Abstract

Southeast Asia is an area of many religious traditions, including Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Chinese religions, and indigenous traditions. Early Bahá’í expansion was limited to Myanmar (Burma) from the late 1870s, and the Philippines from the 1930s, but following World War II, there was a rapid growth in Bahá’í activity across the whole region, with notable successes in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines. A regional national Assembly was established for most of the region in 1957. Subsequent developments have varied greatly between countries, with war and official opposition limiting Bahá’í activity in some states. The first Bahá’í House of Worship in Southeast Asia was dedicated in Cambodia in 2017.