Malaysia’s Notre Dame, abandoned to vagrants and ghosts

The 62 steps up Jalan Sungai Lembu will take you to this quaint ruins of a church built in 1882.

BUKIT MERTAJAM: The remains of this “Notre Dame of Malaysia” lie jumbled on a hillock on the Penang side of the Kedah state line at Pagar Tras.

Once the church was visible for miles around. It had a congregation and rang with song. It’s been silent for decades. First empty, then stripped, now collapsed.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus was built by a French Catholic missionary in 1882 to replicate the famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. On a much smaller scale, of course.

The last worshipers are decades gone and the abandoned church has been left to the mercy of the elements for about 80 years.

Among the crumbled ruins a single bell tower survives, with a tree growing on top.

Tourists look at what is left of The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church near Sungai Lembu in Bukit Mertajam.

Locals warned that vagrants sometimes hang around the ruins and have been known to rob visitors. They advised going up to visit in a group.

It took just a few minutes to climb the 62 steps in the searing sun.

At the top is an information board with a faded photo showing how pretty the church used to be over a century ago when it had a regular congregation of largely Chinese-Hakka immigrant farmers.

Nowadays the ruins have plenty of rubbish strewn around. Discarded food containers, empty beer cans, and plastic trash are in every nook and cranny. It looks like a favourite spot for hordes of careless picnickers.

Two tourists were wandering around snapping photos.

“It’s an amazing place, but it’s a great pity it’s been left in such a sad state,” said Steven Leong from Singapore.

Many visitors have noted that a recess in one of the church walls has a black stain that looks like the Virgin and child. Perhaps some visitors must have vivid imaginations.

Beside the church, the French missionary built a school and a hostel on what was described by local historians as a plantation of coconut trees interspersed with coffee, and spices including pepper, cloves, and nutmeg.

Those buildings are long gone, torn down during the Japanese occupation. It is said that many of the church priests were killed at that time too.

One of the two belfrys of The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church hanging on after over 100 years.

The local population in Pagar Tras once consisted of about 50 families, mostly from the Hakka community.

At the height of the communist insurgency Pagar Tras was declared a “black area” to cut off supplies to the communists and the families were moved to “new villages”, Sungai Lembu and Machang Bubok—both close by.

A secret 3km tunnel from close to the church to Tangga Seribu, was dug by Communist Party of Malaya militants. Legend has it that many of them committed suicide in the tunnel when the Hat Yai truce agreement was signed in 1989.

After its parishioners were dispersed, the church fell into disrepair and a new church, also called Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, was opened in Kulim, Kedah, to serve the congregation from Pagar Tras.

Two stained glass windows taken from the abandoned church were fitted in the new church.

An old signboard dating to the founding of the original church with “faith, hope and love” carved in Chinese characters have also found a new home at the Kulim church.

A recess in one of the church walls which some say look like the Virgin and child.

Francis Chen, former chairman of The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Kulim, said 14 statues forming the stations of the cross have also been transferred from the old to the new church.

He said for the time being, there are no plans to rebuild the church but serious plans are currently underway to salvage the surviving ruins, and turn the site into an educational and heritage centre.

Chen said the Penang Diocese, which owns the church and its nearly six acres, has engaged a heritage conservationist consultant to examine and salvage what’s left.

Chen, who is now serving the Penang Bishop’s office, said the conservationist has reported that parts of the ruins resemble the Abbey of St Mary in York, England.

“He saw a lot of similarities in both churches and thought it would be good to conserve what was left of it,” said Chen.

At the side of the church, the cemetery of around 100 graves is a peaceful place to linger and spend a few last moments imagining the not-so-distant past.

But there is precious little shade from the relentless afternoon sun, so before long, this reporter strode back down the steps, leaving the ruins to the ghosts of its priests and Hakka farmers. - FMT