<html><head></head><body><div style="font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><div><p class="ydp5f2cd77eMsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Dear
Colleagues, </span></p>
<p class="ydp5f2cd77eMsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Yap Kim
Hao, the man who provided the Ecumenical Institute the umbrella for its
activities in Malaysia in the 60s and 70s , died at the age of 88 in Singapore
this morning. He became the first Asian bishop of the Methodist church in
Malaysia and Singapore in 1968.Those of us who worked in Malaysia and Singapore
in those years will know how important his support was to us. Thanks to him, we
were able to use Rev Kjell Knutsen’s residence as the KL Religious House. He
was a progressive thinker in a denomination stuck in the two-storey universe.
He spent the last few decades of his retirement in Singapore where he worked
with various groups such as the Inter Religious Organisation and those fighting
for gay rights. </span></p>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Latha;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:TA">Dharmalingam </span><br></div></div></body></html>