Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, Seremban
January 1942, Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ), Seremban
Sister Pauline, Brother Joseph ( Principal of St Paul’s, Seremban), and the Parish priest set out across the padang to King George V School where the Japanese Military Governor had taken up residence. Sister Pauline made a case that it would be shameful if it was known that the Japanese Army had defiled a convent, a sacred place full of nuns and innocent children. She won the case and returned to the convent with a scroll to be hung on the convent main gate:
“Entry forbidden unless authorized by the governor. Soldiers found disobeying this order will be beheaded”
The Infant Jesus convents had a longstanding and distinguished role in Japan from the 1870’s, where the first students were Japanese ladies from the Imperial Court .In fact, all Infant Jesus Convents in Japan bore the prestigious name of Futaba (two leaves). As such, the governor would have heard of the convent or Futaba schools in Malaya and would help an institution with imperial links.
Extracted from : “A Cloistered war- behind the convent walls during the Japanese occupation” – by Maisie Duncan
I miss my school
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