Ilaine Lennard apologises

On 23 Feb 2015 I received this unexpected email from Ilaine Lennard for forwarding to Andreas…

From: Ilaine Lennard
Date: Monday, 23 February 2015
Subject: thank you andreas
To: SusannahZys

Dear Andreas,

the other day I was on the Internet and came across a site about Anugraha.
To my amazement it also said that you had saved those who had pledged their
houses as collateral for Anugraha.

One of those who had provided collateral for this were the Lennards, but I
had never before been told that you were the one who had saved us.

I can only say how deeply touched I was to realise what you had done so
selflessly for us. And I wanted to thank you with all my heart – even though
it is now so late to do so.

I hope this message reaches you safely, and that you are both as well as can
be expected, given the passing of years. Please let me know if you received
it.

I send my love. God bless you – and Susannah too – Ilaine Lennard

________________________________________

Here is my reply…

Dear Ilaine

I have not passed your email to Andreas. His reaction to hearing you mentioned would not be good. He has already survived two heart attacks. He has been very hurt and his life practically destroyed by these events. Not a single person in Subud has shown interest or care.

What you say has the ring of sincerity but it applies to just a drop in the ocean of the harm you have done us. For starters you should read “Why so late?” in https://subudconscience.com/news/

After Andreas financed the saving of your home and the other three all those years ago, we had insufficient funds left to save our own home which became partly owned by the Bank. Subud had promised to reimburse Andreas but, in spite of several reminders, no money has ever come through, Your not allowing the name “Zys” to appear in Subud Voice prevented us from making public protest or telling our story. A few years ago we learned that Andreas’s name had been removed from the list of Subud members. Your action prevented us from making public protest. Your action denied any right to get an Inquiry into the loss of Anugraha or obtain justice for those wrongly accused. We have been, and still are, living on eggshells with a tiny income not backed up by any savings – we live with the constant fear of suddenly being forced out of our home. Not only have Subud not offered us any help but our occasional letters – always courteous – to the successive Executives over these 25 years have not once been replied to. Your action prevented us from speaking out for 20 years. Recently Andreas was asked by two Helpers to prove that he was a Subud member, as the evidence made it clear that he was not, supported by their having never heard of him. Your action and that of your successors is responsible for that and prompted me to create the SubudConscience site. Your action and animosity to the Zyses is a major factor in our current situation, having prevented us from even stating our case, never mind achieving a measure of justice.

Andreas’s kindness to you has embarrassed you. Feel free to now embarrass us with your reciprocal help. Do be clear that we are not asking for money from you – it is surely up to Subud to recognise the enormous amount that Andreas did for Subud, to acknowledge wrongs done and promises made. You, Ilaine, have a sizeable responsibility for our situation. What you now do about that depends on your conscience and your character. If you act well, there will be a spin-off benefit to Subud which is currently in a state that is causing numbers to decline – it is mainly people of conscience and good character who are leaving. No mention of the “Zys situation” has been made in Subud Voice during your regime or since, i.e. for 25 years. Do you now have sufficient sense of morality and of justice to do something about that outrage?

We know you have suffered, given and lost a lot due to the failure of Subud enterprises. You, Ilaine, are intelligent, have contacts and have the ability to speak and to write effectively. If the feeling you express is, indeed, sincere you now have the opportunity to take action to convince those who matter that the Zys situation MUST be resolved and very soon – an acknowledgement of Justice and gratitude by Subud.

Please do not reply to this here in words; your visible actions from now on will be your response. I do thank you sincerely for your decency in apologising but you will understand why I hope for more. If you were to be instrumental in getting Subud to help the Zyses you would thereby be helping Subud regain a foothold on the path of decency from where it has strayed since the death of Bapak.

Susannah Zys

PS. Collusion has taken place, Conflict of interest and Wilful Blindness appear over and over again, as if a web has been weaved out of intrigue and complexity. For us it has been like breaking into a Mafia organisation which has shut us out, hoping that we would disappear and die. I have to wonder if you have been subjected to a conflict of interests due to your friendship with Travers-Smith.

A fourth winter with no heating at age 76…and under threat of being driven from our own home

That, in a nutshell, is the sad culmination of the problems we have experienced over the last two decades.

For the past 24 years, we have been seeking truth and justice from Subud, a Spiritual organisation and registered charity, concerning their actions over a failed enterprise. However, when it comes down to the reality of everyday living, our main problems are that we now face a long, cold winter and the prospect of being evicted from our own home in our old age.

We are Andreas and Susannah Zys – if you are a member of Subud you may have heard about us before. The whole story is told on our website subudconscience.com but here is a quick timeline of what happened:

A brief history of how we came to be on the verge of losing everything

  • 1979 – Subud proposes an ambitious venture: to provide an International Centre for its members, but also to be a state-of-the-art hotel and conference centre in its own right. Andreas, a self-made successful businessman and member of Subud, along with many others, invests in the enterprise, in good faith that it will be a successful business and a worthy cause. The Centre was named “Anugraha”.
  • 1984 Anugraha opens for business but the first Subud Board loses all sense of reality and incredibly overspends funds by several million pounds (£several million!) Anugraha becomes the venue of choice by prestigious companies in preference to Olympia and Earl’s Court, neither of which have bedrooms to offer for overnight stays.  A car launch by Volvo is made spectacular thanks to Anugraha’s central rising floor. Andreas, as Subud Co-ordinator, is frequently asked by these clients to explain Subud to them. Subud becomes a regular topic on radio and TV.
  • 1988 Behind the scenes there is in-fighting and dubious behaviour amongst the Board members, resulting in a crisis that leads to Anugraha’s downfall. The final Board astonishingly reject all opportunities to save the investments of Subud members, and choose not to accept any of the bids received which would have saved those investments.
  • 1990 – Anugraha is sold off at a fraction of its value. The reasons for the failure of the business have never been properly investigated. Malicious intent, fraud and theft are all suspected, but as there has been no investigation, only fraud has been proved.
  • 1990s  – ‘Hardship Cases’ are identified by Subud, and money set aside to help those who suffered financially by the loss of Anugraha. The designated fund of £2Million disappears and remains unaccounted for. Andreas uses his own money and pension funds and succeeds in saving four houses from being lost. The endeavour costs considerably more than expected leaving Andreas with insufficient funds to save his own home. Subud then turns its back on the Zyses and offers them no assistance. The Zys home is lost to the bank.
  • 2014 – Subud still does not take responsibility and ignores communications. The real reasons for the loss of Anugraha and the whereabouts of the lost hardship £millions remain a closely guarded secret. The Zyses are rapidly running out of money and risk being evicted and their home being completely repossessed. 
  • The 20+ years of no response was recently broken by three lady Helpers. They wrote to say that Testing is only available for Subud members and as they have never heard of Andreas Zys, they cannot not look into what has been asked until they receive proof that he is a Subud member. 

Nowadays the news on TV and radio day after day relays stories of human distress. Against that backdrop you may well say “Oh, that story of the Zyses is really sad. What bad luck, but what I can I do about it?”.

You CAN help if you really want to…

Members of Subud

Get together with your group and talk about the disgrace of the Anugraha aftermath, and the fact that Subud is not helping a member who contributed so much and who did so much to help others. We need your collective voice to be heard by those who matter. We have tried, time and again, to talk to various high-ranking persons in Subud, to tell them of our plight, but it has always resulted in the rudeness of no reply. However, we hope that the more public voices there are, the more likely we are to have a response.

During the short time that Anugraha flourished, Subud became known and respected. Since then, it has become unknown and its achievements are not making news. For the first time in its history, the membership of Subud does not appear to be increasing noticeably. All this can be reversed by your collective actions.

Journalists, Writers, Bloggers, Everyone Else…

Please let our story be heard and spread online. Write on our ‘Comments’ page on subudconscience.com, share our articles on your social networks, re-tweet our story on Twitter, link to our website and our Facebook page, reveal our story publicly to shame Subud into action.  Use the hashtag #Subud.

We are now in our twilight years and tired of fighting – all we want is for truth and justice for those who have been wronged and for Andreas and his reputation to be restored.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Important Point

We would stress that we are NOT asking you for financial help. We ask for your help in convincing those in positions of authority in Subud to stop protecting those who did wrong and to act with decency, morality and humanity by admitting that mistakes have been made and taking steps to rectify them, even at this late hour.

Some people in the Subud hierarchy know what happened to the £2million earmarked for cases of hardship and to save the 5 homes, including ours. The Zyses need and deserve help, but it is also Subud that needs help, it needs help to restore its once high standing.  Knowing of the immorality and criminality that took place, several hundred people left Subud in disgust.  Present members are tarred with that taint which can be removed only by the present members insisting on right action by their leaders.

Thank you one and all.

PS…

Some of you are sending emails expressing support with very kind words. There seems, though, to be a reluctance to say those kind things out loud. The emails are seen by no-one but us. It is important for people to be aware that they are not alone in their support. PLEASE break the ice, please break the silence – please copy your kind words to ‘Comments’ on our site.

THANK YOU.