CHOICE Weekends build bridges between East and West Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR – CHOICE Kuala Lumpur once again conducted a two-language joint weekend, namely CHOICE English 97 and CHOICE BM KL 3, attended by 72 participants. Both CHOICE weekends were held simultaneously at the Archdiocese Pastoral Center, Kuala Lumpur on 11-13 Mar 2016.

While sessions for both CHOICE weekends were conducted separately, many of the activities during the weekend were combined. The majority of the participants of English CHOICE weekend were from Kuala Lumpur, and other parts of Peninsular Malaysia; while BM CHOICE weekend drew participation mainly from Sabah and Sarawak. The Church of Holy Nativity, Terawi, Sabah sent a group of five single adults from their youth group, while another group of students from Catholic Mission of Trengganu also attended the CHOICE BM 3 weekend.

The joined language CHOICE weekend is an effort by CHOICE KL to build bridges between East and West Malaysia, allowing both language groups to foster a spirit of community and cooperation. “Despite subtle cultural differences between the East and West Malaysian participants, bonds of friendship were forged during the weekend, reflecting the diversity and brotherhood of the Catholic Church in Malaysia” said Alister Antony, CHOICE KL State Coordinator.

In its third weekend, CHOICE BM KL which started in 2013, caters for single adults between the ages of 18-40, who are mainly students from Sabah and Sarawak studying in Peninsular Malaysia. As part of CHOICE KL’s outreach initiative to the BM speaking community, the CHOICE BM KL fees are subsidized through the generous contribution of previous CHOICE graduates to ensure that the weekend fees are affordable to the participants. Special effort is made to promote CHOICE BM to the all the dioceses throughout Malaysia, including those in Sabah and Sarawak . The Diocese of Miri is the only other diocese that holds a CHOICE BM weekend in Malaysia.

The demand for CHOICE BM continues to grow strongly. “We are very excited that our efforts have borne fruit with our participants especially from Sabah and Sarawak. It is our dream to start CHOICE BM Sabah in the future” said Dympna John Singin, CHOICE BM State Coordinator.