Bishop of West Malaysia | |
---|---|
Bishopric | |
Anglican | |
Incumbent: Rt Rev Dr Stevan Abbarow | |
Location | |
Country | Malaysia |
Territory | Peninsular Malaysia |
Ecclesiastical province | Church of the Province of South East Asia |
Information | |
First holder | Francis Thomas McDougall |
Established | 1814, current establishment in 1970 |
Diocese | West Malaysia |
Cathedral | St. Mary's Cathedral |
Website | |
The Bishop of West Malaysia is an Anglican prelate who oversees the Diocese of West Malaysia in the Church of the Province of South East Asia. The current bishop is the 5th Bishop of the Diocese since its creation in 1970. His seat is St. Mary's Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur. [1]
Anglicanism came to the Malay Peninsula following the establishment of the British East India Company's administered settlement on Penang island in 1786. The local magistrate, George Caunter, was appointed a Lay Clerk/Acting Chaplain to provide spiritual ministry to the settlers. Under his ministry the first entry into the Church Register was made in 1799. The Diocese of Calcutta provided episcopal supervision for the chaplaincy work on Penang island and the first Anglican Church building, the Church of St. George the Martyr, was built and consecrated in 1819.
In 1867, the administration of the Straits Settlements passed from the hands of the East India Company to the British Crown and in 1869, Anglican churches in the Straits Settlements was placed under the episcopal supervision of the Bishop of Labuan and her Dependencies with the diocese expanded and renamed as the Diocese of Labuan, Sarawak and Singapore. [2]
In 1909, the Straits Settlements was separated to form its own diocese, the Diocese of Singapore. With the Independence of Malaya in 1957 and by 1960, the diocese was renamed the Diocese of Singapore and Malaya. [3] After the Independence of Singapore in 1965, Singapore was separated from the diocese and in 1970, the Diocese of West Malaysia was established with the former Bishop of Sabah, Roland Koh, being appointed as the first Bishop of West Malaysia. [2]
In 2015, a decision was made by the Diocesan Synod to further divide the diocese into three separate dioceses [4] and in 2016, two area dioceses were created, the Area Diocese of the Northern Peninsula and the Area Diocese of the Southern Peninsula, in preparation and two suffragan bishops were licensed to oversee the area dioceses. [5] Provisional approval of the Provincial Synod for the creation of the new dioceses by 2020 has since been obtained. [6]
Bishop of Calcutta | ||||
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From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
1814 | 1823 | Thomas Middleton | ||
1823 | 1827 | Reginald Heber | ||
1827 | 1829 | Thomas James | ||
1829 | 1832 | John Turner | ||
1832 | 1858 | Daniel Wilson | ||
1858 | 1867 | George Cotton | ||
Bishop of Labuan, Sarawak and Singapore | ||||
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
1869 | 1881 | Walter Chambers | Churches in the Straits Settlements separated from the Diocese of Calcutta and placed under the Diocese of Labuan and Sarawak. Diocese renamed Diocese of Labuan, Sarawak and Singapore on 8 August 1855. | |
1882 | 1908 | George Hose | ||
Bishop of Singapore | ||||
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
1909 | 1927 | Charles Ferguson-Davie | Churches in Malaya (including Singapore) were separated from the Diocese to form its own Diocese of Singapore on 24 August 1909. | |
1927 | 1940 | Basil Roberts | ||
1941 | 1949 | Leonard Wilson | ||
1949 | 1960 | Henry Baines | ||
Bishop of Singapore and Malaya | ||||
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
1960 | 1966 | Kenneth Sansbury | The diocese was renamed the Diocese of Singapore and Malaya on 6 February 1960. | |
1966 | 1970 | Chiu Ban It | First local to be consecrated Anglican Bishop. | |
Bishops of West Malaysia | ||||
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes | |
1970 | 1972 | Roland Koh Peck-Chiang | The diocese was separated into the Diocese of West Malaysia and the Diocese of Singapore; translated from Sabah | |
1972 | 1994 | Rt Rev John Savarimuthu | ||
1995 | 2006 | Tan Sri Lim Cheng Ean | ||
2007 | 2020 | Rt Rev Datuk Ng Moon Hing | Archbishop of South East Asia and Primate, 2016–2020 | |
2021 | present | Rt Rev Dr D Steven Abbarrow | ||
Sources: |
The Malayan Union was a union of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single government to simplify administration. Following opposition by the ethnic Malays, the union was reorganised as the Federation of Malaya in 1948.
The states and federal territories of Malaysia are the principal administrative divisions of Malaysia. Malaysia is a federation of 13 states (Negeri) and 3 federal territories.
The Straits Settlements of the Malayan Peninsula have a postal history distinct from the other Malayan areas.
The term "British Malaya" loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. Unlike the term "British India", which excludes the Indian princely states, British Malaya is often used to refer to the Federated and the Unfederated Malay States, which were British protectorates with their own local rulers, as well as the Straits Settlements, which were under the sovereignty and direct rule of the British Crown, after a period of control by the East India Company.
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The Church of the Province of South East Asia is an autonomous member of the Anglican Communion, created in 1996 with the four dioceses of Kuching, Sabah, Singapore and West Malaysia.
The Diocese of Singapore is a diocese of the Province of the Anglican Church in South East Asia consisting of 27 Anglican parishes in Singapore and 6 deaneries throughout the Asia region. It has an established history of church-planting as well as providing educational, medical and social services in Singapore and the neighbouring region. The Diocese of Singapore is in communion with the See of Canterbury. St Andrew's Cathedral is the cathedral church of the diocese.
The Cathedral of St. Mary the Virgin or St. Mary's Cathedral is the cathedral of the Diocese of West Malaysia of the Anglican Church of the Province of South East Asia, located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the Episcopal see of the Anglican Bishop of West Malaysia and the mother church of the diocese.
The Diocese of Kuching is a diocese of the Anglican Church of the Province of South East Asia that covers Sarawak and Brunei. Founded in 1962, the see was originally established as the Bishopric of Sarawak linked to the Diocese of Labuan in 1855. The current bishop is the Most Rev'd Danald Jute, 14th Lord Bishop of the Diocese of Kuching and Brunei, who was consecrated on 13 August 2017. His seat is at St. Thomas' Cathedral, Kuching.
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Malaysia. It was erected as the Diocese of Kuala Lumpur by Pope Pius XII on 25 February 1955, and was elevated to the rank of a Metropolitan Archdiocese on 18 December 1972, with the suffragan sees of Malacca-Johor and Penang. It also administers the capital city of Malaysia, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur as well as the federal administrative centre of Putrajaya and the urbanised states of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan in the central region as well as Pahang and Terengganu on the East Coast. The archdiocese's Mother Church and thus, seat of its Archbishop, is St. John's Cathedral. It was one of the three Roman Catholic archdioceses in Malaysia, with the ecclesiastical archdioceses of Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.
The Bishop of Sabah is an Anglican prelate who oversees the Diocese of Sabah in the Church of the Province of South East Asia. Following the death of Albert Vun Cheong Fui on 14 July 2014, Melter Tais was installed as the sixth bishop on 14 May 2015. His seat is All Saints' Cathedral, Kota Kinabalu.
The Diocese of West Malaysia is an Anglican diocese which covers the entire West Malaysia. The Diocese of West Malaysia (DWM) was founded on 8 April 1970, as DWM together with Diocese of Singapore split from Diocese of Singapore and Malaya. As a result, Diocese of Singapore and Malaya was dissolved.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Penang is situated in the northern as well as the east coast region of Peninsular Malaysia covering 4 northern states, namely Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak as well as the east coast state of Kelantan. It was created on 25 February 1955 together with the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur. It is under the Ecclesiastical province of Kuala Lumpur.
Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya, also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the part of Malaysia that occupies the southern half of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia and the nearby islands. Its area totals approximately 132,490 km2 (51,150 sq mi), which is nearly 40% of the total area of the country; the other 60% is in East Malaysia on the island of Borneo.
The Presbyterian Church in Malaysia or GPM is a Christian church in Malaysia. Established as an independent synod in 1974, it currently has approximately 7,000 members in 100 congregations nationwide.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia or ELCM is one of the four Lutheran bodies in Malaysia. It currently has 21 congregations nationwide with a total of 3,650 members.
The Bishop of Kuching is the ordinary of the Anglican Diocese of Kuching in the Church of the Province of South East Asia. The bishop exercises episcopal authority over Anglican churches in the Malaysian state of Sarawak and in the independent nation of Brunei Darussalam.
The Penang High Court, founded in 1808, is the birthplace of Malaysia's judiciary system. It is housed inside a Palladian-style building at Light Street, George Town, Penang. To this day, the High Court sits at the top of Penang's hierarchy of courts.
Francis Chan was a Singaporean bishop of the Catholic Church. After finishing high school in Singapore, he studied for the priesthood at College General in Penang and was ordained a priest in 1939. Chan first served as an assistant pastor in Ipoh until 1946, with a three year interruption due to World War II. He subsequently returned to his hometown after the Japanese occupation ended and served as parish priest there for nine years. When the Holy See created the first two Malaysian dioceses of Kuala Lumpur and Penang in 1955, Chan was appointed as bishop of the latter see. He was consecrated in August of that same year, becoming one of the first two local bishops from Malaysia. A Council Father of the Second Vatican Council, Chan attended two sessions held at St. Peter's Basilica in 1962 and 1964. He died of terminal cancer in 1967. Chan was dubbed "The Singing Bishop" due to his penchant for music.
Tan Sri Roland Koh Peck Chiang was a Malaysian clergyman in the Anglican Church. He was the second Bishop of Sabah from 1965 until 1970, and then the first Bishop of West Malaysia from 1970 until his death.