In a new book, author Chen writes that despite the hardships of WWII, the surviving nuns remained resilient, and their schools soon thrived once more. Photo: Handout
Convent Light Street in Penang will always be special for me. It remains the only sister school of my alma mater, St Xavier’s Institution (SXI), where I had my primary and secondary education.
CLS, as it was known, sits next to SXI, and both share a sports field with an incredible seafront view. Not many students in Malaysia can boast of playing games under the sun while enjoying the sea breeze.
In CLS, students in some classrooms also get to enjoy the picturesque view.
Studying in a boys’ school, my first meaningful interaction with the fairer sex came when I was a boy scout working with the girl guides at CLS, and other convent schools in Penang.
My wife is from Convent Datuk Keramat, the only missionary school which offered Chinese as a medium of instruction at primary level.
CLS has a special place in the history among missionary schools, because it was the first such school. It has a history no other school can match.
It was founded by French Catholic nuns in 1852, and is the oldest English medium girls’ school in South-East Asia, besides being one of the most highly regarded missionary schools in the country.
It all began in 1852 when five young Sisters, on their maiden mission outside France, set sail for Penang. Only three arrived on the island in April that year. Their leader Mother St Pauline lost her life at sea and the only member competent to teach in English deserted the team.
The 30-year-old Sister Pulcherie Bath – the only British native among them – was said to have fallen in love with the captain of the ship, which influenced her decision to leave the institute. She deserted the team to join the local lay Catholic community upon reaching Singapore.
All the Sisters studied Malay and English each day besides carrying out their religious routines during the voyage.
“Mother St Mathilde and three others arrived later, and over the next two decades, they progressively strengthened their base in Penang. By the first half of the 20th century, their unique brand of convent schools had spread across many parts of the Malay peninsula,” wrote Chen Yen Ling in her 2019 book, Lessons From My School – The Journey Of The French Nuns And Their Convent Schools.
It was a story of a long and perilous journey. And an ironic one too. These were French nuns, and most could hardly speak English. Yet, they were supposed to set up an English school in Penang!
That’s not all. The founder of Penang, Captain Francis Light, occupied the Government House as his residence, and that building stands in what is now CLS.
The founder of Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles, also spent time working in the building. In fact, it is said that he spent more time in Penang than in Singapore.
Chen, a chartered accountant turned author, has now come out with a follow up book – Convents Of The Saint Maur Sisters, A Nostalgic Road In The East.
This book traces the journey of Mother St Mathilde’s teams, and how they set up their first mission in Bangkok in 1885, as well as other schools in Singapore, and Tokyo and Yokohama in Japan.
In all the schools, Mathilde was to play a major role. The nuns’ epic journey through these countries was one that was filled with perils, hardship and sacrifices.
In most cases, when they arrived in these countries, they did not even have proper accommodation for themselves, let alone a school building.
Even when they left their homes in France, they knew they would never return home and starting with Penang, they knew that the days would likely end in the hot and humid tropics.
WWII was cruel to all, including the nuns. The Japanese Navy took over CLS, and used the Government House as a base and interrogation centre.
“The walls inside the House bear the signatures of some imprisoned American sailors who etched their names with their belt buckles,” goes the story, according to the Penang Wiki site.
Chen writes that English education was forbidden in Malaysia while in Japan, most of the sisters’ buildings were flattened by bombs.
“But it did not break the spirit of the survivors and soon their schools were flourishing again,’’ she writes.
Indeed, these institutions, which became known for high quality education, discipline, character building and instilling proper values, have benefited many.
There are 51 such schools in Malaysia, 11 in Singapore, 20 in Japan and six in Thailand, at kindergarten, primary, secondary, international, and vocational levels.
Today, the graves of Mathilde, her accompanying pioneer, Sister St Gregory, and other sisters who served in Japan can be found at the Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery.
“Strikingly, a single memorial headstone consisting of 15 names stood out. Out of these, 10 lost their lives during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923,’’ wrote Chen.
Her two books are the result of the cumulative of 15 years of labour, which she described as a “worthwhile discovery, educational and enrichment venture.’’
It is most commendable that Chen has taken this painstaking exercise to record the sacrifices of these Sisters in our education history. In fact, in all these places, they also had to be mothers too – as they found that they had to turn their school buildings into orphanages.
Chen has also little gems to tell – like how the Kedah and Johor royal households provided land and money to these Sisters to set up schools including in Alor Setar, Sungai Petani and Kulim in the 1930s and 1940s.
“In the annals of St Nicholas Convent Alor Setar and St Anne’s Convent Kulim respectively, specific mention was made about then prince Tunku Abdul Rahman and close family member Ma Che who offered one of her houses while Tunku himself allowed the Volunteers’ Drill premises to be used by the sisters for their school,’’ Chen wrote.
“In Johor, the progressive western educated and widely travelled Sultan Sir Ibrahim generously presented Mother St James with two acres (8,094sq m) of land and 10,000 Malayan dollars to build the first convent school of Johor Baru in 1926,” she added.
Let’s hope the stories of the sisters do not end here. I am most fascinated with the story of Sister Marie Jombunud, a Thai princess, who grew up in the palace, but entered the convent, became a teacher at CLS in Penang and a principal at St Theresa’s Convent in Singapore but returned to Thailand in 1970. She passed away in 1997 at the age of 81.
We know how these missionary schools, including the convent schools, are struggling to keep the enrolment as they face competition from Chinese primary schools as well as private and international schools.
Some of these Convent schools including CLS have been turned into international schools with its female students now studying at SXI.
Their iconic buildings, many over a century old, stand idle in some cases with declining student population. But we pray that the Sisters will succeed in continuing their mission, and we believe they will.
Unlike many other mission schools which have Latin mottos, the Infant Jesus Sisters’ Convents worldwide have a French one – Simple Dans Ma Vertu, Forte Dans Mon Devoir, which means Simple in My Virtue, Steadfast in Duty.
Convents Of The Saint Maur Sisters, A Nostalgic Road In The East is available at the Infant Jesus Sisters Provincialate at Convent Bukit Nanas (from Tuesday to Thursday), Areca Books, Gerakbudaya and other major bookstores. Email ij.books18@gmail.com.
