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17

The Nine Year Plan, 1964 -1973


      In the original Nine Year Plan given to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of North East Asia by the Universal House of Justice, several goals were assigned regarding Taiwan: to establish a National Spiritual Assembly and incorporate it; to raise the number of localities where Bahá'ís reside to thirty; to increase the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies to nine; to acquire a National Endowment and a National Hazíratu'l-Quds; to incorporate three Local Spiritual Assemblies; to obtain recognition from the civil authorities of the Bahá'í Marriage Certificate; and to acquire a Temple site in or near Taipei.

      When the National Spiritual Assembly of Taiwan was elected in 1967, the unaccomplished goals were passed on to the new Assembly, and more were included. They did eventually accomplish all the goals of the Nine Year Plan.

      In 1964 statistics given out for Taiwan were: two Local Spiritual Assemblies and seven groups.

      1965 started out auspiciously with the enrollment of Miss Hung Bao-fung, who was a friend of Miss Jean Cheng. Miss Hung was the first declared believer in Kaohsiung according to Mr. Suleimani.

      A report was sent to the National Assembly in Tokyo in April of that year stating that the Taiwan Bahá'í community now consisted of about one hundred believers residing in 25 localities; a considerable advance over the previous year.

      Teaching Conferences and Summer Schools seem to have been held every year since they began in 1956 and 1957 respectively. In 1965 a Summer School was held in both Tainan and Hualien for the convenience of the friends. There were many new Bahá'ís in Hualien who needed deepening.

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18

Appointment of the National Administrative
Committee and Further Advances


      In June 1965 a large committee called the National Administrative Committee was appointed for Taiwan. It would handle the activities of the Faith in Taiwan, which included taking charge of translations and publishing, planning teaching activities, planning a summer school, establishing a news bulletin and other duties. It was felt that Taiwan was far from Tokyo and as Taiwan would have its own National Assembly in a few years, such a committee would be very effective in handling the advancement of the Faith in that important area. The members were from among the most active Bahá'ís on the island. Similar administrative committees were appointed in Korea and Hong Kong a few years before their National Assemblies were elected.

      During 1965 teaching seemed to pick up considerably. Many youth came into the Faith that summer. According to some of the reports received during the month of April there were ten youth and six adult enrollments; in May eleven youth and four adults; in June thirty-eight youth and thirty-nine adults; in July twenty-nine youth and thirty-five adults; in August twelve youth and twenty-eight adults. The pace kept up. From April 1965 to April 1966 enrollments reached more than four hundred; about half youth and half adults. There were still two Local Spiritual Assemblies, twenty-six groups, and thirteen isolated localities, a total of forty-one localities. Mr. John Huston and Mrs. Orpha Daugherty took the Faith to two indigenous tribes, the Ami and the Taroko, resulting in many declarations.

      Part of this expansion was due to more pioneers such as Mr. Huston, who spoke Chinese, and Mr. Charles Duncan, who the previous year had been appointed Auxiliary Board Member by Hand of the Cause Miss Alexander. Mr. Duncan was a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh for first pioneering to Brunei in 1954. Auxiliary Board Member Orpha Daugherty, a pioneer to the Philippines, also came to Taiwan to help with the teaching. Mrs. Daugherty was a warm, caring person who pioneered successfully in several countries in Asia. It is recorded that she gave a talk at International House for the Naw-Rúz Celebration, with fifty people attending. It had been announced in the English-language newspaper. In July of that year Mr. G.V. Tehrani, pioneer to Japan, visited Taiwan for three weeks, going to seven different places for teaching.

      Mrs. Abbie Maag moved to Taipei that year. Mr. and Mrs. Dale Enger pioneered in Taiwan 1963/1964; Dr. and Mrs. Sidney Dean 1966/1967; Mrs. Mehri Molin helped the community very much from 1968 on. There were also others. Mr. Duncan said the sudden expansion of the Faith could not have happened but for the willingness of the Chinese Bahá'ís to go with the pioneers and translate for them. The

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      Chinese also learned more about teaching the Faith. Mr. Duncan left Taiwan in 1967 to pioneer to Korea.

      Mr. Yankee Leong, the first Bahá'í in Malaysia, and Auxiliary Board Member Mr. Leong Tat Chee from Malaysia came to Taiwan in 1965. They could only stay two weeks due to visa problems. They were to come back in the future with great results.
     
      In October 1965 Dr. Muhajir met with the National Administrative Committee and talked about teaching, deepening, gifts of books to schools, libraries and prisons, putting ads in the newspapers, and having correspondence courses. The committee made plans to go ahead with his ideas.



      Mr. Yankee Leong, Miss Len Yuk Hua and Mr. Charles Duncan. Miss Len was a dancer belonging to the Ami tribe. She had just accepted the Faith. The photo was taken in Hualien, summer of 1966.

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      Dr. Muhajir had suggested that the community have a two-day Regional Teaching Conference. It was held in December 1965 in Taipei with representatives from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia. About twenty-five people attended the sessions. According to a report sent by Mrs. Bernice Wood, who represented Hong Kong, Mr. Chu spoke about the Faith in China, Mr. John McHenry spoke about Korea and Mr. Tsao Kai-min gave a talk on religions in the Far East. The final evening was devoted to a public meeting. It was well advertised in English-language and Chinese-language newspapers. There were about fifty guests. Miss Wood said there was a Chinese man who had found a book about the Faith in a book shop but he didn't know how to contact the Bahá'ís until he read about the meeting in the newspaper. After hearing a moving (translated) talk by Mr. Marangella, the man, with tears in his eyes, wanted to declare his Faith immediately.

      In October of that year a memorial service was held in Taipei for Mr. Jason Yeh (Yeh Chin-hsing), the first Bahá'í to die in Taiwan.

      Mr. Duncan wrote an account of Mr. Yeh's illness in an Auxiliary Board Member report to Hand of the Cause Miss Alexander. With Mr. Duncan's permission we are repeating it here.

      Mr. Duncan received a telephone call from Mrs. Liu, a non-Bahá'í friend of John Huston. Mr. Huston was not in town so she spoke to Mr. Duncan. She said she and her husband had a friend, Mr. Yeh, who had kidney cancer and was not expected to live more than a few weeks. He was worried about the condition of his soul after death. He had studied Christianity but thought it was too exclusive. He did not believe in the superstitions of Buddhism so Mrs. Liu told him about the Bahá'í Faith although she herself had not become a Bahá'í. Mr. Yeh wanted to know more about the Faith and that was why she had telephoned.

      Mr. Duncan visited Mr. Yeh every day. On the second day Mr. Yeh signed his enrollment card. The next day his wife became a Bahá'í and two days later, his brother declared. Mr. Yeh's wife said to Mrs. Liu, "We have always been such good friends and have done everything together but now something is separating us. Why don't you become a Bahá'í?" The next day Mrs. Liu declared her Faith and started telling her friends about it.

      Mr. Duncan said he often recited the long Healing Prayer for Mr. Yeh. Mr. Yeh was assured of life to come and although he had some fears about dying, he was greatly comforted. He died a few weeks later.

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19

1966


      During Ridván in 1966 two more Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed, in Hualian and Pingtung, making a total of four. By December of that year, due to diligent teaching there were twenty-seven groups, sixteen isolated centers, making a total of forty-seven localities. Total number of believers was four hundred eighty-eight which included both adults and youth.

      That year, in October, the Trustee of the Huqúqu'lláh. Hand of the Cause Mr. Varqá, appointed Mr. Suleimani as the representative of the Trustee for the Huqúqu'lláh in the Far East and the Pacific. The Law of Huqúqu'lláh was not generally applied at that time, but according to Mr. Varqá there were some among the Persians who observed it.

(click for larger picture)
      The Local Spiritual Assemblies of Pingtung and Hualien, elected in 1966, were the third and fourth Local Assemblies to be elected in Taiwan. Shown here is the first Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Pingtung.

      Seated: Mrs. Wu Ping-chen, Mr. Chung Ching-tan, Mr. Wu Ping-chen, Mr. Wu Wen-jen, and Mr. Lee Liang-tung. Standing. Mr. Wang Ching-ian, Mr. Chiu Chung-shao, Mr. Huang Hai-tan and Mr. Wen Lung-fui.

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      There were many visitors that year, among them Hands of the Cause Mr. Featherstone, Dr. Muhajir and Mr. Samandari. Mr. Featherstone visited Taiwan for the first time in May 1966, for one week. Each day he went to one or two different Centers throughout the island, including Taipei, Tainan, Keelung, Pingtung and Hualien accompanied by Mr. Wang Tseng-min. Mr. Featherstone also attended a special session of the National Administrative Committee at Taipei.

      He visited Taiwan at other times, also. In 1972 during a visit he presented Bahá'í literature to Mr. Henry Kao, Mayor of Taipei.

(click for larger picture)

Hand of the Cause Mr. Featherstone, seated far left, visits the Pingtung Bahá'í community in 1966.

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(click for larger picture)
      Hand of the Cause Mr. Featherstone in Taipei in 1966. Seated: in the middle, Mrs. Suleimani, next to her is Mrs. Abbie Maag, who was pioneering in Taipei. Standing: second from the left is Dr. Soraya who was an Auxiliary Board Member from Indonesia, Mr. Suleimani and Auxiliary Board Member Mr. Charles Duncan. Mr. Featherstone is fourth from the right and Mr. John Huston is second from the right. Unfortunately we cannot identify the Chinese friends.
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(click for larger picture)
      This picture of Mr. Featherstone, standing far right, and other friends, was probably taken in 1972 when he visited Hualien.

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20

Hand of the Cause
Mr. Tarázu'lláh Samandari


      Mr. Samandari arrived in Taiwan October 25, 1966, accompanied by Auxiliary Board Member Mr. Rouhollah Mumtazi. Mr. Suleimani described it as a unique experience for everyone as his presence linked them with the early days of the Faith. Mr. Samandari at age sixteen had attained the Presence of Bahá'u'lláh. He spent the first six days in Taipei and met with the Local Spiritual Assembly and with the National Administrative Committee.

      One of the problems in Taiwan was the Chinese written characters used for the word "Bahá'í" and other words associated with the Faith. During meetings with Mr. Samandari the National Administrative Committee came to some permanent solutions to the problem.

      Frequent meetings with the friends were scheduled for Mr. Samandari, including one in Mr. Mark Lin's (Lin Fang-nan) house in Hsing-Tien. The Hand of the

(click for larger picture)

Hand of the Cause Mr. Tarázu'lláh Samandari on a visit to the Tainan Bahá'í Center in 1966.

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Cause spent several days in Tainan, staying at the Bahá'í Center. He met with the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tainan and accompanied by three friends he visited Pingtung and met with the Local Spiritual Assembly, and then continued on to the village of Lung-chi to see the Bahá'ís.

      Back in Taipei a public meeting was held for Mr. Samandari with forty people attending. He spoke on the necessity of Divine Education. Then to Hualien, where he met with members of the Local Spiritual Assembly. He left for Hong Kong on the 11th of November.

      The Bahá'ís in Taiwan felt that the visit of Mr. Samandari created a new spirit and that the friends would serve the Cause of God with renewed dedication.

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