Sorabjee.