Dearly loved Friends,

As you read this message in the Nineteen Day Feast of Mulk, which means Dominion in Arabic, let us be reminded of the exhortation of Bahá’u'lláh to us to set our heart on His “eternal, imperishable dominion” and “forsake this mortal and fleeting sovereignty”, and to feel uplifted by His following assurance in The Hidden Words:

“O Son of Man! Thou art my Dominion and My Dominion perisheth not, wherefore fearest thou thy perishing?”

Five special days in our Bahá’í calendar are coming soon at the end of this month. These are the Intercalary days or Ayyam-i-Ha festival, which will start on the evening of 25 Feb until the sunset of 1 Mar 2012.

Bahá’u'lláh writes of this festival as follows:

“It behoveth the people of Baha, throughout these days, to provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord, to sing His praise and magnify His Name.”

We leave it to the friends to decide on how best to celebrate this festival as their coreligionists throughout the world usually do so with activities involving hospitality, gift giving, charity and social gatherings.

It has been nearly 4 years since the arrest in 2008 of all the members of a 7-member group, which was formed to look after the social and spiritual affairs of the friends in the Cradle of our Faith. Confined to prison since their arrest, their subsequent trial and sentencing have received international attention. So, too, was the imprisonment of another 7 Bahá’ís in 2011 for their involvement in providing university education to young people.

In view of the exemplary love and fortitude these believers have shown in the face of sufferings and persecution, we have issued a special letter to all local spiritual assemblies for them to share and update the friends regarding these steadfast and devoted believers.

Have a thoughtful Nineteen Day Feast as you pray for our brothers and sisters in the Cradle of our Faith.

With loving greetings,

Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Sarawak

(L-R, front) Tahirih Sabastian, Jeane Minggat, Vieviana Charlie, Sherida Sasah, (L-R, back) Irwin, Leroy Oddy Teo, Donny Dius and Shaba Suai at the 4-day Youth Pioneer Training Course held in the Sibu Baha’i Centre last Dec 2011. The training was conducted by Auxiliary Board member, Ms Geriti Katik, who is also the national coordinator for Sarawak. For a more detailed account of the training, please refer to the Sarawak Baha’i Newsletter, Issue 15, 19 Jan 2012. Except for Irwin, who is not able to pioneer, the rest are now at their pioneering posts.
Sherida and Jeane are now serving in Sumpak Sapek in the Serian Cluster, Leroy and Donny in Rumah Majau and Rumah Anchai in the Kemena Ulu Cluster, and Vivieana, Tahirih and Shaba in Rumah Kasau in the Nanga Ngungun resettlement scheme in the Kanowit Cluster.
Our prayers are with these youth pioneers. We wish them success, in their respective clusters, in ”shedding in some the first rays of the light of His Revelation and strenghtening in others the presence of the Faith, enabling all to progress quickly to the first milestone aong the path of development, or beyond“.

Members of the Malaysian Interfaith Network (MIN) led by Dr. John Fozdar (5th right), a prominent Baha’i in Sarawak, at the Christmas Open House of Archbishop John Ha (4th left) of the Sarawak Catholic Church in Kuching on 25 Dec 2011. Also present were Archbishop Emeritus Dato Sri Peter Chung (2nd left) and members of the Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh faiths in Kuching. The group later also visited the Christmas Open House of the Rt. Revd. Datuk Bolly Lapok, Head of the Anglican Church in Sarawak.

“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” goes the first line of Rudyard Kipling’s famous ballad. Well, the twain did meet and even got married. The “twain” here in the photograph are Amy Lim (2nd right) of “East” Malaysia and Leroy Ramanaidu (1st right) of “West” Malaysia, with their friends (L-R) Valerie Lim and Lawrence Sim, and Leroy’s family members, Sanjay, Mrs Ramanaidu and Sugata. The Baha’i wedding was held at the Baha’i Centre in Kota Kinabalu on 5 Jan, 2012, followed by a lunch reception at a beautiful resort on 8 Jan, 2012.  A dinner reception to celebrate the auspicious event was also held in Kuching on 14 Jan. We wish the newly-weds the best and that they will have many “brilliant stars” in the coming years. May their marriage be, as Baha’u'llah has described about matrimony, “a fortress of well-being and salvation“.

Dearly loved Friends,

As you read this message in the Nineteen Day Feast of Sultan, which means Sovereignty in Arabic, the following exhortation of Bahá’u'lláh to His followers is a timely reminder to the friends on how we, as Baha’is, should act towards people in authority:

“It is incumbent upon everyone to aid those daysprings of authority and sources of command who are adorned with the ornament of equity and justice. Blessed are the rulers and the learned among the people of Baha. They are My trustees among My servants and the manifestations of My commandments amidst My people.”
How time passes! We are now already nearing the end of Jan 2012, and the time for the holding of the annual unit conventions is upon us again. In our message to the friends attending any one of the 19 unit conventions, one for each electoral unit, which will be held in the coming weeks, we have urged them to focus their mind, during their consultation at their respective conventions, on the explicit aim of the current Five year Plan, namely, advancing the process of entry by troops.

A total of 38 delegates, to be elected by adult Baha’is in the coming unit conventions, will attend the annual National Convention to be held this coming Ridvan, where they will play the role of electing the 9 members of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Sarawak, the highest administrative body for the Baha’i community of Sarawak. As electors of membership of this body, the delegates play a very important role indeed!

Likewise, each and every adult Baha’i also plays a very important role in his/her respective unit convention as he/she will elect the delegate(s) from his/her electoral unit. Therefore, when the date and venue for the unit convention for an electoral unit have been fixed, all adult Baha’is in that unit should make great effort to attend and complete the important task of electing their delegate(s).

It behooves us to again stress to the friends the spiritual character of Baha’i election, where nomination and canvassing are not allowed. “Any form of intrigue, deception, collusion and compulsion must be stopped and is forbidden,” so stated our beloved Guardian in a letter to a Local Spiritual Assembly. In another letter, the Guardian called on the friends to “turn completely to God, and with a purity of motive, a freedom of spirit and a sanctity of heart, participate in the elections.”

As the friends consider whom they should vote as delegates, we will end this message by asking the friends who will be casting their ballots to bear in mind the advice of our beloved Guardian to the chosen delegates of a Baha’i Convention to “consider without the least trace of passion and prejudice, and irrespective of any material consideration, the names of only those who can best combine the necessary qualities of unquestioned loyalty, of selfless devotion, of a well-trained mind, of recognized ability and mature experience…”
Have an enjoyable Nineteen Day Feast!

With loving greetings,
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Sarawak