The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1958-04-18
Church In Singapore
Missionaries Must Fight
Paganism, State Restriction

BY Erik Won Kuehnelt-Ledd
In the Malay countries the Church has a very
hard nut to crack since the MalayS, in their vast
majority, are MoslemS and conversions from the
Islamic faith are VIGOROUSLY rare.
This does not mean that the Church ever thought
of giving up the idea to convert the Malays who
contribute the largest part of the population of two
important stateS-lndonesia and newly-born Malaga
which, less than a year ago, was a British Colony.
Singapore is not yet formally a part OF Malaya,
it is still British, though scheduled to Join the Malay
State in the forseeable future. In Singapore no less
than in Malaga, however, the Church is legally bound
to restrict her missionary activities to the non-Malay
elements.
/ had talks with various missionaries in Singa-
pore, a well administered city in which the British
government warmly supports the Church. The Catho-
lie school teachers are paid directly by the governs
ment and aid is also given for school buildings.
One must leave it to the British that in their
homeland as well as in their colonies the moral edu-
cation of the growing generation forms part and
parcel of their policy
All the missionaries / questioned admitted that
no specific efforts are made to win over the Malays
but individual conversions always happen and then
the convert especially if he is male) has to leave his,
community and must live elsewhere, otherwise ne
could be brutally prosecuted.
Sometimes he goes to Indonesia where the popu-
lation is far more tolerant. The main efforts of the
missions in Malay and Singapore are directed towards
the Chinese element which forms 80 per cent of the
population of Singapore and 40 per cent OF Malaga
proper.
These Chinese are either immigrants or their
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ambitious group producing a number of very wealthy
people.
If they are less successful they often become
the victims of either Communist propaganda or Red
Chinese pressure. Most of their relatives still live in
China and to the Chinese the family means every
thing or almost everything. Peking knows how
to use blackmail. =
As a result the Church and the Communists are
engaged in a head-on struggle in Singapore and
Malaga, where Chinese Communist guerillas are still
attacking travellers and villagers. saw people driv-
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Johore Bharu.
The Communists in Singapore use every imagin-
able front" in order to foster their activities. The
Party which recently won the elections in that city,
the peoples Action Party" is headed by a young
fu%zzy-minded Chinese intellectual, now mayor OF
Singapore.
His party is definitely a Communist outfit. Social
ism. a Clear, but false idea" had its run in Europe
and is now benumbing Asia. The only force which
can oppose Communism is Christianity in its con-
crete form, are the Catholic faith and the Catholic
Church.
Nothing else least of all nationalism, which
is so ready to enter into an intimate union with either
socialism or communism-different, after all, in de.
gree only.
Thus the Catholic Church and Communism are
facing each other in Asia no less than in Europe. In
Singapore the Catholic missionaries and the native
clergy make heroic efforts, especially among the
Chinese.
Needless to say, their language problem is
enormous since not only the Chinese with their
various, radically different dialects, but also the
ELSuSH-SpedklHS community, Tie r1l1ul anu ldHln
immigrants, the faithful Portuguese and-indirectly-
the Malays must be accosted and taken care of.
There is an excellent Diocesan weekly, run by an
American Jesuit, and then there are the famous nov
enas to Our Lady of Perpetual Help organized by the
Australian Redemptorists. These take place every
Saturday with about 10000 people-among them 20
to Is per cent pagans-participating.
You should see the car park with four atfend-
ants and the arrival Of the fully loaded buses. These
novenas are a steady source Of conversions.
The Catholic forces in Singapore are concentrated
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two schools, two chapels, and the Catholic Centre
primarily for university students) form a vertible
fortress of the Faith, an island in a truly pagan sea.
And if you want to know what paganism, pure
and simple, is like, I'll tell you about the reaction of
an old, very rich Chinese whose wife became a Catho-
Ole and who, gently questioned by a priest about his
spiritual interest, bluntly replied: "My dear Father,
don't waste your time. All / ever cared for in life was
sex in its most carnal forms" Here you have that
materialism Of whose stuff, incidentally, Communism
is made.