Brunei

Brunei
Location of Brunei
National Assembly		Brunei
Statistics:
Total Population
-	UN 2021	445,373
Bahá'í pop.
-	Bahá'í source
-	Non-Bahá'í source	219
Related media
Categories: Brunei • People

The Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith had requested Jamshed Fozdar, the eldest son of Dr. K. M. Fozdar and Shirin Fozdar to establish the Faith in Sarawak. At that time Jamshed Fozdar was holding an appointment by the government of India in Washington D.C. as Electronic Engineer. Obeying the Guardian Jamshed Fozdar left the job and arrived in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak on 23 May 1951, an important day that commemorates the anniversary of the declaration of the Bab. His wife Parvati and their two-year-old son, Vijay joined him later on 26 June 1951.

However, when Jamshed arrived in Sarawak he could not find a suitable job there. He took up the matter with the Guardian who advised him to teach in Brunei and North Borneo (presently Sabah). He taught to some people in some towns in these places. As he could not find job there too, he returned to Kuching. In Kuching he obtained employment with an Australian import-export firm. Therefore the first to have mentioned the Faith in Brunei was Jamshed Fozdar, in 1951.

In 1954, Charles Duncan, an African American Bahá’í pioneer, and another pioneer by the name of Harry Clark pioneered to Sabah and Labuan under the Ten Year Crusade. In the same year they went over to Brunei. It is not known how long they stayed, or the result.

Meanwhile during the Inter Continental Conference in New Delhi, India in 1953, a call was made for pioneers to settle in Brunei. Dr John Fozdar who was working as a Medical Officer in Singapore at this time attended this important conference. Heeding to this call, Dr. John Fozdar pioneered to Brunei in 1954. Dr. Fozdar had to make a decision between pioneering to Brunei and furthering his studies abroad. But he decided to pioneet to Brunei and this won the love of the Guardian.

In 1955 Minoo Fozdar who is another son of Dr. K. M. Fozdar pioneered to Brunei to join Dr. John Fozdar there.

In the 1950s there were some visitors to Brunei, prominent among whom was Mrs. Mildred Mottahedeh. When Mrs. Mildred Mottahedeh, the Bahá’í representative in the United Nations was sent by the Guardian to visit several communities, she came to Brunei too in 1954.

In 1957 the first Local Spiritual Assembly was formed. Margery Lighthall, a pioneer from Laos, came to Brunei in 1958. (She married Minoo and they remained in Brunei till 1970.)

Meanwhile in 1957 Dr. John Fozdar left for the United Kingdom to further his studies in medicine. He returned to Brunei in 1959. In January and February 1960 Margaret Kelly Bates came from Cocos Island and stayed in the house of Dr. John Fozdar in Brunei. When the National Spiritual Assembly of Malaysia was elected in 1964, Brunei was placed under this institution. In 1966 a separate National Spiritual Assembly was formed for Brunei.

See also

• All articles about Brunei

References

• Manisegaran, A. (2003). Jewel Among Nations - An account of the early days of the Bahá’í Faith in West Malaysia. Malaysia: Splendour Publications. ISBN 983-51419-0-9. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)