History

On 17 April 1999, Brother David Liu and Sister Echo Chien from Melaka Branch, together with the brothers and sisters from Kota Kinabalu Liaison Office, went to Sandakan to present a talk on “Well Blessed Life”. After a few exchanges of views, they finally seized upon the opportunity to set up a contact point at this remote township in East Malaysia.

In July 2000, a team of sixteen members from the Taiwan Teachers’ Association went to Sandakan to promote the teaching of Jing Si Aphorisms. The Sandakan people were very impressed and touched by the lively teaching method demonstrated by these Tzu Chi teachers, their sense of commitment and their warmth and courage. In August 2000, the teachers from Sandakan formed a Teachers’ Association, and in November of that year, they joined the West Malaysian Teachers’ Association on a visit to Tzu Chi Taiwan. From this visit, they brought back with them many excellent teaching resources and also helped to promote further the teaching of Jing Si Aphorisms. The group of teachers also played a key role in promoting the “Happy Children Achievement Classes” and recycling missions to schools.

Our services

With more activities and volunteers joining Tzu Chi, the existing contact office was found to be inadequate and there was, therefore, a need to look out for a new place. On 4 August, a new office was officially declared open. In conjunction with this, there were talks on Jing Si Aphorisms by Taiwanese speakers, and this was attended by two hundred participants. With a new office, Tzu Chi people of Sandakan would now have ample space to carry out more activities.

In December 2002, and with blessings from Master Cheng Yen, the Sandakan contact point was officially upgraded to that of a Liaison Office which will enable them to further promote Tzu Chi’s missions.

Due to increased activities, the Sandakan Liaison Office again experienced a shortage of space. In early 2003, and in anticipation of more activities in future, the Tzu Chi people of Sandakan rented a shoplot next door to add more room to their existing two shop lot space.

Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation Malaysia (Sandakan)