October 25. On this date in 1949, Shoghi Effendi wrote Henk Buys, stating "It would be a wonderful service to the Faith if you can find some way of having the book Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era translated into Malay" and "As Mr. Remey is a very charming and cultivated man he could be introduced to your circle of friends and give them lectures on the Cause in a way that would not savour of any propaganda, but rather seem a privilege to those who met him."

 

October 25. On this date in 1949, Shoghi Effendi wrote Henk Buys, stating "It would be a wonderful service to the Faith if you can find some way of having the book Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era translated into Malay" and "As Mr. Remey is a very charming and cultivated man he could be introduced to your circle of friends and give them lectures on the Cause in a way that would not savour of any propaganda, but rather seem a privilege to those who met him."

40: Henk Buys, 25 October 1949

Dear Bahá’í Brother:[81]

Our beloved Guardian was very happy to receive your letter of October 2, and also to hear you are going out to Indonesia.

You can do an immense lot of good for the Faith there by teaching people whom you find open-minded and receptive to the wonderful message of Bahá’u’lláh.

He urges you to get in touch with:

Mr, Rustam Sabet, P.O. Box 19, New Delhi, India, who is the secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pakistan and Burma. There is already one pioneer from India in Indonesia, and if you can see him, or write to him, after obtaining from Mr. Sabet his address, your cooperation would be very useful, as of course this believer is of oriental background,[82]

It would be a wonderful service to the Faith if you can find some way of having the book Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era translated into Malay.

It is wonderful to think that whereas a few months ago there were no Bahá’ís in Indonesia, there will now be three, two from Holland and one from India.[83] God truly moves in mysterious ways to carry His Faith to suffering humanity!

It is just possible that Mr. Charles Mason Remey may be able to visit, on his world tour, Indonesia. Mr. Sabet can inform you of this. As Mr. Remey is a very charming and cultivated man he could be introduced to your circle of friends and give them lectures on the Cause in a way that would not savour of any propaganda, but rather seem a privilege to those who met him.

The Guardian assures you of his prayers for the success of your work out there, and also for dear Mrs. Buys.[84]

With warmest greetings, R. Rabbání

P.S. In view of the great importance of having some literature in Malay the Guardian urges you, and the other two pioneers out there, to make every effort to have at least a small pamphlet translated and printed as soon as possible. He would like to receive some copies of this for the Bahá’í libraries in Haifa and Bahjí as soon as they are available.

May the Almighty bless richly your efforts in the new field opening before you, remove all obstacles from your path, and aid you to lay a strong and unassailable foundation for the institutions of His Faith, your true brother, Shoghi

[81] Henk and Marie Buys became Bahá’ís in Amsterdam in 1949. See also letter 23 November 1947. That same year, Buys informed the Guardian that he intended to return to the East Indies. Times had changed however. Right after the end of World War II, nationalists had declared the East Indies to be the Republic of Indonesia, but since the Dutch colonial power had not recognized this, a period of unrest, chaos and military confrontation had started. The colony was granted full independence in December 1949. Buys arrived there that same month.

[82] Apart from this Indian pioneer of Iranian background, Grosfeld also still lived in Java. See letter 29 June 1936.

[83] Buys travelled together with Jan Piet de Borst. The latter was the youngest of three children of an Indonesian mother and a Dutch father. On 3 August 1947, during a meeting at the house of Straub in Rotterdam and in the presence of Edna and Corinne True, De Borst had become ‘the first new Bahá’í in Holland’. Buys and De Borst stayed in Indonesia until early 1953. In July 1951 Buys was one of the four Bahá’í representatives to the UN Non-Governmental Organizations Regional Conferences held in Den Pasar on the island of Bali. At that occasion the Guardian cabled: PRAYERS SURROUNDING YOU - SHOGHI.[84] Because of the unstable political situation Marie Buys and De Borst’s fiancee remained in Holland.