Bahá'í Faith in the Asia Pacific:
Issues and Prospects

by Graham Hassall

Abstract: Bahá'í Communities in the diverse nations of the Pacific Islands have emerged in the four and a half decades since the launching of the World Crusade (1953-63). Being comparatively new, they have not always been accurately represented in the literature. While such Communities as Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga have grown rapidly, those in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands have for some reason remained small. To speak generally, however, Pacific Island Bahá'í Communities have established in their first four decades the most prominent public profiles within their countries of any Bahá'í Communities world-wide - apart perhaps from that of the Bahá'í Community in Iran. In recent years the emphasis has changed from simple models emphasising numeric expansion, to more developed ones that also consider issues of Community and Institutional Development. Pacific Island Bahá'ís are increasingly lending their expertise to the challenges of leadership, and the traditional roles of pioneers are consequently being reassessed and redefined. Despite ongoing challenges presented to these Communities by the forces of political confusion and social decline that are affecting all Pacific Islands' Societies, the Bahá'í Communities are uniquely positioned to act as a positive moral force in the decades immediately ahead. The message of the Universal House of Justice at BE 153 draws on these strengths, and is calling on Pacific Islands' Bahá'í Communities to undertake collaborative programs at regional as well as national and local levels. These calls are made in the context of a 'spiritual axis' which Shoghi Effendi said joins the Bahá'í Communities of the 'antipodes' and of 'Northeast Asia', and which incorporates too the more recent Communities that have emerged in the Pacific Islands.

At Ridvan 1996 the Universal House of Justice sent a message to the Bahá'í Communities in 25 'Pacific' countries.[2] The purpose of this paper is to place these Communities in cultural and historical context, and to highlight, however briefly, some of their current challenges. It is quite possible that some of these Bahá'í Communities have the most prominent public profiles within their countries of any Bahá'í Communities world-wide, apart from that of the Bahá'í Community in Iran, which is obviously well known to all Iranians. They are remote, and their unique physical environment is more ocean than landmass. Scattered among the Melanesian cultures of the Southwest Pacific (Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia), the Polynesian cultures to the east (Tonga, Samoa, and French Polynesia - Fiji is a mixture of Polynesian and Melanesian cultures), and the Micronesian cultures of the north (Kiribati, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, Caroline Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Belau and others), are 'Anglo-Pacific' cultures in Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii. Due to their remote location the diverse Island cultures were among the last to be influenced by 'modernisation'. But whereas they were colonised and missionized, and their contemporary social and political structures now reflect national constitutions and Christian values, the continuing strength of their cultural heritages has allowed these 'modern' societies to nonetheless retain vital elements of traditional (pre-Christian) values, beliefs, and practices.

Patterns of Expansion

Bahá'í communities were established in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Tahiti during the ministry of Abdu'l-Bahá. His Tablets of the Divine Plan listed eighteen island groups in the South, North and Eastern Pacific Islands. By 1953 Bahá'ís also resided in Fiji, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea. Soon after the commencement of the World Crusade in 1953 twenty-one pioneers to the region were named as Knights of Bahá'u'lláh.[3] The first Local Spiritual Assemblies (LSAs) were established in the metropolitan centers: in Suva in 1950, Rarotonga in 1956, Honiara and Apia in 1957, Nuku'alofa in 1958, Port Vila in 1960, and Noumea in 1962 (an Assembly established in Papeete in 1958 was not sustained in the early years). By April 1957 there were over 100 Bahá'í centres in the Australia and New Zealand, and a further 210 in the Pacific.[4] The Regional Spiritual Assembly of the South Pacific was established in 1959 with jurisdiction over 10 island groups. By 1963 there were thirty-six LSAs, 127 localities, and some 1,550 Bahá'ís in the South Pacific (800 of whom were in the Solomon Islands).[5]

During the Nine Year Plan (1964-1973) the number of territories open to the Faith in Australasia increased to 33, and the number of National Assemblies to 11. The Regional Spiritual Assembly of the South Pacific Islands evolved in 1964 into the Regional Assemblies of the South West Pacific Ocean (Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Loyalty Is, New Hebrides), and the South Pacific Ocean (Fiji, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Nauru). Individual National Assemblies emerged from these Regional bodies between 1967 and 1985.[6] By 1988 there were 730 LSAs in Australasia and a total of 2,866 localities. Although official figures have not been published, David Barrett's "World Religious Statistics" in the 1988 Britannica Book of the Year (1988, p.303), enumerates 59,000 Bahá'ís in Oceania. Now among the significant religious communities in the Pacific, Bahá'í activities make occasional appearances in Pacific Islands' literature, although they are not often themselves the focus of any individual study.[7]

In some Pacific nations Bahá'í Communities emerged rapidly, while in a much lesser number growth has been negligible. In the nations that experienced rapid growth the first developments were often sudden and dramatic, and were accompanied by degrees of misunderstanding on the part of government officials as well as persecution on the part of Christian missionaries anxious at the loss of key adherents. Such commentators as anthropologists, missionaries and administrators familiar only with traditional Christian approaches to 'mission' had trouble accounting for the appeal of the Bahá'í message, and for its rapid transmission in the absence of trained missionaries and mission stations, schools, hospitals, and transportation networks. Occasionally Pacific Bahá'í communities were judged ineffective because such expectations were not met. The Solomon Islands government, for instance, anticipated a surge in membership in the Western Solomons following the conversion of prominent Methodist Belshazzar Gina - but only if the Bahá'ís also provided health and medical services equal to those run by established missions. Charles Forman, Professor of mission history at Yale University, noted in a survey of "sects from abroad":

A surprising mission to find in this group is that of the Bahá'í. Stemming from a reformist movement in Islam and appealing mostly to intellectuals in the West, with a message of interreligious unity and international, interracial harmony, they seemed poorly adapted to growth among vigorously Christian, practical peoples with little cosmopolitan experience. Yet a certain amount of response was forthcoming from some youths of wider experience and education and from some village folk among whom their missionaries settled. They had some noticeable response in Fiji, Kiribati, the Solomons, Tonga, Samoa, and Vanuatu. Probably their greatest single increase came in 1966 when they won the adherence of Tommy Kabu, leader of an important modernising movement in the Purari river area of Papua, along with many of his followers.[8]

A common theme in the conversion of the Tommy Kabu of Papua, Apelis Mazakmat of New Ireland, Hamuel Hoahania of Malaita, and Peter Kanare Koru of the Gilbert Islands, was their attraction to the racial equality practiced by the pioneers, and their desire to implement such equality in their societies. When former Catholic seminarian and mission teacher Peter Kanare Koru became the first Gilbertese Bahá'í in Tarawa in 1954, Shoghi Effendi urged him in a letter of welcome be "very discreet in spreading this Message", explaining that the Bahá'ís did not wish to become a "source of discord, or arouse opposition".[9] But events took their own course. The Catholic mission worked to have pioneers Roy and Elena Fernie deported, and on several occasions used its journal, Te Itoi nin Ngaina, to "warn" its members against examining this new religion. Roy Fernie was deported from the Colony in November 1955 while Elena Fernie remained until 1956 working with the new, 200-strong, Bahá'í community.[10] Kanare was prohibited from remaining on either Tarawa or Abaiang, and returned to his island of Tabiteuea.[11]

In Samoa and Tonga the first Bahá'í s were well educated, and some had trained in theological colleges. Niuoleava Tuataga of Western Samoa, who was educated at a Catholic mission school and at the LMS Malua theological College, became a Bahá'í in 1958, and later served as Auxiliary Board Member. Lisiata Maka, a legal adviser in Tonga's lower and supreme courts, who become a Bahá'í 1957, was among the first Islanders elected to the Regional Assembly, and was later appointed to the Continental Board of Counsellors. In the Solomon Islands Hamuel Hoahania, a chief among the Hau Hui of Malaita and a teacher/evangelist with the South Seas Evangelical Mission, was contemplating a return to custom religion when he encountered Alvin and Gertrude Blum in Honiara: his conversion precipitated the first 'mass entry' of Pacific Islanders into the Faith after the events in the Gilbert & Ellis Islands Colony.[12] These incidents illustrate the way in which Pacific Bahá'í Communities emerged through the courageous acts of both pioneers and believers. The Bahá'í Teachings then spread through family and tribal groups or clan-structures, eventually reaching the major communities in most of the island groups..

Recognition

The exact size of Pacific Island Bahá'í populations is hard to establish. In Kiribati, for instance, the Bahá'í community was reported in 1979 as being 8.8% of the population. However, the 1985 national census indicated that 1503 Gilbertese, 2.38% of the total population of 63,045 were Bahá'ís,[13] while The Bahá'í World, vol XVIII, suggests a figure of 7%. In 1986 there were 90 LSAs and a total of 140 localities, and in July 1987 Bahá'í News reported a per capita Bahá'í population of 17.9%.[14] In Tonga the proportion of the national population that are Bahá'í rose from 3.9% in 1983 to 6.3% in 1987. In Tuvalu the Bahá'í population rose in this period from 3% to 5.8%, and in the Marshall Islands, from 2% to 11.5%. Similar growth rates are reported in other Pacific nations, although poor progress in the French Overseas Territories (New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, French Polynesia and the Marquesas Islands) and the Cook Islands (a Polynesian nation in free association with New Zealand), is so far without easy explanation.

In absolute terms, the Papua New Guinea Bahá'í Community has the largest membership in the Pacific, approximately 30,000. In addition to being a rapidly growing community, it is geographically dispersed: by 1991 there were Bahá'í Communities in 87 of the country's 88 districts, at least 3 LSAs in each of its 19 provinces, and a total of 259 LSAs nation-wide: in that year 61 of 76 delegates attended National Convention, and an additional 12 forwarded postal votes. In addition to this numeric expansion the Papua New Guinea Bahá'í enjoys considerable exposure in the national press, and is well known to the country's political leaders. In recent years the press has covered such activities as National Convention,[15] participation of Papua New Guinean Bahá'ís in the Centenary of the passing of Bahá'u'lláh in Haifa and Akka,[16] and a seminar on "work ethics and productivity" sponsored by the Port Moresby LSA. [17]

Positive reception of the Bahá'í Message by Pacific Island leaders has been an enduring feature of the progress of the Bahá'í Message in the region. Head of State of Western Samoa Malieatoa Tanumafili II, having received a formal presentation of the Teachings in 1967, quietly became a believer, and made his profession public in 1973. The dedication of a Mashriqu'l-Adhkár in Apia in September 1984 symbolises the response of the Malietoa to the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh.

Close relations between the royal families of Western Samoa and Tonga, and the high chiefs of Fiji, have resulted in members of these families either becoming Bahá'ís, or having intimate knowledge of the Bahá'í Teachings. Of particular significance have been the visits to other Polynesian royal and chiefly families by Princess Tosi Malietoa, daughter of the Western Samoan monarch. In 1995 Adi Samanunu, the highest Chief of Fiji, entered the Fijian Bahá'í Community. In the Cook Islands, too, the highest chief of the land, Pa Terito Ariki (d.1995) had been a Bahá'í since the 1950s. Her husband, Sir Tom Davis, when Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, became the first head of government to formally consult with the Universal House of Justice, and he himself later joined the Community. In 1993 Sir Julius Chan (then deputy Prime Minister and now Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea), reported to Parliament on his visit to the Bahá'í World Centre while in Israel on state business.[18] Amata Kabua, President of the Marshall Islands, is another government leader who has a close relationship with Bahá'í institutions nationally and internationally. In his address at the opening of the UN General Assembly in October 1991 President Kabua called for "a new and comprehensive vision of a global society, supported by a new system of values. This recognition does not imply the abandonment of legitimate loyalties, the suppression of cultural diversity, nor the abolition of national autonomy. It calls for a wider loyalty, for a far higher aspiration than has thus far animated human affairs."[19]

In the 1980s the Bahá'í Faith received increasing official recognition by governments and agencies in the Pacific. In May 1981 the Pacific Conference of Churches sent a letter to the UN Secretary General expressing its concern at the treatment of Bahá'ís in Iran. Since 1978 the Bahá'í International Community has participated in conferences of the South Pacific Commission, an inter-governmental body that promotes the economic and social well-being and advancement of the peoples of the Pacific islands. In 1985 The Promise of World Peace was presented directly or indirectly to the leaders of most Pacific territories, and in 1986 Pacific Bahá'í communities were active participants in the International Year of Peace. The 18th Guam Legislature passed resolution 214 "Relative to recognising the International Year of Peace as designated for 1986 by the United Nations, the promise of world peace as exemplified by the Bahá'í Faith, and acknowledging the importance of world peace to everyone.[20]

The receptivity of elite Pacific Islanders to the Bahá'í Teachings does not mean, however, that these Communities have adequately attracted all sectors of society. The 1996 Ridvan Message calls on the Pacific Bahá'í Communities to reach 'all strata of society' - possibly a reference to the fact that in some Pacific nations the Bahá'ís have more contact at village (grass-roots) level than with those in positions of most influence, and particularly those in public life rather than in business. Reaching 'the masses' is in some ways easier than sustaining dialogue with public-policy decision-makers and with elected representatives, but contact with such strata is vital if the emerging Bahá'í Communities are to make their fullest contribution to the rejuvenation of these societies.

Community Development

The 1996 Ridvan message calls on the Pacific Bahá'í Communities to attend to community development as well as expansion. Some Pacific traditions privilege male roles over female, and one ethnic group over others, and some Pacific states continue to lack the infrastructure and public policy to adequately promote education. The Bahá'í Communities therefore face the challenge of entering into dialogue with these traditions for the purpose of promoting racial and gender equality, and explaining and demonstrating the value of education for all children and youth of both sexes. The Pacific Bahá'í communities have established a number of schools, which in future may provide the context for increased inter-community cooperation. Some of these schools have resulted from individual initiative, such as one on Santo in Vanuatu, while others are projects of Institutions, such as the Kiribati school assisted by the Australian and New Zealand National Assemblies. In the Marshall Islands the Bahá'ís operate state schools under contract with the government.

Adherence to Bahá'í laws of personal status is another area that challenges Pacific Island Bahá'í Communities. In Bahá'í communities in Western societies, the application of Bahá'í laws concerning alcohol, drugs, marriage, and political involvement are well established: in the Pacific, the situation is more fluid. In some parts of the Pacific the Bahá'ís are surrounded by significant levels of alcohol dependency and Assemblies at local and regional level must determine when counselling ceases and administrative sanctions are applied. Similarly, whereas Bahá'í law only permits marriages between one man and one woman, with parental consent, relationships in Pacific cultures vary widely and can involve "companionate marriage" prior to formalities to establish the fertility of the couple; in some cultures concubinage and polygamy continue to be practiced, and the application of Bahá'í marriage rules is thus an area in which education is required.

Another area in which Bahá'ís will become increasingly involved is governance. Bahá'ís do not become involved in partisan politics, believing that such systems are premised on conflict and cannot ultimately achieve social unity. The Pacific Island polities, however, hold the potential to be among the first in the world to be receptive to Bahá'ís principles of governance. While they have adopted western concepts based on 'politics' they are not necessarily tied to the introduced system, and may be prepared to explore alternatives in order to meet their societies' needs. The question as to what constitutes "partisan politics" in the Pacific has not always been clear. Islanders who become Bahá'ís continue their chiefly roles, and participation in customary offices is practised freely. Across the Pacific, a number Bahá'ís have withdrawn from the community to contest political elections, although in some cases have subsequently withdrawn from politics to re-enter the Community. More significantly, there are many Bahá'ís holding positions of responsibility in non-political offices in the region, including heads of government agencies and departments and other senior positions in the public service.

The Changing Role of the Pioneer

A major challenge facing the Pacific Bahá'í Communities concerns the changing role of pioneers. In their initial stages these communities relied on pioneers for knowledge of the Bahá'í Teachings and administration, as well as for material resources. The principle of 'spiritual equality' was acknowledged, but disparate access to education and employment opportunities implied an ongoing gap between pioneers and local Bahá'ís which tended to result in pioneers taking disproportionate responsibility for the progress and welfare of the community. With educational levels rising, however, Islander Bahá'ís are emerging as community leaders, possessing modern education, material resources, and the intimate knowledge of tradition and culture, to equip them for service. Given this development of indigenous human resources, the role of the pioneer is being re-defined, and in a number of Pacific Communities the role of the pioneer is becoming one of support and partnership, rather than that of more direct leadership, as may have prevailed in the past.

The Ocean of Light

A major initiative in recent years, conceived by the Continental Board of Counsellors, has been the 'Ocean of Light', a series of events based on presentation of the Bahá'í Message by traditional leaders who are Bahá'ís to other traditional leaders, often through the application of customary communication practices. Respect for custom has always been a source of attraction to the Bahá'í Teachings. Early response in the Nalik area of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea, for instance, came from the traditional malanggan carvers who appreciated the Bahá'í approach to culture,[21] while on Tanna, an island in southern Vanuatu which produced the custom religion Jon Frum, a number of custom chiefs have been attracted to the Bahá'í Community on the basis of its respect for and compatibility with kastom.

The Spiritual Axis

The 1996 Ridvan message makes the link between Bahá'ís Communities of Asia and the Pacific more specific, through its reference to Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and Korea in a message to the Bahá'ís of the Pacific, rather than in its message to the Bahá'ís of Asia. The Bahá'í Communities of Australia and Japan have long contemplated the significance of Shoghi Effendi's reference to a 'spiritual axis' linking North Asia with the South Pacific. Since that description was penned in the 1950s Asian capital and cultural influence has penetrated Pacific societies and economies more deeply and swiftly than many would have thought possible. By emphasising the linkage between Pacific and Asian Bahá'í Communities the Universal House of Justice may be suggesting that the Bahá'ís give more serious attention to these developments.

In summary, the Pacific Bahá'í Communities have emerged rapidly since the years of the World Crusade and have indigenised their institutions rapidly. They have expanded numerically despite early persecution at the hands of missionaries and inconvenience in the context of petty colonial officialdom. Following the consolidation of Local, Regional and National Assemblies, however, they are now the largest of the newer religious communities in a number of Pacific Island countries. Most importantly, they constitute throughout the Pacific a strong moral force, capable of forming partnerships with other progressive communities that aspire to the preparation of these island nations for the challenges of the coming 'Pacific century'.