G. Saurajen

G. Saurajen

G. Saurajen was a Malaysian Bahá’í who was the first Bahá’í of Malacca. He helped establish the Bahá’í community of Malacca but later left the religion.

Biography

Saurajen lived in Malacca where he was a teacher at Malacca High School as of the early 1950's. He was introduced to the Bahá’í Faith by Shirin Fozdar and became a Bahá’í around 1954, initially regarding it as a peace movement. He later received Bahá’í literature learning that it was a religion and accepted it on those grounds. Shortly after declaring he arranged for Shirin to speak at the High School, and while his wife, Lena, was initially opposed to the new religion she declared around 1955.

When the Local Spiritual Assembly of Malacca was established in 1955 both Saurajen and his wife were elected to it, and by 1957 many members of his extended family including both his daughters and his sister-in-law had become Bahá’ís. As of 1957 he was assisting with running Bahá’í youth classes in Malacca, and as of 1958 his home was serving as the cities Bahá’í Center with the first Bahá’í wedding in the city being held in his home that year.

In 1958 Saurajen was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Southeast Asia, however in 1960 a misunderstanding occurred between Saurajen and other Bahá’ís resulting in his entire family becoming alienated from the community. Saurajen and some of his close associates became increasingly hostile towards the Bahá’ís as a result and in 1962 the National Spiritual Assembly of Southeast Asia removed his voting rights.

Saurajen ultimately formally resigned from the Bahá’í Faith becoming a Christian and when he passed he was buried with a Christian funeral.