Few can conceive of religious persecution in Singapore, especially given the freedom of worship we enjoy today. But incredible as it may sound, the Church in Singapore has undergone such an ordeal and may even be able to boast of her very own martyrs.

The exact number will forever remain a mystery but some records suggest up to 500 people were killed in anti-Catholic attacks that exploded in mid-19th century Singapore.

The violence occurred over five days in February 1851, and saw a wave of kidnappings and arson aimed at Chinese Catholics living in settlements scattered in the then-jungle areas of Kranji and Bukit Timah. According to The Singapore Free Press—the island’s newspaper at the time—members of Chinese secret societies or hoeys razed at least 28 pepper and gambier (a plant used in tanning and dyeing) plantations belonging to Chinese Catholics.

How could so many attacks have taken place without the intervention of the colonial authorities?

At this point in her history, Singapore was divided between ‘Town’—the civic area controlled by the British colonial administration—and ‘Country’—the jungle settled by Chinese plantation workers. The colonial authorities were slow to act because the violence took place away from the civic district and within the Chinese community.

What the Papers reported

The local press was similarly slow to react, reporting the fighting days after it first broke out. The first reference to the attacks in The Singapore Free Press was published on February 21 (emphasis added):

The interior of our island appears to have been in a most disturbed state for several days past, owing to an active persecution having broken out against the Chinese converts to the Roman Catholic Church, who are found scattered over the island as planters and whose numbers are increasing...

The local police force, already unrepresented in rural areas, was overwhelmed by the ferocity of the attacks. In one episode recounted by the newspaper, a contingent of 16 policemen found themselves confronted by an armed and angry mob in Kranji after they rescued some kidnapped Catholics and arrested several attackers.