01 Aug 2006

August 2006 - Council on History & Information

Sibu, 25-26 July 2006

At the Wesley Centre of Research and Practical Theology, MTS The original building of Ching Aun Methodist Church Hwai Ang Methodist Church
The exhibition area of SCAC archives
Rev. Ling Ai Sing, Dean of Library of MTS
Rev. Sam Mien Biew at the exhibition area
Interviewing Mr. Goh Keat Seng
It was an early flight we took because we wanted to save money and go by Air Asia. We had heard about the Archives of SCAC and wanted to see it for ourselves, so the Council on History and information decided to hold our meeting in Sibu.

Right from the time we stepped off the plane we experienced the wonderful Sibu hospitality. It is always a wonderful feeling of being met even though Sibu is no strange town to many of us. Rev. Wong King Sing of Hwai Ang Methodist Church was there with the church van. Breakfast was something else. It was the typical Sibu dried noodle (kang puah). We were barely through our bowl of noodle when one of the church leaders came to join us and paid for breakfast.

We checked into Hoover House and got ready for the meeting. Our 'hosts' did not leave us without first making sure we had all we needed.

We packed all our discussion and planning into our 4-hour meeting, taking care not to miss any important detail. It was very encouraging to hear reports of activities from each Annual Conference.

Mr. Goh Keat Seng reported on behalf of TRAC. An Oral History Workshop was conducted on 11 February and a Church Historian Workshop on 8 July 2006 for 20 participants.

Rev. Sam Men Biew from CAC reported a series of road shows held on 22 April in Petaling Jaya and 22 July in Melaka. Further training is being planned for 19 August in Ipoh; 2 September in Sitiawan; 28-29 October in Johor. Rev. Sam has developed a powerpoint manual in Chinese for training purposes.

Mr. Chiong Nguong Tiew shared some exciting activities from SPAC. Dr. Liong Yuk Chong conducted a road show in April. In November members of the Board will be taking the road show to all 9 churches in SPAC. Rev. Wong King Sing will conduct more training in Sabah in October. The founding materials of the 12 churches in SPAC will be carefully kept and preserved.

Rev. Jonathan Jelanding of SIAC drove all the way from Miri to share with us some developments of their archives. They have now moved to a new building ready for full operation.

Mr. Nguang Sii Khing reported on behalf of SCAC and we later saw all as reported during our visit to their archive center.

Mr. Gopala Sundaram from TAC updated us on their filing system. The translated "Guidelines on Managing Records" into Tamil is ready for printing and distribution.

In order for the Council on History & Information to cope with our ever-increasing work volume we have divided our tasks among our members. 

1. IT training - To train Church Administrators, Local Church Historians on information technology as a way of preserving records. This includes the use of the database templates (CUTe) as well as digitization/format conversion.
2. Index for filing records - This will help give uniformity as well as order in keeping our churches' records.
3. An Illustrated History of the Methodist Church in Malaysia 1884-2008 will be published..
4. Plans for a Methodist Church History Symposium 2008 are in the pipeline.
5. Oral History Workshop 2007

The next day was indeed a packed day from the moment we got up. Sunrise starts at 6:00 am in Sibu. We were pleasantly surprised by the DS of Sibu District, Rev. Kong Chong Ling, waiting to take us to breakfast. This was on the house as the coffee shop owner, a member of the SIB church extended hospitality to us.

We were whisked away to the west side of Sibu to Ching Aun Methodist Church, one of the oldest churches nestled among beautiful fruit trees and plants. There is so much land that when a new building was put up it was built next to the old one. So we were shown the first original building complete with pulpit, pews and baptismal font. We are glad to know that they plan to preserve that building and turn it into a museum. It would be nice for the people to come to see the setting where their great grand parents once worshipped.

In between visiting historical sites we went to the Methodist Information centre where broadcasts are made daily. Mr. Goh Keat Seng and I were interviewed on the work of the Methodist Archives. This can be found on the webpage of SCAC.

At the interview we talked about what Archive is. Not a dirty, dusty place where old, worm-eaten documents are housed but a place where important legal documents are kept safe. We talked about keeping an archive as a ministry - a ministry of memory. This is indeed what Archive is - the memory of our church. Mr. Goh shared about our plans on writing an illustrated history of the Methodist Church in Malaysia.

We then visited the Methodist Board of Christian Literature. Mr. Wong Meng Lei, the chief editor of the Chinese Methodist Message, shared with such great passion the work of the Board and showed us with great pride the numerous books they have produced.

The visit to the SCAC Methodist Archives filled us with envy. It is housed in a two-storey shop lot complete with a reception and lounge area, an office for the administrator, processing area and a large area for exhibitions and a museum. Well done SCAC for setting a pace for the rest of us to follow!

We could not afford to miss our flight but managed to quickly pack in a visit to the Wesley Centre of Research and Practical Theology at the Methodist Theological School.

I knew the Methodist Book Room is housed near Hoover house for a very important purpose - to provide us with good strong boxes to pack in all the books and archival materials we acquired on our very short visit. We were terribly over weight but managed to get back home every single sheet of document.

Aileen Khoo
Moderator
Council of History & Information