Asia: Singapore, Malaya, Sarawak
Asia was indeed quite an experience, and just as China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan were closely related, so the
same can be said of Singapore, Malaysia, and Sarawak, which is really in East Malaysia. When I landed in
Singapore on June 25, I had exactly two weeks to cover the major parts of Asia. In the first visit I intended to get
acquainted with the lives of our Brothers, and to try to understand what their needs were during my term as
Assistant General. That meant that I would start in Singapore, then go up and down Malaysia, then back to
Singapore, and then East to Sarawak and back. Thus, I would cover a good part of Asia including Hong Kong
and the northeastern part of Malaya where I could visit Sarawak, a mission that had been going strong for some
time already. Most of these countries were strongly influenced by England, as far north as Hong Kong and as far
east as Sarawak they used the same time, money, and newspapers, and English was a commonly spoken
language.