Catholic Mission (1956)
c/o St Theresa's Convent, 382 Jalan Sultan Omar,
20300 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu
Administrator        : Rev Ferdinand Magimay    T/F: 09-6239634
PPC Chairperson  : Mr Desmond Tan                   T: 019-9849518  
Friday Mass          : 9.00 am                                 T: 09-6231636 
Everyday              : 6.00 pm (FMM Convent)


Rev Ferdinand Magimay
 

Kuala Terengganu was an International Trading Centre from as early as the 18^th century and had been visited by European traders among whom were Captain Alexander Hamilton (1719-1720), Captain Joseph Jackson (1769), M. Medhurst (1828), G.W. Earl (1833), S. Skinner (1884), Hugh Clifford (1895), W.W. Skeat and F.F. Laidlaw (1899).

THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY

According to Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim, the earliest recorded visit of a Christian missionary was an Englishman named M. Medhurst in 1828. He was very much interested in the Chinese community in the East Coast of the Peninsula from Pahang to Songkhla. His fluency of the Chinese language helped him in his missionary work among the Chinese.
“Unlike all the other previous visitors, Medhurst called at Kuala Terengganu not for commercial reasons but to try to propagate Christianity among the Chinese there. Medhurst was literate in Chinese and hence his missionary activities were largely confined to the Chinese”

In his report on Kuala Terengganu, Medhurst for whom religion was of a major interest wrote at great length the discourse on religion which he had with the Chinese as well as the Sultan (Abdul Rahman Syah, 1826 - 1831). It is evident from his report that the ruler of Terengganu took great interest in religious disquisitions. Medhurst was questioned by the Sultan not only about Christianity but also about the religious beliefs of the Chinese. It was at this meeting that Malay translation of the Testament was procured from Singapore. On another occasion, Medhurst discovered that the Sultan had a Malay translation of the Bible which had been acquired from Mr. Thomas of Singapore and this prompted him to remark: “… [it] rejoiced me to find that the books circulated by our missionary brethren at their revival stations do find their way to Mahometan countries and Mahometan courts, where the Brethren themselves can seldom go: and that the books when thus distributed are not destroyed or thrown away, but preserved with care, and perhaps read with attention.” (Ref: Kuala Terengganu: International Trading Centre by Khoo Kay kim – Malaysia in History Vol. 17 No. 2, Dec 1974)

BANGKOK AGREEMENT

With this agreement, between Britain and Siam, Terengganu came under the influence of the British government. In 1909, an agent named W.L. Conlay was posted there. In 1919, the Bristish agent serving in Terengganu by the name of J.L. Humphreys was upgraded to the rank of British Advisor and the state became a British Protectorate.

BRITISH ADMINISTRATION
With the enforcement of the Bristish administration in Terengganu, an Unfederated Malay state, English-educated government servants were recruited from the Straits Settlement and the Federated Malay State to complement the Malay administrators already in force.