13- My first appointment – Malacca Corps
The weekend’s meetings over, all new Lieutenants had to wait till the Thursday to move to our appointments. Three days of waiting seemed like eternity for me because I had wanted to get to my first appointment straightaway! The commissioning was the climax for the weekend’s events, and we were all on fire for the Lord!!
Thursday came, and the Public Relations Secretary, Major Stanley Gordon, fetched me to the Sing Liang Malacca/Singapore Express Bus terminal at Beach Road to begin a six hour journey by bus to Malacca. It had to cross two ferries, at Batu Pahat and Muar. There were no expressways then!
On arrival, I was met by my predecessor, Lieutenant Douglas Kiff. He and his newly married wife, Jean, had delayed their departure for Penang in order to conduct my welcome meeting. Douglas and I sat in one trishaw, while all my worldly possessions, comprising a suitcase, a small bag and a carton of books, went into another. We did not have far to go from the bus station to 69-A Wolferstan Road. Malacca Corps occupied the premises above the wine shop.
On the front of the building was the sign board with the words THE SALVATION ARMY in English, Malay and Chinese. Directly below it was another signboard - CHOP SI SOON, WINE AND SPIRIT MERCHANTS. What a strange juxtaposition!
We ascended a narrow staircase and entered the corps premises. The main floor area was the corps hall, with 30 chairs. A small corner at the back was partitioned off for quarters - a cubicle, which served as a bed-sitting room cum office for the Corps Officer. It was most convenient for the officer to get out of bed and there was the office desk to work! At the back was a small kitchen and bathroom, but toilet facilities were downstairs. To get there meant descending the spiral staircase, walking past the living area of the people living downstairs, past a fierce German shepherd, tied up during the day and freed at night to roam the backyard!
There was plenty to occupy me – Sunday Holiness meeting in the morning, and Salvation meeting at night, the Sunday School in the afternoon and an open-air meeting prior to the night salvation meeting. During the week there was a tuition programme, Joy Hour and Thursday night Holiness meeting. Later on I added Youth fellowship, plus Saturday night English meeting.
Malacca Corps has an interesting history. Early in 1940 Adjutant and Mrs. Harold Matthews were appointed to pioneer the work. Soon after their arrival they befriended a Mr. Tan Kok Liat who gave them considerable assistance. The upstairs of the shophouse mentioned above was rented to hold meetings. At the end of that year twelve senior and a number of junior soldiers were enrolled.
From the first session of cadets, Lieutenant Edward Touruan was appointed as an assistant. He was of Indonesian origin and spoke the language widely used by the peranakans in Malacca. Sadly, he resigned after less than a year and Lieutenant Mollie Yeo Phaik Lean (later became Mrs. Captain George Tan) was appointed to replace him. (Mollie now lives in Australia and attends the Chatswood Corps)
The Corps Officers were greatly helped by Mr.C.Y Chang (brother-in law of the well-known C.K Tang of Singapore.) They were very good supporters of the Salvation Army.
When Malacca was invaded by the Japanese, Adjutant Matthews was arrested and put into an internment camp in Malacca. Amongst the prisoners was one of Adjutant Matthews’ converts. He had been engaged in raising funds to help China fight the Japanese. Now he and his friends were in prison awaiting execution. Adjutant Matthews was able to comfort and pray with him. Another man, Mr. Ong Teck Ee a confucianist, accepted the Lord and prior to being executed said, “I don’t mind death now that I have found Jesus as my Saviour.”
After the war, in 1946 Adjutant and Mrs. Stanley Gordon were appointed to reopen the Malacca Boys’ Jubilee Club. This was sponsored by the Silver Jubilee Fund of Singapore set up in honour of King George V. (Malacca was one of the states which made up the British Straits settlements.). Adjutant Gordon was designated as the superintendent of this centre, which had twenty-one boys in need of care and protection living there. At the end of 1947 the Club ceased to operate and Adjutant and Mrs. Gordon were transferred to Ipoh.
In the meantime Adjutant and Mrs. Gordon worked hard to re-establish our Corps work. The downstairs tenants – the Wine Shop, now occupied the whole property at 69 Wolferstan Road, including the upstairs part rented by the Army before the war. Adjutant Gordon managed to persuade the owner to agree to lease it to the Army again, but there was some difficulty in getting the new tenants to move out! After some hard negotiations the Army managed to regain occupancy.
In March 1948, Captain and Mrs. George Tan were appointed as Corps Officers. The Tan family with three children used the hall as part of the quarters. On Sunday and weeknights the place was a worship hall again. Everything had to be moved into the cubicle at the back.
The pre-war soldiers who had been worshipping at the Chinese Methodist Church returned to the Army. They brought their friends along as well to the Army meetings held above the wine shop. Captain George Tan soon found himself busy with social work in the community. He was a member of the Prisoners’ Aid Society, Association for the prevention of Tuberculosis and other welfare groups. For his services to the community Captain George Tan was awarded the Malayan Defence Medal (Civil). The British Government awarded the captain with the British Defence Medal and the 1939-45 Service Star.
In 1953, Lieutenant Douglas Kiff was appointed to command the Corps. Malacca was a Hokkien speaking corps and the he had to depend on interpreters amongst whom was Mr. C. Y. Chang, now a Methodist lay preacher. The Lieutenant started tuition classes for the young people and the corps continued to grow.
So here I was at the age of 22, becoming the “Bok Su” (pastor) as the people would address me. The nearest Salvation Army was 150 miles away in Singapore. I was alone, but not lonely for there was much to occupy my time.
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