Our Council meeting was filled with good discussions! There are open and free communications developing in our group.

WSA Treasurer Marzuki Muhamad presented the 2026 WSA Budget, going over the different expense categories in detail and our sources of income. The July in-person Council meeting in Rungan Sari is in the budget with support for all zones to attend. Although we have reserve funds to make up the difference between income and expenses, in the future a plan for increasing funding should be addressed. The budget was provisionally approved, with a final vote at the March meeting.

The Safeguarding working group chair, Farah Czwiertnia, presented drafts of a  WSA Safeguarding Policy and Code of Conduct. The group includes Harissa Delgado, Sandra Egege, Hannah deRoo, Amanda Rivera, Alexandra Daly and International Helpers Grace Hodgson and Hoan Toan Phan. It was emphasized that these documents are for WSA members, not member countries, who will be asked to develop their own safeguarding policy. It is requested that zones share these documents with their countries to gather feedback for the working group.

At the Kalimantan World Congress, the last delegate resolution passed was to develop a standardized and more detailed resolution form. A working party formed with proposers of this resolution: Antony Tibbs, Feodora Shukuro and Alberto Urrejola, and their draft form was shared with the Council for feedback. The group will incorporate this feedback and a revised draft will be distributed to the countries for review, as they provide the delegates and will be using the form.

ISC Chair Arifin Konrad gave updates on the July 2026 in-person Council meeting at the Rungan Sari Resort. Zone members arrive July 15 for MSF trustee testing on July 16, and the meeting starts July 17 with a departure date of July 26. Registration for Council members and those who wish to attend the meeting will be available next week. There are plans to travel to Suka Mulia for those who want to stay extra days in Jakarta after the meeting.

Arifin thanked Matthew Moir for his work with the WSA Archives Subcommittee upon his stepping down in July from this position. There will be more information forthcoming about testing in Rungan Sari in July for additional Archive Subcommittee members.

WCOT coordinator Hamid DaSilva was unable to attend but reports that the team is meeting monthly with an in-person meeting in June at Fatima. Each teams’ leaders are busy establishing foundational information. The Program Team has been setting up zoom meetings with all parties who will be requesting space and activities at the World Congress.

The next Council meeting is March 21 – 22 (check your time zone for actual dates) with the first day being a kejiwaan day with the International Helpers. Rifka suggests if there is time we also have informal country reports. The second day is the meeting.

I send grateful thanks to the very engaged and harmonious Council members, and the brothers and sisters who attend via the YouTube channel. Your input is welcome; please email me with any comments or questions.

Best wishes and love from Rifka

Rifka Several, WSA Chair

Rifka Several

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Best wishes for a very happy and blessed new year! After a December holiday break, the World Subud Council met on January 10. The minutes from the Council’s in-person meeting in Fatima, July 2025, are available, as are the Kalimantan World Congress minutes.

The first business was the review and approval of the Mhd Subuh Foundation budget. MSF was warmly thanked for their grants to improve and build Subud houses and provide support for International Helper travel and the WSA Archives.

A reminder: nominations are open for new MSF trustees, who will be tested at the July 2026 in person Council meeting in Rungan Sari. Contact Elaina Dodson, chair, for more information, or feel free to contact any trustee, including myself, for more information.

Using consensus in decision-making and problem-solving in Subud was approved as a delegate resolution at the Kalimantan World Congress. Now we are working on implementation. The Council had a robust discussion of a report requested from Hannah deRoo and Raymond Lee about the role WSA might have in achieving consensus in areas other than our Council, subcommittees, and other entities under ISC. It was deemed not clear what role WSA has. The International Helpers will review the report, and this area will have further Council discussion. We do truly want centers and national organizations to be able to reach consensus, especially on some long-standing issues and conflicts.

The International Helpers gave a brief report on their discussions about testing for international positions. At present this will be done in person with them.

Hamid DaSilva, WCOT (World Congress Organizing Team) chair, presented the list of dedicated and talented team members in areas such as program, accommodations, transportation, and other key areas for planning. I met this team last November and feel so blessed they were moved to commit to this extraordinary WSA event. Work on meeting space and hotel contracts is proceeding.

Invitation to attend: the Council will meet in person in Rungan Sari, July 17-25. Information and registration will be available soon, and participants are welcome.

Archives news: WSA and ISC are collaborating with Subud Britain on the development of another archives center. The History Of Subud books are newly printed – I am looking at the copies now! What an achievement.

Anna Maimer, chair of SIHA (Subud International Health Association), reports they are working on an anonymous survey of Subud members exploring various aspects of personal health and health-related topics of interest. A link will be sent out.

We start our meetings with latihan, and end with a moment of gratitude and quiet. The next Council meeting will be on February 14, and a YouTube link will be available.

Sending you all my best wishes, love from Rifka

Additional new team members have been  recruited and were introduced. The new team are working under logistics, accommodation, transportation, health, and services. The WSA treasurer is also reinforced for dealing with congress matters. 

The congress team met with representatives of the Wings ( SDIA, SICA, SESI) and discuss the program of the Wings for the World Congress.

Aside from that,  matters that needed to be followed up were on the agenda in anticipation of the Congress and handover to the next team. 

The world congress team updated the meeting on matters concerning program, and other preparations. The request from SDIA/SEA on education fund was also discussed at length.

As there was no quorum for the WSA board, their approval of MSF 2024 budget will be approved by email. The Archives Sub-committee ( Matthew Moir and Suyono) reported on the progress of the Canberra Archives Facility project . MSF reported on applications for MSF Trustees candidates. MSF is encouraging for more applicant, which deadlines for application has been moved to 15 January 2024. Further information on Zone Representative replacement; so far three Zones ( Zone 6, Zone 8, and Zone 9 ) have new replacements for the next term. The MSF – WSA MOU working team are finishing the MOU draft and will present it to each of MSF and WSA board. 

As the Congress date has been confirmed,  WCOT will open registration six months before ( 15 January 2024) and is working on the Congress program with all parties. MSF also reports on the progress of the AdiPuri building project and the grants for Subud Houses

Harris Madden and Rusdi Bustillo reported.  Also discussed were Congress matters regarding dates of the Congress, registration date and fees, including support for delegates ( including youth) attending the Congress. The WSA 2024 budget will need input from the Zones on support for their delegates. The board also discussed matters concerning the Subud education funds, and the Canberra Archives project funds.

The congress team met with representatives of the Wings ( SDIA, SICA, SESI) and discuss the program of the Wings for the World Congress.

Background:  At the periodic WSC Zoom Meeting on 2nd of July 2023, after discussion and assessment of the conditions and options, the meeting decided that the World Congress will NOT take place in January 2024. 

Following the recommendation of the WCOT,  the Zone Representatives instructed the Executive Chair, Suyono to advise them by the end of October 2023, at the latest, whether the  World Congress can be conducted in mid -July 2024. 

Meanwhile, WCOT produced a discussion paper which contained versions of world congress venue scenarios to which members of the council were asked to comments and provide their choice of scenarios by way of email correspondence. Responses to the comments and questions were addressed by WCOT and shared to all council members online. 

The purpose of this meeting is for the council to come to a harmonious conclusion and agree on the same venue scenario proposed by WCOT.  

Proceeding of the meeting: At 18:00 hours Jakarta time the WSC Zoom meeting started and was broadcasted live through WSA YouTube Channel https://youtube.com/live/qxlzUt_QHMM?feature=share

Introduction was made by Suyono, WSA Executive followed by the International Helpers Dewan requesting Latihan and testing offline for 30 minutes. Questions for the testing has been prepared by the IH Dewan and shared on the Zoom and YouTube Chat. After the Latihan and test offline, and all participants returned online, Nahum Harlap, WSA Chair, chaired the meeting. It was not the intention of the meeting to discuss the result of the testing.  After three hours of sharing feedback, comments, and discussion the Council  concluded on the common choice of scenario for the venue and program. Further detailed program and logistics will on the agenda at the next meeting, proposed for the 4th of November 2023.  Recording of the meeting can be requested by email to [email protected].