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Clarifying the Truth Based on Local Conditions -- Experiences in Singapore

Jan. 28, 2003 |   Written by a Dafa Practitioner in Singapore

As the progress of Fa-rectification proceeds, it becomes more and more urgent to offer salvation to the precious Chinese people. While many practitioners are clarifying the facts of Dafa to the Chinese people in Mainland China by every possible means, we find that there are hundreds of thousands of Chinese from Mainland China living in Singapore, a country that is less than eight hundred square kilometers. They come here as immigrants, students, workers and tourists. Many of them have been poisoned by the slanderous propaganda from China and have a deep misunderstanding of Dafa. Clarifying the facts and saving them becomes an important and difficult task for Singapore practitioners.

1. Clarifying the Facts to the Chinese Construction Workers

In Singapore, there are numerous construction sites. In many of them, there are hundreds if not thousands of construction workers hired from China. It is estimated that there are on average tens of thousands of Chinese construction workers in Singapore. They come from different provinces of China and are always on the move. Some would return to China while new ones would come. They live at the construction site. Their working hours on weekdays are normally long hence they are only free on the weekends. In view of this, we went to their sites on the weekend evenings to clarify the facts to them. Upon reaching the site, we would usually send forth righteous thoughts first and then divide ourselves into groups of two or three people to distribute the truth clarifying flyers, booklets and VCDs to the construction workers. Initially, they were astonished and had a bad attitude toward us. We then clarified the facts to them and answered their questions. Sometimes, we even watched the VCD with them. After knowing the facts, many of them changed their views on Falun Gong.

With sufficient experience accumulated, we ventured into a larger construction site where over one thousand Chinese construction workers lived. Their dormitories were very close. About 20 to30 of them packed into a carriage sized room. One night, 6 of us spent over 3 hours distributing the facts clarifying materials at a site where about 2000 Chinese construction workers were living. I still remember the touching scene as we saw many of them compete with each other for our materials and VCDs.

Once, we were distributing the truth-clarifying materials to a roomful of Chinese workers who initially refused to accept the materials and even wanted us to leave. We sent forth righteous thoughts while showing them some pictures. Two of them were attracted by a photograph showing western practitioners doing the exercises and started to go through the photo album. We then took advantage of the opportunity and showed them the pictures of the self-immolation incident at Tiananmen Square and clarified the facts to them. We told them that Falun Gong is well-received in more than 60 countries and that Falun Gong has changed us in a positive way both physically and mentally, etc.

Gradually, all people there were attracted by our clarification and listened to us with great interest. In the end, their enmity disappeared. They took the flyers and thanked us when we left. Contented smiles came to our faces.

After knowing the facts, most workers were shocked by the evilness and brutality of the Jiang regime and showed their sympathy and support for us. One night, when we were about to leave, some workers shouted: "We know the truth. We support you. Falun Dafa is good!"

During the process of truth-clarification, we met many people with predestined relationships. Among them, a few had once practiced Falun Gong in China or read Falun Dafa books but gave up due to the deceit and pressure in the aftermath of the persecution in July 1999. After our clarification, they saw through the deception and expressed their desire to re-start the practice later. Some workers, when told of the truth, eagerly sent the relevant materials to their relatives and friends who practice Falun Gong in China.

Some workers were eager and wanted to learn Falun Gong after knowing the truth. We gave out several copies of Zhuan Falun. Over 10 of them have attended the 9-day class and joined the practice sites nearby. In October of 2002, during Jiang's visit to the US and Mexico, 3 workers who had just learned Falun Gong took part in our group activities every evening, sending forth righteous thoughts and studying the Fa. On the first evening, while sending forth righteous thoughts, one worker's celestial eye was opened and saw the soul-stirring scenes of Fa-rectification in other dimensions.

Within several months, we have distributed thousands of flyers and VCDs. However, since the Chinese construction workers keep coming to Singapore and many of them are deeply deceived, we must continue with our efforts and do better. Meanwhile, we should unceasingly cultivate ourselves, enhance our righteous thoughts and draw on past experiences, in order to do better.

2. Clarify the Facts to the Chinese Workers in Factories.

There are many workers from China hired by the factories in Singapore. Most of them have received a medium-level education and are below 20 years old. Similar to those Chinese construction workers, they are always moving. Their centralized accommodation made it convenient for us to carry out our truth-clarification task. We went to clarify the facts to them over the weekends.

Most of them accepted our materials, but some rejected them. Those who have just arrived recently from China were too frightened to accept Falun Gong materials. Some threw the materials into a trash bin without even reading them. Some were surprised that Falun Gong is practiced in Singapore. Some dared not accept our flyers but observed us carefully. It seemed that they were contemplating. We could feel that they were changing and the bad things ingrained in their minds from the propaganda were disintegrating.

Some of them were quite interested in talking with us. They even told us some stories of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

In a few weeks, we covered 3 sites and have distributed several hundred copies of fact-clarifying materials and VCDs. The dissemination of fact-clarifying materials among them has helped to spread the truth widely.

3. Clarifying the Facts to Chinese Immigrants

It is estimated that there are over 100 thousand professional immigrants, plus their family members, living in Singapore. They have close relationships with relatives in China and often go back to China to visit their families. Since they have lived overseas for a long time, they know some facts about Falun Gong through the media and other form of advanced communication facilities. However, they have been heavily influenced by atheism. They are callous to the practitioners' pursuit of belief and the peaceful appeal for Falun Gong. They can't understand us. Most of them are not willing to believe or acknowledge the facts of the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China. A handout of a few pages is not sufficient to convince them otherwise. Clarifying the facts to them is an important task for Singapore practitioners to undertake.

After many discussions, we realized that the best way is to send the fact-clarification materials to their homes. There are a few advantages in doing so: 1) The materials are sealed in an envelope and put into their mailboxes, so it reduces the possibility of the materials being thrown away immediately. 2) Once the materials get into the residence, they are likely to be read by more people. This increases the utilization ratio of our materials. 3) Once one person in the family reads the material, he/she may discuss it with other family members causing them to read it too. This would help them to initiate a family discussion and individual thinking. It will also help them to distinguish what is good from bad and righteous from evil. All the family addresses and telephone numbers can be found in the telephone books of Singapore's telecommunication company and websites. It is a time-consuming and exhausting job to pick out from hundreds and thousands of addresses those of the Chinese people in Singapore. In facing this difficulty, some practitioners recalled that the Singapore telecommunication company sold CDs of addresses. We bought the CDs and discovered tens of thousands of Chinese addresses according to the Pinyin of the last names. With the help of fellow practitioners, it only took two to three months to gather and print the addresses, prepare the materials and distribute the materials to each residence. The feedback we got from different channels, confirmed that many Chinese immigrants watched the VCD they received. Our action has reached the expected effect to a certain degree.

4. Clarifying the Facts to the Chinese Staff and Students in the Universities and Polytechnic Institutes

In the two universities and four polytechnic institutes in Singapore, there are tens of thousands of Chinese teachers, students and visiting scholars from China. For a long period of time, we didn't clarify the facts to them on a large scale. It was also difficult to clarify the facts to them face-to-face. Some practitioners tried to distribute the fact-clarifying materials on the campus, but the schools' authorities soon stopped them. We obtained some of their correspondence addresses from the web sites. We then sent them materials by post and email, but the feedback was not very good.

After stopping the action for a long time, we resumed. This time, we changed our strategy and sent them emails with very simple content. In the email, we only recommended two overseas Chinese web sites to the recipients. Anyone who browsed the two web sites would learn many facts about Falun Gong. And they could recommend the web sites to their family members. This resulted in an effect that was not achievable by just sending them one or two flyers.

Soon after the emails were sent, we received some positive feedback. Many of them expressed their appreciation and showed their interest in the two web sites. The name-calling emails dropped down from 70% to 10%. Some of them even wanted to make friends with us. Some students who were about to finish school even told us their new email addresses and asked to keep in touch. One reply said that after he visited the two websites, he was really shocked by the level of corruption and brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Another reply said that after browsing the web sites, he was worried for the future of China.

Later, after reviewing what we had done, we felt that in this way we did successfully let some Chinese people know the truth in an indirect way.

5. Some Experiences and Understandings

Master said in the article "Righteous Thoughts": "Dafa disciples are now sentient beings' only, sole hope for salvation."

When we recall the scene of the Chinese workers vying with each other for the fact clarification materials, we deeply felt the urgency to save sentient beings and the greater responsibilities that we are undertaking. During the process of clarifying the facts to the Mainland Chinese people in Singapore, we experienced many tribulations. Through Fa study, we realized that most of time these tribulations were related to our own cultivation state. They might have been caused by loopholes in our cultivation, which were being taken advantage of by the evil. They might also be so-called tests arranged by the old forces for us. Thus, persisting in Fa study, sending forth righteous thoughts, and rectifying ourselves in a timely manner is very significant in clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings.

In clarifying the facts of Dafa in Singapore, there has been pressure from different perspectives. Some practitioners' ID card numbers were copied by the police. Their materials were confiscated, or they were warned. Once when we were clarifying the facts in a construction site, when they said something not respectful to Dafa, our hearts were moved and we argued with them. As a result, their neighbors called the police. When we left, the police came. We all realized that this was the result of our attachment of competition, which caused us to lose sight of our task of clarifying the facts.

People from China and Singapore have frequent contact with each other. Chinese travelers constitute one of the major ingredients of tourism to Singapore. So clarifying the facts of Dafa to Chinese people in Singapore, especially to the Chinese coming from Mainland China is extremely important. They will bring back to China the facts of Dafa through different channels and help us to spread the facts. During the several months of concentrated truth-clarifying efforts to construction workers in Singapore, the majority of them learned the facts surrounding Falun Gong. Many of them asked whether they could take back to China the materials and VCDs. For this purpose, we made lots of handy fact-clarifying brochures and VCDs that did not bear a Dafa logo in order to encourage them to clarify the facts to their friends and relatives.

In addition, I realized that the old forces had made very detailed arrangements in every country's political system. Their purpose was to provide different cultivation environments for Dafa disciples in different social settings to test Dafa disciples. As Dafa disciples, we cannot accept these arrangements. But learning how to clarify the facts and rectify the Fa in a relatively severe social setting like Singapore is a historical mission for Singapore's practitioners. We know that many Chinese people still have misgivings towards Falun Gong practitioners' efforts. There are also many Chinese people who are unwilling to know the truth, thinking that it has nothing to do with them. Those who have received higher education still resist the truth of our clarification. Some of the Chinese students who study in the high schools and vocational colleges are neglected because their homes are too spread out. And we still have the Chinese workers in the Chinese companies waiting for us to clarify the facts to them.

I think we should strengthen our Fa-study and experience sharing as a group, encourage fellow practitioners to join in the fact-clarifying activities more actively. We should fully understand the importance of Fa-rectification cultivation. Let us walk steadily on the last section of the path of Fa-rectification cultivation with righteous thoughts and save the precious Chinese people with our wisdom and compassion.