Pakianathan, Solomon Swamidason

1881 - 1961
Pioneer teacher and pastor
Methodist
Malaya

Rev Solomon Swamidason Pakianathan was born in Maruthakulam, Tirunelveli, South India on July 17, 1881. He was brought up in a Methodist family going back four generations and entered the Christian ministry as an early Asian mission worker of the Methodist Mission. He was a pioneer all his life. 

He came to Malaya in 1902 and taught in the Methodist School at Bukit Mertajam in 1904 and in Bagan Serai, Perak in 1905 where he joined the Epworth League and Sunday School.

He was sent to Medan, Sumatra by Rev G.F. Pykett to teach in a school. He learnt Malay and became fluent in it, thus enabling him to work among the locals.

Whilst teaching in Medan, he started a Chinese ministry by raising $30 a month to pay for a Chinese preacher to run a Chinese church.

In 1908, he was sent by Superintendent Dr J.R. Denyes to open a Methodist English school in Palembang at Buitenzorg (Bogor).

The Methodist school grew in the nine years he was there. He was pastor of the Malay-speaking congregation and he started a Chinese congregation with a Sunday School and the Epworth League. Chinese-Ambonese languages were taught at this school. Before leaving Palembang, he collected 17,000 guilders from the public for a school building and a church. 

Encouraged to study for Christian ministry, Pakianathan joined the Malaya Conference in 1915 and was ordained as deacon in 1918 and elder on January 8,1922.

From 1918 to 1923, Rev Pakianathan was pastor of the Telok Anson (now Teluk Intan) Tamil Church and teacher/headmaster of the Anglo-Chinese School. During his tenure the school grew from primary school status to secondary as it had a Senior Cambridge class. Church work among the many estate labourers in the Telok Anson district, especially among the Telugu-speaking people in the Bagan Datoh area, expanded and he became increasingly interested in social work among the poor in Lower Perak.

Rev Pakianathan, like his predecessors and those in the Christian ministry in the Methodist Church, had dual careers as teacher and pastor, and were self-supporting. This practice continued until the appointment of Rev C.A. Watson as the first full-time pastor of the Tamil Methodist Church Singapore in 1965. Rev Pakianathan entered full-time ministry in 1931 when he gave up his teaching post.

These teacher-pastors taught and ministered in the Methodist schools (ACS and MGS) in many towns throughout Malaya and Singapore and were well-known for the academic results their schools produced. 

Rev Pakianathan was a keen supporter of the Epworth League, the predecessor of the Methodist Youth/Young Adult Fellowship which contributed to the growth of the church and community. 

He was transferred to Singapore in 1923 and appointed pastor of the Tamil Methodist Church from 1924 to 1928 and from 1934 to 1937. He joined the staff of ACS Coleman Street on his appointment.

Rev Pakianathan succeeded Rev M.R. Doraisamy who boldly attempted to make the Tamil Methodist Church self-supporting and started the church building fund. These two initiatives were continued by Rev Pakianathan and by 1925 the building fund had reached $8,000. Bishop Titus Lowe laid the foundation stone for the new church building on September 19, 1925.

In January 1926 the church building at No 1, Short Street was completed at a cost of $22,000 to serve the Tamil community in Singapore and had a sanctuary, a social hall and a parsonage.

With the completion of the church, the pastor and the local church preachers began evangelistic outreach in Pasir Panjang, the Medical School Hostel, Alexandra Road, and Johor Bahru. The first fruits of their labour was the founding of the Pasir Panjang Tamil Methodist Church comprising Tamil workers of Alexandra Brick Works. Rev Pakianathan's assistant, Mr M.N. Charles, was entrusted with the task of continuing the activities of this new church.

By 1928 Rev Pakianathan and his associates were conducting five regular preaching services each week and two other services once a fortnight. Within two years, the church saw an increase of 60 in its membership.

In 1929, under Rev Pakianathan, the Tamil District, Singapore was organised and the Seletar Tamil Methodist Church was constituted.

Rev Pakianathan pastored a group of Tamil Methodist Church members who had moved to Johor Bahru and were meeting regularly for worship in their new home. This group eventually became the first Methodist Church of Johor Bahru.

An advocate for Asian leadership, Rev Pakianathan saw the need for Asians to take responsibility for their own funding and leadership. He felt that the foreign missionaries should be willing to put their confidence in the educated Asians and work with them as co-workers. He pointed out that educated Asians "were eager to do service for their men and women ... if only the missionaries would give them the chance." 

In his book, The March of Methodism in Singapore and Malaysia, author Theodore R. Doraisamy, wrote:

“The result of Asian leaders advocating for Asian leadership was the inauguration of the Home Missionary Society in 1931. All the officers were Asians; Rev S.S. Pakianathan was president, and Rev JAP Oswald, secretary. The direct outcome of the Home Missionary Society was the opening of the Tamil and Chinese work in Pahang and work among the Sengois in Cameron Highlands which drew unprecedented interest from churches and schools. It was an expression of Asian missionary interest, the first time that Asians in the work were called ‘missionaries’.”

In 1934 Rev Pakianathan was appointed district superintendent of the Central Tamil District and pastor of the Tamil Methodist Church. The membership of the church increased to 244, consisting of 147 confirmed members, 61 probationers and 36 adherents. He added a large Sunday School and a strong Epworth League with 54 members and a Christian Youth Association for the labourers who came to attend the night school held in the church hall. 

He was president of the Conference Epworth League Cabinet and district superintendent from 1930 to 1952. He also served on the faculty of the Jean Hamilton Theological School in 1924 where training was provided to preach the Gospel in Chinese, Malay and Tamil. He set up the Pakianathan Seminary in Ipoh to train Tamil Christian leadership and was principal until his retirement. He saw the need for a Tamil edition of the Malaysia Message and undertook to edit and publish the monthly Light of Salvation, later called Berita TAC.

Wherever Rev Pakianathan was sent as teacher-pastor throughout the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia and Singapore, he planted churches and schools and raised money for these buildings. This led Rev S.M. Thevathasan to remark, “It is a Solomon that is building the church,” referring to the biblical King Solomon who built the Temple of God.

He was married to Kanagamany Daniel, a worthy helpmate in his church work.  He inspired their children to serve God faithfully and two of his children, the late Mrs S.A. Daniel (Pakianathan) and Mr D.R. Daniel were leaders of the Methodist family.

Rev Pakianathan entered into glory on February 14, 1961, at the age of 80, in Ipoh, Malaysia. 

 

Mrs Veronica Poore

© CCM-2011. This article from A Great Cloud of Witnesses: A Historical Record of Key Pastors in the Indian Churches in Malaysia and Singapore is reproduced with permission of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, with editing for clarity and brevity.