DKJJW TuKOIvOGICAL bEKLlN MALAYSIA MISSION MALAY PENINSULA v I POM MALACCA SINGAPORE NORTH BORNEO; PENANG BAR A WAN U LI NO \ BOR NEO MACASSAR TIMOR Methodist Episcopal Church Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Columbia University Libraries https://archive.org/details/rnalaysiamissiono00deny_0 BISHOP JAMES HILLS THOBURN, D.D., LL.D THE MALAYSIA MISSION OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH By The Rev. JOHN RUSSELL DENYES MISSIONARY, SINGAPORE MALAYSIA Published by the OPEN DOOR EMERGENCY COMMISSION MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 150 Fifth Avenue, New York Price, Ten Cents EDITED BY Charles H. Morgan ISHOP JAMES MILLS THOBURN,D.D., LL.D., was born at St. Clairsville, Ohio, — March 7,1836. After graduation from Allegheny College in 1857 and service for two years as a pastor, he responded to the call of God and the Church, and sailed April 12,1859, for India,which has formed the broad basis of a missionary career world-wide in the sweep of its influence. Elected a Missionary Bishop for India, May 25,1888, by outlook and leader¬ ship inspiring steps of advauce which have embraced India, Burma, Malaysia, and the Philippine Islands, multiplying the number of communicants in some sections tenfold in a decade, enlarging by voice and pen the faith and gifts of the Church at home to make possible still greater achievements abroad, he is completing a missionary course marked by the vision of a prophet and the labors of an apostle. Copyright by Century Company MOUNT SALAK FROM THE RESIDENT S GARDEN, BEITBNZORG, JAVA MALAYSIA MISSION NATURAL FEATURES AND PEOPLE Malaysia, the home of the Malay, or brown man, lies to the southeast of Asia, between Indo-China and Australia. It includes the Malay Peninsula and the larger half of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. The principal islands of this The Land group are Sumatra, a country as large as the States of Areas Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas; Java, of the size of New York State; Celebes, the territorial equal of all New Eng¬ land; Borneo, nearly four times as large as Illinois; and all the hundreds of lesser islands and islets which appear so insig¬ nificant upon the map, but which are in reality countries capable of supporting a large population. The Philippine Islands are properly a part of Malaysia, but as they are treated in a separate booklet they will not be discussed further in this one. New Guinea and the islands lying to the east of it belong rather to Polynesia than to Malaysia; for the people, the animals, the birds, and even the plants show r a marked departure from the types found in Malaysia. The land area embraced within the bounds of Malaysia amounts to seven hundred thousand square miles, a terri¬ tory equal to one fifth of the area of the United States. Much of the country is mountainous. In Sumatra and Java and in many of the smaller islands there are active vol¬ canoes, and these countries are subject to frequent and vio¬ lent earthquakes. The climate is hot and moist. The Climate thermometer stands at about ninety degrees in the shade the year around. There is no time in the year when it is safe for a European to go about exposed to the sun be- 5 tween the hours of nine o’clock in the morning and four in the afternoon without a pith or a cork helmet. Rain falls on an average of two hundred days in the year. For the most part- the country is covered with a jungle so dense that a human being cannot make his way through it ROAI) THROUGH THE JUNGLE save as he hews for himself a road or follows the paths of the wild beasts. These jungles are the homes of the rhi- Flora and noceros, the hippopotamus, the elephant, the buffalo, Fauna wild cattle, deer, bear, tigers, panthers, monkeys, pigs, monstrous serpents, and thousands of smaller animals and creeping things. r. FRUITS OF MALAYSIA The chief products are tin, of which this territory furnishes more than half of the world’s total output, rubber, rice, cocoanuts, pineapples, cinchona bark, pepper, spices, Products tea, coffee, sugar, indigo, tobacco, rattan, tapioca, sandalwood, and teak. In this island territory there are about forty million peo¬ ple, of whom more than half live in the island of Java. The majority of these are members of the Malay family. "They DYAK HEAD HUNTER have a light brown complexion, straight black hair, and are three or four inches shorter than the average occidental. The sexes do not differ much in appearance. They are slow and circumlocutory of speech, courteous and dignified, 8 seldom offensive or quarrelsome, jealous of any encroach¬ ment on personal freedom, and possess greater energy and acquisitiveness than other natives of the islands. On the other hand, they are gloomy, indolent, without self- Malay control, strongly addicted to gambling and opium Population smoking, pitilessly cruel, and much given to theft and piracy. A distinction, however, should be made, as they are divided into two great groups—the savage and the semicivilized. The head-hunting Dyaks of Borneo are the best representatives of the former. They have no litera¬ ture or regular government, and wear only the scantiest clothing. The rest are semicivilized, possess written lan¬ guages, and a limited literature; they have established gov¬ ernments and some form of religion, and are fairly well provided with tools.” The most important element of the foreign population settled in Malaysia is the Chinese. Already numbering more than two million, they are pouring into this region in large numbers from southern China. They are the The Chinese mechanics, the miners, the farmers, and the traders of the islands. Though many of them return in the course of time to their native land, yet many others make their homes in the new country, modify to a consider¬ able extent their dress, their customs, their religions, and even their language, adopting the speech of the Malay. In 1895 there were sixty-two thousand Europeans and Eurasians living in the archipelago. Most of these Europeans were of Dutch descent, and were living in the Dutch possessions. Sumatra, Java, Celebes, the Moluccas, and two thirds of Borneo, besides most of the smaller islands, belong to Hol¬ land, and are ruled by a governor-general whose residence is at Batavia, in Java. The lower part of the Malay Government Peninsula, and, in Borneo, the sections of Sarawak, Brunei, British North Borneo, and the island of Labuan are either British colonies or under British control. The upper part of the Malay Peninsula is under the pro¬ tection of Siam. 9 RELIGIONS Speaking generally, the Malays are Mohammedans. Be¬ fore the introduction of Mohammedanism, Brahmanism, Sivaism, and Buddhism prevailed largely throughout Su¬ matra and Java. This is shown by the numer- Chiefly ous ruins of old temples, scattered all over these Mohammedans islands. Even now Islam does not mean here what it does in Arabia and Turkey. The Malay has adopted the creed of Mohammed, but this has “ only in¬ creased the number of supersensual beings to whom he prays.” Trees, rocks, fields, villages all have their patron spirits. Diseases are attributed to spirits, which must be propitiated. Offerings are also made to Scripture characters. Joseph rewards his worshipers with children, Solomon with rank and fame, Moses with bravery, and Jesus with wisdom. Mohammedanism, however, is gradually obtaining a more complete ascendency, owing to the influence of Arabian priests and the zeal of the pilgrims returning from Mecca. More than ten thousand Malays make this journey every year. The heathen tribes worship “ fetiches, skulls, bones, trees, animals, and the heavenly bodies, besides countless spirits, visible and invisible.” The Chinese retain most of the religious rites and customs of China, especially ancestral worship. GENERAL MISSIONARY WORK Mission work has been carried on among the people of the Dutch possessions in Malaysia since 1603. The results have not been very gratifying, owing partly to the methods adopted and partly to the opposition of the government Dutch to the use of aggressive measures in evangelization. Official Dr. Callenbach, a Dutch authority, says that in 1900 Clergy there were “some 41 European clergymen and evangel¬ ists, aided by 355 ordained natives, native preachers and teachers, working among 234,073 natives of the undenomi¬ national Protestant Church of the East Indies.” In this 10 Copyright by Century Company BORO BEODOR, AN OLD BUDDHIST TEMPLE, JAVA Church the clergymen of the parishes are chosen by a com¬ mittee in Holland, and afterward appointed by a minister of the colonies. Their salaries are paid by the government. JAVANESE WOMEN In addition to these clergymen of the State Church there are in the islands representatives of ten Dutch and two Ger¬ man missionary societies. The Salvation Army also Other has a post in Batavia. These societies claim more Missionary than thirty-six thousand communicants, most of them Movements being converts from Mohammedanism. In 1820 a Baptist missionary opened work in Sumatra, and in 1834 the American Board sent out Munson and Lyman, but 12 they were murdered by the natives after being there but a short time. The American Board also carried on work on the west coast of Borneo from 1839 to 1849. Of Celebes Mr. Alfred Lea says that among the islands of Malaysia there is “ no other spot of like dimensions whose people are so well taught, so intelligent, and so well Work in behaved, whose villages are so well ordered and clean. Celebes whose houses are so well built and kept in such good repair, and whose women and children are so well cared for.” In the British possessions there are missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the English Pres¬ byterian Church, the Plymouth Brethren, the Society for the Propagation of Female Education in the Far Anglo-Saxon East, the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Agencies Young Men’s Christian Association. The agents of the British anti Foreign Bible Society travel throughout both the English and the Dutch colonies. It was at Malacca, on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, that Milne, Medhurst, and Dr. Legge founded schools and did evangelistic work while they were learning the language and waiting for the doors of the Middle Kingdom to be opened. When these missionaries could enter the Chinese Empire, the work in the Straits Settlements was abandoned and they with¬ drew to begin work in China. But that field is now responding nobly by sending many Christian CHINESE RICE mill USED settlers into Malaysia. IN MALAYSIA 13 METHODIST EPISCOPAL MISSION In February, 1885, a new factor appeared in the religious life of Malaysia—the Methodist Episcopal Church opened a mission in Singapore. The founding of this station is one of the romances of modern mission history. For First Step by several years Dr. James M. Thoburn, then presiding Dr. Thoburn elder of the Calcutta District, South India Confer¬ ence, had felt a growing interest in the spiritual welfare of the forty million people whose commercial interests center about the city of Singapore, the “ gateway of the far¬ ther East.” In writing of this period Bishop Thoburn says: “At length I became so impressed with the importance of the project that, early in the year 1884, I published a letter in the Western Christian Advocate calling for two young men to come out as volunteers and occupy the distant outpost of Singapore. I had nothing to offer the volunteers except a great opportunity to do and dare for their Master. We had not a dollar of financial resources, and our plan was to do as we had done in so many cities of India—preach to the Europeans and Eurasians, organize a self-supporting church among them, and then from this base work outward among the non-Christian people. The utmost that I could promise was that I would ac¬ company the two young men and help them make a start by preaching for a season and organizing the work for them.” Twenty young men volunteered, but after lengthy corre¬ spondence it was felt that no two of these w r ere fitted for this particular work. The outcome of this effort might have postponed for years the establishment of the mission Providential had not Providence been putting into operation Forces other forces. Bishop Hurst, who had been holding the Conferences in Europe, had had his attention called to the strategic value of Singapore, and when he ar¬ rived in Haidarabad, where he was to preside over the South India Conference, he was enthusiastic over the idea of found¬ ing a new mission in Malaysia. Under the inspiration of two such leaders it is not surprising that the Conference was ready to undertake great things. A foreign mission deter- 14 mined to establish a foreign mission, and the name of William F. Oldham was read out in the list of appointments as mis¬ sionary to Singapore. Mr. Oldham, Indian born of English parents, was in many ways admirably adapted to accomplish the difficult task mapped out for him. He had served under the Indian gov¬ ernment as a civil engineer, but after his conversion A Prepared felt the call to service in the Church. Realizing the Leader need of further education, lie, with his wife, came to America, where he remained several years in at¬ tendance at one of our colleges. At the time of his appointment to Singa¬ pore he was on the ocean on his way to India to take up the work there under the Methodist Church. With scarcely enough money to pay for their passage Dr. Thoburn, Mr. Oldham, Mrs. Thoburn, and Miss Battie started for Singapore. Mrs. Old¬ ham remained for a time with her mother in India, but her later presence and work were of much value in the early pe¬ riod of the new mission. When the little company reached Singapore they were met at the wharf by Mr. Charles Phillips, an earnest Christian who had been so impressed by a dream in which A N ew he had seen a ship coming in with a party of mis- Macedonian sionaries on board that he had gone to meet the Vision ship, and there recognized the faces seen in his dream. Mr. Phillips took them to his home and entertained them during their stay. 15 REV. WILLIAM F. OLIUIAM, D.I). The Town Hall was rented, and nightly preaching serv¬ ices were begun. On the fourth evening the first break came, and several were converted. The meetings continued for three weeks, and at the end of that time seven- First Fruits teen had decided to unite with the Methodist Church. Two of these, John Polglase and F. J. Benjafield, had been members of the English Methodist Church, and they were taken into full membership. The other fifteen were received on probation. It was with this little church, and with the promise of only such support as they could give him that Mr. Oldham was left, while Dr. and Mrs. Thoburn and Miss Battle returned to India. From 1885 to 1887 Dr. and Mrs. Oldham carried on the work alone, but during the next three years there followed in rapid succession the arrivals of the Rev. George A. Bond and wife, Miss Sophia A. Blaekmore, Rev. Ralph \V. Mun- Succession son and wife, the Rev. Benjamin F. West, M.D., and in Service wife, the Revs. William T. Kensett, William N. Brew¬ ster, and Charles A. Gray, and Dr. Henry L. E. Luer- ing. Since that time the names of sixty other missionaries have appeared in the lists of appointments, making a total of seventy-three since 1885. In this list are not counted those who have gone to the Philippines. Of these seventy-three the Conference Minutes of 1903 show the names of thirty- eight as still enrolled. Of the other thirty-five some have gone to their reward, but most of them, broken in health, have returned to the homeland to stay. Seeing the need of work among the women of Malaysia Mrs. Oldham sent an appeal to Mrs. Mary Nind, then secre¬ tary of the Minneapolis Branch of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society. There was no money in the Woman’s treasury to open new work, but Mrs. Nind said: Work Begun “ Frozen Minnesota will vet, God helping her, plant a mission at the equator;” and personally pledged $3,000 for this purpose. Miss Sophia A. Blaekmore of Aus¬ tralia was appointed, and began her work August 15, 1887. A day school for Tamil girls was opened in Singapore, and the women were visited in their homes. In 1888 Miss Black- 16 more opened a school for Chinese girls in Teluk Ayer, the field constantly widened, and in 1892 other helpers were sent. In 1899 Bishop Foss wrote: “The Malaysia Mission Conference has the genius of expan¬ sion. I could select from the number of its present mis¬ sionaries a first- rate man to be the founder of missions in Bangkok or Ma¬ nila or Borneo or Sumatra,and could find men who are anxious to go and open the work in those places.” From the first the mission¬ aries to Mai aysia have been possessed by the ambition to take possession of every strategic position, to spread the kingdom to every corner of this vast region. The mis- Spirit of sion was scarcely five years old when the spirit of con- Conquest quest led to an exploring expedition to Borneo. In January, 1890, I)r. West and Dr. Luering crossed over to Pontianak, on the southwest coast, and explored the Ivapuas River for about two hundred and fifty miles into the interior. This they found to be a magnificent stream, navigable for ocean steamers for more than two hundred miles, and lined on either bank with Dyak villages. Borneo Shortly after the Annual Meeting, in February, 1891, Explored Dr. John C. Floyd, then superintendent of the mission, and Dr. Luering made another tour through British North Borneo, on the north end of the island. On this trip it was decided that Dr. Luering should remain and open work at the mouth of the Kimanis River among the Dyaks. Dr. Luering remained there the greater part of that year, but before the next Annual Meeting circumstances compelled 17 him to return to Singapore, and the mission to Borneo was abandoned. The records of the same year begin the story of another mission that has proved more successful. At the Annual Meeting it was decided to open work in Penang, on the west DYAK DWELLING, BORNEO coast of the peninsula. Penang is the second city in the Straits Settlements, and has a population of about one hun¬ dred and twenty-five thousand people, most of them being Chinese or Tamils. “ The island of Penang was acquired by the English government by cession from a native Extension prince in 1785 for the small annual payment of to Penang $6,000. It is two miles from the mainland, and is twelve miles long and nine wide. Later a small strip was taken possession of on the opposite coast to arrest the Malay piracy of that part of the high seas. This strip is known as Province Wellesley, and was purchased for an annuity of $2,000.” In the spring of 1891 the Rev. Daniel D. Moore and the Rev. Benjamin H. Balderston were chosen to begin Rapid Growth this new mission. In July Mr. Balderston opened a school on the plan of the Anglo-Chinese school at Singapore, and a few weeks later he was joined by Mr. 18 Moore, who began English preaching services. The Penang Mission grew until, in 1895, it was made a separate district, with Dr. West as presiding elder. Under his able and ener- 11EV. H. L. E. LUERING PH.D. ['residing Elder, l’erak District MRS. LUKRING Teacher of a Day School REV. WILLIAM E. LOWTHER Principal Boys’ School, I poll MISS C. ETHEL JACKSON Principal Girls’ School, Taipeng getic management Penang became the center of a large and flourishing group of outstations. The next outpost to be occupied was Ipoh, the capital of 19 the native state of Perak, on the peninsula. In November of 1894 the Rev. Tinsley W. Stagg was sent to open an Anglo- Chinese school. On account of his wife’s illness Mr. Ipoh a Stagg remained only part of a year, and then was New Center succeeded by the Rev. William E. Horley. The mis¬ sion at Ipoh has also grown until now it appears in the list of appointments as the Perak District. In 1896 Mr. Munson was appointed to open a mission at Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malay States. A preliminary trip was made, but the health of Kuala Lumpur Mrs. Munson failed, and Mr. and Mrs. Munson re- and Malacca turned to America. It was not till March, 1897, that the work at Kuala Lumpur was really begun by Dr. W. T. Kensett and his wife. The same year saw a native Chinese preacher placed at historic Malacca. In the appointments of the Malaysia Conference of 1900 we find what probably has no parallel in the history of Methodism. We read: “Philippine Islands District, Presid¬ ing Elder, to be supplied; Manila, English Church, to Philippine be supplied; Spanish work, to be supplied; Edu- Islands cational work, to be supplied; Soldiers’ and Seamen’s Institute, Mrs. A. E. Prautch; Iloilo, to be supplied.” The marvelous story of the development of this presiding elder’s district, which had no presiding elder, no preachers, and no Church organization, does not belong to this little book. Sarawak is a strip of territory four hundred miles long on the northwest coast of Borneo. This district is inhabited by numerous tribes of head-hunting Dyaks and Sarawak Malays with a goodly number of Chinese. These Dyaks and Malays were formerly pirates and the terrors of the archipelago. In 1840 Sir James Brooke, while on an exploring trip, visited Borneo. At that time the Sultan of Brunei (Borneo) was engaged in putting down a rebellion, and he asked Mr. Brooke to assist with his sailors and cannon. A relative of the sultan was serving as Rajah of Sarawak, but he was not strong enough to control the people; so the sultan persuaded 99 Mr. Brooke to accept the position of ruler of that district. The following year, by an arrangement with the sultan, Mr. Brooke obtained a deed to the country, and became an inde¬ pendent Rajah or King of Sarawak. A settled form of govern¬ ment was established, and the country has been steadily SKULLS OF MEN SLAIN, DYAK HEAD HUNTER'S HOME Photograph taken by I)r. West in 1902 developed. Both Sir James Brooke and his nephew, the present rajah, have had a keen appreciation of the value of missionary work, and have consistently encouraged all efforts made for the regeneration of the people. It was with the belief that Christian colonists were of more value in developing the country than non-Christian that the rajah loaned a large sum of money to a company to use in bringing down from China a colony of Chinese Chris- Chinese tians. Of these Chinese about six hundred were Methodist Methodists. As they were within the bounds of the Colonists Malaysia Conference they must be cared for by that body. It was in March, 1901, that Bishop Warne sailed with the first shipload of the colonists to their new home. There was no money to send a missionary over to care for them; so the work dragged along until March, 1902, when Dr. West, as presiding elder of the Singapore District, of which Borneo was made a part, went to Sarawak and or¬ ganized the work, appointing a Chinese member of Confer¬ ence in charge. But the need of more definite supervision was felt to be so great that in February, 1903, the Rev. James M. Hoover, who had been a teacher in the Anglo-Chinese school at Penang, was sent there to take charge of the mission. FIRST QUARTERLY CONFERENCE IN BORNEO Held at Sion