FINDING A PIECE OF OUR CHURCH HISTORY

Last Thursday, 23rd March, I met Mr Alston Perianayagam and 2 of his friends after our 6.45am Mass. He and his friends are originally from Jaffna, Sri Lanka and presently residing in Toronto, Canada for more than 20 years. During the war in Sri Lanka, Alston left to Toronto for studies and settled there. He came for few days visit to Malaysia in memory of his grandfather.

I had earlier, in 16^th March, received an email from Alston mentioning about his arrival to Malaysia to trace back his grandfather’s heritage in Bukit Mertajam and Kuala Lumpur. His grandfather is Mr Santhiappillai Soosaipillai and his grandmother Mrs Soosaipillai Mariapillai. Late Santhiapillai was a Malaya Railway Station Master in Bukit Mertajam and Kuala Lumpur. He was transferred before the World War II from Bukit Mertajam to Sentul. He commuted from Sentul to Kuala Lumpur Station every day then. He was the Station Master in Kuala Lumpur and residing in Sentul during the period of the Japanese occupation in 1944-1946. He was passed away during the bombing in 1946.

Ever since he was transferred to KL Railway Station he became actively involved in the Church activities and he was a very respectable person in our Church then. That was the reason probably that when he died, he was buried at the same place where the priests and nuns were buried (at the church backyard) and now presently where the school is located. The authorities had later exhumed all the deceased persons’ remains and reburied them all in one plot at the Christian Cemetery, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

After Santhiapillai’s passing, his wife Mariapillai, left to Sri Lanka with his children. One of the children was Soosaipillai Perianayagam who was born in Malaysia and passed away in Sri Lanka in 2013. His son is Alston and grandson of late Santhiapillai, who resides in Canada and made a visit to Malaysia lately.

After morning Mass on last Thursday, I had a chat with him and took him for a tour around the Church and school compounds. We met the Principal of SMK Convent, Sentul, Puan Debbie Yeong and fortunately, she gave permission to visit her school archives. There, we detected Alston’s aunty, Agnes Gomez, who started schooling on 8 January 1940 at Convent School. His aunty had visited our church and school in 1980s. With the photographs and other details which was brought by Alston we succeeded in locating his grandfather’s previous burial site, his aunt’s school registration date and her classroom. On our way returning to the parish office, we also met Puan Valarmathi, the Principal of St Joseph Tamil School.

After almost a two-hour tour around the church and school compound I contacted Bishop Emeritus Selvanayagam who is staying temporarily with Rev Fr Stanislaus at the Chapel of Christ the Light, Desa Jaya, Kepong. Alston came to know Bishop Selva through his aunty, Agnes Gomez. After meeting me he left to Desa Jaya to meet Bishop Selva and then to Christian Cemetery at Cheras to pay his last tribute to his late grandfather before leaving to Canada.

Mr Alston’s visit has enlightened me a bit about our own Church history. I shared about Alston’s grandparents with a few of our senior citizens and I am sharing this amazing history with you now. If you have more of this kind of information please do share with us - at least our coming generations may treasure our history and the growth of the Church in Sentul.