PART 2.1 Phuket-Kedah and Martina Rozells, The French Catholic Missionary and The Revival of The Malaysian Catholic Church, The Penang Eurasian Community George Town, Penang, The Malayan/Thai Portuguese Catholics, College General Pulau Tikus, Penang, The Penang Eurasian Community Pulau Tikus, Penang.
PART 2.2 Father Pasqual of Phuket, Early Education in Penang, References: Trade Route Map.
CHAPTER 2
1. Title: PHUKET–PENANG SHARED HISTORY
THROUGH THE PENANG EURASIAN COMMUNITY.
A paper presented by Dr. Anthony Sibert at;
Shared Histories, Communities and Cultural Heritage in Southeast Asia’s Western Littoral Wednesday 30th July 2003 – Sunday 3rd August 2003.
Organised by the Penang Heritage Trust Sponsored by SEASREP. Convener: Khoo Salma Nasution.
Preamble, THE BEGINNINGS, 1518 the Kingdoms of Siam and Portugal, Ayuthia, Santa Cruz, French Catholic Missionaries, Thai-Portuguese, The Penang Eurasian Community, The island of Junk Ceylon, the missionary rivalry, Joseph C. Pasqual.
This Paper presents the historical connections between Phuket: Thailand and the Penang Eurasian Community. The Malaysian National Census 2000 indicates that the population of the Penang Eurasian Community [Serani] is 1,469; which is 11.6% of a historical minority Eurasian Malaysian Population of 12,650.
Through desk research the connections are made in terms of the establishment of the Penang Eurasian Community. The members of this early community in Penang, by implications, were the founding members of the revived Malaysian Catholic Church, the early students of La Salle Education introduced by the Catholic Missions, administrators, professionals and traders in the early development of Penang. AND most of them, and their descendants, came from Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand.
According to Antonio da Silva Rego (1979), after the occupation of Malacca in 1511, Alfonso de Albuquerque at once set out to establish friendly relations with all the neighbouring peoples. Siam was naturally one of the first to be contacted.
In 1518 the Kingdoms of Siam and Portugal celebrated their first Treaty of Friendship and Commerce, by which in return for military help promised by the Portuguese, religious and commercial privileges were granted by the Siamese. This Treaty was the first that the Siamese ever signed with a European country. Thereafter, numerous Portuguese came to Siam and taught the Siamese the art of warfare, the construction of forts and manufacture of arms, and took part in battles in which the country was constantly involved with their neighbouring kingdoms, especially Burma.
Years later, the military prestige of the Portuguese led the King of Siam, after concluding a treaty in 1616, to engage Portuguese guards for the royal establishment of Ayuthia, where the soldiers married local women.
In recognition for their help, the Portuguese were granted land along the Chao Phya River, where they founded their first settlement – with more than two thousand people – and built Churches. Even today this area is referred to as ‘Ban Portuguet’, which missionaries and merchants from Macao, Goa and Malacca did much to develop. The Settlement has since been recognized as a historical site and on a recent visit one of the very few residents living at the site proudly remembers his name as also being Andre Gawthorn.
With the destruction of Ayuthya by the Burmese, in 1767, the Portuguese community existing there vanished and General Phya Taksin who in the following year won the independence of the Kingdom, granted the Portuguese, who had fought with him, land in the area of the new capital which was established on Dhonburi, on the west bank of the Choa Phya River. This site was called Santa Cruz which still exists and has among some families, Portuguese names. One resident calls himself Antonio and believes that he comes from a Jeremiah seafaring family. Currently there are Catholic families living in the area surrounding the Santa Cruz Church who make and sell small cakes that tradition says are from an old Portuguese recipe (cf. Helder de Mendoncae Cunha 1987).
In 1641 the main blow to Portuguese trade and navigation in the Far East came from the Dutch East India Company, which occupied Malacca. However, friendly relations between Siam and the Portuguese continued.
French influence in Siamese history began with the arrival of French Catholic Missionaries who belonged to the Societe des Missions Etrangeres de Paris (MEP) in 1662. These French Missionaries were also warmly received by the authorities. As a result, the Portuguese missionaries who belonged to the Padroado of the East saw their ministry notably diminished. Before the arrival of the French missionaries, there were 11 Catholic priests in Siam, ten Portuguese and a Spanish.
European political influence and missionary rivalry aside, it must be recognized that the arrival of the Portuguese and the Catholic Faith into Thailand saw the creation of a community which was locally referred to as Thai-Portuguese - similar to the community created in Malacca during the same period. As may be easily deduced, Portuguese influence in Thailand declined as from 1662. And, among the various results of the influence of the Portuguese was the creation of a Community who had to submit to changing circumstances.
The Thai-Portuguese Community - The Penang Eurasian Community
Thai-Portuguese assimilated well into the Thai national scenario adopting Thai names, education and language. They however held steadfast to their Catholic Faith and lived close to the churches that were built by the Portuguese religious missionaries. Like their Malacca-Portuguese counterparts they were largely traders who developed their skills while in support of and part of the Portuguese Trade Route of Malacca – Penang (Batu Feringgi, Pulau Tikus) – Kedah (Kuala Kedah) – Phuket, where a sizeable number of Thai-Portuguese settled by the end of the 18th Century.
The island of Junk Ceylon [a mispronunciation of ‘Ujong Salang’] or Phuket, as it is now called, is situated close to the west coast of Thailand and about 200 miles to the north of Penang. The existence of large deposits of tin-ore contributed mainly to the importance it had attained as a center of commerce and in mid Sixteen Century the Portuguese founded a factory for trade in elephants, tin and other produce. It was managed by Portuguese settlers, who with their descendants [known as Thai-Portuguese] ‘in large numbers were established on the island and the mainland opposite’ (Clodd H.P., 1948). Kedah claimed overlordship of Junk Ceylon and installed a Malay Governor who was the principal merchant.
In terms of the changing circumstances concerning their faith, the Thai-Portuguese Catholic life-style now had to deal with French Catholic Missionary administration. There was obviously slow acceptance due to the missionary rivalry between the Portuguese and the French. The strained relationship between the Portuguese Mission and the French Mission was aptly described by Joseph C. Pasqual (undated) when he described the fall of Ayuthia from Missionary Records – “But when the decay of Portuguese power, and after the fall of Malacca in 1641, and consequent diminution of missionary enterprise which was solely vested by the Pope in the Crown of Portugal, the Holy See appealed to France to enter the field and supplement the evangelical efforts of the Portuguese in the Orient. This met with strong opposition from the Portuguese. Arriving at the Siamese capital, the three French Bishops appointed by the Pope to the Eastern Mission met with the greatest hostility from the Portuguese Camp.”
PHUKET-KEDAH AND MARTINA ROZELLS, THE FRENCH CATHOLIC MISSIONARY AND THE REVIVAL OF THE MALAYSIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE PENANG EURASIAN COMMUNITY GEORGE TOWN, PENANG, THE MALAYAN/THAI PORTUGUESE CATHOLICS, COLLEGE GENERAL PULAU TIKUS, PENANG, THE PENANG EURASIAN COMMUNITY PULAU TIKUS, PENANG,
In 1772 English East India Company officials Francis Light and Edward Monckton together with an interpreter called Mr. de Mello [a popular Malayan-Portuguese name] began trade talks with Kedah Royalty. During 1772 on his return to Junk Ceylon, Francis Light allied himself with ‘a Portuguese of Siam’ MARTINA ROZELLS whose name ‘certainly shows Portuguese origin and it is quite possible that she was a member of the Portuguese Roman Catholic Community then located in Junk Ceylon’, and was known to have had connections with the Kedah court. The affairs of Junk Ceylon and Kedah were closely interknit, very largely as the result of the religious activities of Portuguese missionaries in founding Jesuit colonies in both places. When the Burmese reasserted their authority in Junk Ceylon, the Thai-Portuguese Catholic Community fled to Port Queda [Kuala Kedah], with the massacre of all Christians. Many of them made the arduous journey trekking southward, to seek religious freedom in adjacent Kedah.
THE FRENCH CATHOLIC MISSIONARY AND THE REVIVAL OF THE MALAYSIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
In 1781, two French missionaries, Coude and Garnault, escaped from persecution and reached Port Queda. Finding the Catholics there [presumably Thai-Portuguese from Phuket as well as Malacca-Portuguese] without facilities to practise their religion, they asked the Ruler of Kedah for land on which to build a church. In 1782, ‘The Ruler, Sultan Abdulla, most graciously gave them a large house to use as a church and religious center. There they practised their faith, the sermons being preached in Portuguese and Siamese on alternate Sundays’ (cf. Augustin J.F., 1984). Sultan Abdulla, in need of military and naval protection, indicated a willingness to negotiate with the British East India Company and Francis Light acted as the mediator. During his discussions with the Sultan he stayed in Kuala Kedah among his Catholic friends. When Francis Light urgently needed suitable and capable people to help him in the administration and development of Penang, he turned to his Thai/Malayan-Portuguese friends and brought them to Penang. This Community was at the site of the present Fort Conwallis, when Francis Light took formal administrative possession of the Island of Penang.
THE PENANG EURASIAN COMMUNITY GEORGE TOWN, PENANG
Francis Light gave the Catholics a piece of land bounded today by Pitt Street, Bishop Street, China Street and Church Street. Immediately after Francis Light hoisted the Union Jack in Penang on 11th August 1786, he sent his ship ‘Speedwell’ to bring the remaining Malayan/Thai Portuguese in Kuala Kedah to Penang. They landed on the 15th of August, which is known, to Catholics as the Feast of the Assumption. The Catholic community, led by now Bishop Coude and his assistant Father Garnault settled in the vicinity and with ‘Light’s permission’, Father Garnault built the first Church, named Church of the Assumption, on Church Street. This primitive Church was built of timber and roofed with attap. It was constructed on stilts because the site was a mangrove swamp that extended from the eastern shore of the town to present Carnarvon Street. In 1787, on the death of Bishop Coude, Father Garnault became Superior of the Catholic Mission in Siam with the title of ‘Bishop of Siam and Queda’, and the Parish House for the Bishop and Priests was built on present Bishop Street.
THE MALAYAN/THAI PORTUGUESE CATHOLICS were now being groomed under a ‘foreign’ French Catholic Mission, thereby making them the ‘founding parishioners’ of the revived Catholic Church and Faith under the French Catholic Mission as opposed to the organization of the previous Portuguese Catholic Mission in Malaya. By 1788 the Malayan/Thai Portuguese Community numbered about 200 and lived in the then popularly known ‘Kampung Serani’ in George Town Penang. The word ‘serani’ is the colloquial form of the Malay word ‘nasrani’ which to them meant Christian and a direct reference to the Catholic Community then. ‘Kampung Serani’ in Georgetown was located in present Argus Lane, Love Lane and Muntri Street. The Hokkien inhabitants in the early days of Penang referred to these streets as ‘Sek-lan-ni hang’ and the church as ‘sek-lan-ni Le-pai-tng au hang-a’ which could be literally translated as ‘Christian Sunday Praying-place’ (cf, Reutens, G.S., undated).
COLLEGE GENERAL PULAU TIKUS, PENANG
It was in Pulau Tikus that the French Catholic Mission purchased a sizable piece of land from one Mr. Mitchell and in 1807 revived College General, which was first established in Ayutthaya in 1665, to train priests for the Catholic Churches in Asia ‘in accordance with the principal objective of the Society for Foreign Missions: to train a national clergy’.
The College was an international institution, with students from Malaysia, India, China, Japan, Annam, Bengali, and Siam. Latin provided the only common tongue’ (Bressan, 2000).
Archbishop Luigi Bressan (2000) described the General College in Ayutthaya as ‘insecure’ by 1769 that prompted the decision to move the College and its Superior and forty-one students to Pondicherry, India in 1770… ‘Although the area was peaceful, students were lacking. The climate of India and the distance from China and Indochina, from which most of the students came, made it obvious that India was not the right place for the College. Thus, at the end of 1783 the College, which had survived persecution and conflagrations, closed its doors for 25 years, not opening until a site which was both peaceful and central could be found. Finally, in 1806, such a site was found at Penang, a little island that had been colonized by the British a few decades earlier. At Pulau Tikus Penang, the missionaries were granted freedom to minister, as well as other conveniences.
In the entire history of the College, a total of 87 dioceses and ecclesiastical regions used to send their seminarians to the College for their priestly formation. Among them were Burma, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tongking and Vietnam.
College General Penang is now known worldwide as not only serving the priestly formation of national clergy in the Far East but also as ‘the College of Martyrs’ for having had their former students persecuted due to their defense of the Catholic Faith.
Awaiting sainthood is Blessed Nicholas Bunkerd Kitbamrung of Nakhon Pathom Province in Bangkok who was beatified as a martyr of College General in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.
In 1983 College General Penang became the regional seminary for the training of Malaysian Catholic Priests only for East Malaysia. In 1984, College General Penang was relocated from its premises in Pulau Tikus where it has been for 176 years to Mariophile in Tanjung Bungah Penang, which was formerly the holiday house of the College, 3 km from Pulau Tikus.
THE EURASIAN MALAYSIAN COMMUNITY IN PULAU TIKUS, PENANG
In Pulau Tikus, there were pockets of Malayan/Thai Portuguese settled between the rivers of Bagan Jermal Road and Cantonment Road which are currently covered drains flowing towards Gurney Drive. Stories from the early settlers, and handed down by Mary Massang-Nieukey, tell of their arrival during the Portuguese Trading operations, which had stopovers at Batu Ferringhi [Ferringhi being the word that the Malays used to refer to the Portuguese traders who parked their ships at the rock island for fresh supplies] and Pulau Tikus [the island off the coast of Tanjung Tokong/Bunga], and at low tide walked on the shoals of sand banks which appeared like the back of rats leading on to what is historically known as Pulau Tikus [an inland Island of Rats ?]. This Catholic community remained loyal to their faith as given to them by their ancestors through the Portuguese Catholic Mission (cf. Nieukey, Ambrose, undated jottings).
FATHER PASQUAL OF PHUKET, EARLY EDUCATION IN PENANG, References: Trade Route Map.
According to The History of the Siam Mission 1662-1811 by Father Andre, ‘JOHN BAPTIST PASQUAL, son of Thai-Portuguese, was ordained a priest in 1805 and was appointed the Assistant Parish Priest of the Church of Santa Cruz in Bangkok with specific duties to care for the Thai-Portuguese including those in Phuket.’
In 1811, the remnants of the Thai-Portuguese Catholic Community – the parishioners of the Church of Our Lady Free from Sin [a reference to Mother Mary which the Pope changed to The Immaculate Conception] fled Phuket when the massacre of Catholics extended to the island. Under the leadership of their Parish Priest Father John Baptist Pasqual, they made their way to Pulau Tikus, Penang. In his own handwriting from his church records entitled ‘Liber Defunctorum, Ecclesioe, Districtus Pulo-Ticus Ad Anno 1811’, Father Pasqual testifies that as a result of war and its devastations, he was moving his parish to ‘Civitate Pinang’.
Prior to his arrival, ‘Pulo Ticus’ was mainly settled by Thai-Portuguese Catholics most of whom came from Phuket and were Father Pasqual’s relatives and friends. He set up his Church in a tent and the dead were buried around it, as it was then the practice, on land that is presently the Kelawei Road Catholic Cemetery.
It is believed that his relative Thomasia Pasqual and others such as Leandros, Jeremiahs, Gregorys and Josephs gave up their lands between the present College Lane and Leandros Lane to Father Pasqual where he built the first Church of the Immaculate Conception. The neighbouring land was for his poor Catholic parishioners.
These Thai-Portuguese Catholics looked upon Father Pasqual not only as their spiritual leader but also as their benefactor who provided them with a settlement to develop their community during the pioneering days of Penang. They continued with their Portuguese related religious and cultural practices.
Father Pasqual’s personal Portuguese Catholic missionary enthusiasm in Pulo Ticus seemed to wane and this coincided with the British Government’s colonial interests in Penang. The Pulo Ticus Church Record shows that in May 1823 Father Pasqual performed his last burial services for one of his parishioners. It is believed that he made his way back to Santa Cruz in Thailand.
These Thai-Portuguese Catholics from Phuket, later referred to as Eurasians through a British classification in the 1820s, formed the nucleus of the Malaysian Eurasian Community as well as being the founding parishioners of the revived Malaysian Catholic Church.
EARLY EDUCATION IN PENANG, Trade Route Phuket Thailand and Penang since 1511 as part of the Portuguese Trade Supremacy even after the Dutch took over.
While the Eurasians of Penang [EX-MALACCA via SIAM via KEDAH] were blessed to have been the founding-parishioners of the organised return of the Catholic Faith to Malaysia through the Portuguese and French Catholic Missions and later, through the presence of the College General at Pulau Tikus, to the rest of the country and the Far East; they were equally blessed to be the founding-students at the introduction of modern education into Malaysia and the Far East.
Back in the 1820s Bishop Boucho the parish priest of the old Assumption Church opened a ‘church school’ known as St. Francis Xavier’s Free School in Bishop Street near the site of the old Armenian Church, as well as a girls school for 39 pupils near bye (cf. Reutens, G.S., op. cit.) to see to needs of the catholic children of mainly Thai-Portuguese descent from Phuket and Kedah.
In Pulau Tikus, popularly referred to as a ‘village’, Father Pasqual and his community built two ‘Malay-type’ premises to serve as ‘church schools’ for boys and girls.
The medium of teaching in the schools in Georgetown and Pulau Tikus was Malay. The contents of the instructions were mainly related to Catholic religious matters.
Catholic Brothers and Sisters in Education
As Penang’s administration and commercial houses developed there was an increasing need for people who could read, write and count in English (Augustin, J.F, op. cit.). As such the Catholic Church Schools needed to be upgraded in their curriculum. At the request of Bishop Boucho, the La Salle Brothers of the Christian Schools and the Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus arrived in 1852.
It would therefore be reasonable to expect that the Brothers and Sisters in Education have been instrumental in moulding the characters and lives of a vast number of men and women through the years who are of influence and honour, holding eminent positions in civil society of more particularly Penang and through Penang into the rest of the world. This is the realization of a dream for social change – to touch the youthful heart and harness its creative forces for a culture of compassion of Service.
In concluding on this paper it would not be unreasonable to imply that Phuket-Thailand and its Thai-Portuguese connections with the early Penang Eurasian Community, as a nucleus, set the stage for the development of the historically remembered minority community in Malaysia that contributed as founding parishioners of the revived Malaysian Catholic Church and the founding students and teachers of ‘modern education’ as well as moving on from being traders to being in significant positions in the early civil service of Penang.
The author of this paper Dr. Anthony Pasqual Sibert is of the 6th generation of Pasquals through his mother Regina Massang-Pasqual since the days of Ambrose Pasqual the father of Father John Baptist Pasqual the last Parish Priest of the Church of Immaculate Conception in Phuket before becoming the first Parish Priest of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Pulau Tikus Penang.
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aesibert@yahoo.com 2003
Trade Route Phuket Thailand and Penang since 1511 as part of
the Portuguese Trade Supremacy even after the Dutch took over.
Trade Route Phuket Thailand and Penang since 1511 as part of
the Portuguese Trade Supremacy even after the Dutch took over.
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