by Hanafi Fraval
Lucian Parshall is Subud USA’s expert on bylaws and many related areas. Levana and I attended Muhammad Subuh Foundation’s (MSF) six days of meetings in Los Angeles this past January. The item that dominated the discussion was a major revision of MSF’s bylaws. Lucian had prepared a complete revision, which he had circulated to the trustees beforehand. Each trustee, particularly two of them, made their questions, comments and inputs. It was a fascinating process to observe. I had always taken any discussion of bylaws as a yawn. We learned a lot from this process and realized it was time to take up the issue, as had been suggest by Luqman Katz, our 2019-2022 Regional Chair.
We were extremely fortunate to bring Miftah Leath into this project. She has a long history and knowledge of Subud California and its bylaws. Over the past three months she has put a huge effort into rewriting the bylaws. It has been an intensive process with zoom calls, but mostly reams of emails, back and forth. Miftah has really shown her skills, and this is our opportunity to express our deep thanks for her extraordinary effort.
We would also like express our appreciation to Rifka Several, who sent in an initial five pages of comments and has continued to provide her input to the writing of the new bylaws. Most of you know Rifka from her work with Susila Dharma and as Congress Chair and her wearing of many other hats. These roles have given her much experience that has been invaluable in the development of the new bylaws.
The Regional Councilors will receive their copies of the draft bylaws on or before April 11. We anticipate that the draft will then be sent out to members for review around April 24. Watch this space…!