47 million visitors in Malaysia, 47 million people in Spain, £47 million on the Underground and 47 million blog readers

Gerald Dickson’s eye-catching poster 100 years ago explained how £47 million was spent on developing the London Underground

Patrick Comerford

I continue to be overwhelmed by the viewing and reading figures for this blog. These figures reached 47 million earlier today, around 3:30 this afternoon (17 August 2026), having reached 46 million eight days ago (9 August 2026). Last month, the readership figures passed the million mark three times: 45 million (29 July), 44 million less than a fortnight earlier (16 July 2026), and 43 million 12 days before that (4 July 2026).

These viewing and reading figures are overpowering at times, and this blog continues to reach volumes of readers I never expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 26 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone, and almost over 1.6 million hits already this month.

Half of all hits or reader figures have been within the past six months, with 23.5 million hits since 17 February 2026. I first began blogging back in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year and last, the daily figures are overwhelming on many occasions. Of the ten days of busiest traffic on this blog, three were in May (1, 6 and 14 May 2026), three were the previous month (26, 29 and 30 April 2026), three in March, and one in February:

• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 525,719 (14 May 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
• 344,003 (30 April 2026)
• 323,156 (27 March 2026)

• 322,038 (26 April 2026)
• 318,835 (6 May 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)
• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)

The daily average was over 187,000 throughout May, but that figure was distorted by the exceptionally high number of hits on three days. There was an average of almost 88,000 hits a day last month, and an average of about 97,000-100,000 a day so far this month. Yet, I remember ten years ago, back in 2016, when the daily average was around 1,000, or 30,000 a month.

Malaysia is hoping for 47 million international tourist arrivals in 2026 … passing through Kuala Lumpur International Airport earlier this year (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

To put this latest figure of 47 million into perspective:

47 million people are suffering acute hunger because of global turmoil and food shortages, according to the World Food Programme.

Spain’s total population is about 47.8 million people. Spain is the world’s second-most-visited country after France and received 46.6 million international tourists in the first half of this year.

Malaysia is hoping for 47 million international tourists in 2026, with a focus on key markets such as Central Asia, the Middle East, south-east Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

The Amazon rainforest and river basin region is home to about 47 million people, including over 2 million indigenous residents.

The Lake Victoria Basin, a shared freshwater basin in East Africa, directly supports the livelihoods and water needs of more than 47 million people.

A €47 million cross-border VAT carousel fraud scheme in Greece was uncovered by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office last month (July 2026). The investigation targeted the illicit trade of electronic devices and led to record digital asset seizures.

A poster by Gerald Dickson in 1926 and that was eye-catching in London 100 years ago, explained that ‘£47 million has been spent on providing the Underground railways’. It said: ‘£47 million has been spent on providing the Underground railways. Tunnels £15,700,000. Rolling stock £7,000,000. Permanent Way Equipment & Signalling £2,800,000 Land £4,000,000 Stations £17,500,000 £47,000,000 has been spent on providing the underground railways. 2d. was the average fare paid by the passenger in 1925. 3½% was the return to the ordinary shareholder on his investment. ?’

47 million minutes is equal to 89 years, 4 months, and 10 days, and about 13 hours. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, I would have blogging in early April 1939, five months before World War II began.

I retired from active parish ministry over four years ago, on 30 March 2022. These days, though, about 120 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning. A recent series of postings on churches in Pimlico and Belgravia has attracted similar readership figures. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 800-900 or more people each week.

This evening, once again, I am truly grateful to the real readers among those 47 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I am thankful for the faithful core group of 150 or so people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each morning.

The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba … Spain’s total population is over 47 million people (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

36 million people in Malaysia, 36 million metres sky high, a $36 million Trump pardon, and 36 million blog readers

The Hin Ho Bio temple, seen from our kitchen window in Kuching … Malaysia has a population of about 36 million people (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

The viewing and reading figures for this blog have become overwhelming. These figures reached the 36 million mark late yesterday afternoon (2 May 2026), having reached 35 million before mid-day the day before (1 May 2026). They passed the million mark four times in April, reaching 34 million on 29 April, 33 million on 25 April, 32 million on 19 April and 31 million on 8 April.

The viewing and reading figures are, quite frankly, overwhelming over these recent weeks and months. I continue to see a phenomenal amount of traffic on this blog this year, and it continues to reach a volume of readers that I could never have expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. Half the total hits (18 million) have been within the past six months, since 2 November 2025. The total hits in March 2026 were the highest monthly total ever (4,523,648), followed by the figure of 4,365,464 hits for last month (April 2026).

At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 15 million hits or visitors in 2026.

I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year and last, the daily figures continue to be overwhelming on many occasions. Of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog, one was on Friday last (1 May 2026), three were last month (26, 29 and 30 April 2026), three were in March, three were in February, and two were in January 2025:

• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
• 344,003 (30 April 2026)
• 323,156 (27 March 2026)
• 322,038 (26 April 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)

• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)
• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 280,802 (26 February 2026)
• 273,022 (27 February 2026)

The number of readers continues to be overpowering and the daily averages were about 145,000 or more hits a day last month. Ten years ago, in 2016, the daily average was around 1,000.

A Saharan dust moving north over the Mediterranean towards Greece last month, as seen from the Meteosat-12 geostationary weather satellite 36,000 km (36 million metres) above the Earth (Credit: Meteosat-12 imagery)

To put this figure of 36 million into perspective:

Reports indicate about 36 million people are living in modern-day slavery, including forced labour, trafficking, and forced marriage. Data suggests about 36 million people in the European Union are living with rare diseases.

Last year Donald Trump pardoned the stars of a reality TV show who were convicted in 2022 of $36 million bank and tax frauds. Todd and Julie Chrisley had an extravagant lifestyle that was chronicled in a show that ran for 10 seasons on the USA Network.

Todd and Julie Chrisley were given prison terms of 12 and seven years respectively In November 2022 for conspiring to defraud banks in Atlanta of more than $36 million and evading taxes. Trump’s act of clemency was yet another example of his unusual use of his powers of pardon.

The Bank of Ireland is investing €36 million in a three-year project to restore its College Green buildings. The project involve the repair, upgrading and restoration of College Green’s 280 windows, 45 staircases and 200 km of electrical cabling, as well as its 54 roofs and 2.5 km walkways, promising improved facilities for customers and workspaces for colleagues. The Bank of Ireland bought the former Irish parliament building in 1803 and opened it to the public as a banking hall in 1808.

Malaysia has a population of over 36 million people (36,385,115). Dhaka in Bangladesh, where more than 36 million people live, work, and compete for space, is one of the most intense and overcrowded cities on Earth.

36,000 sq km is 36 million sq metres, the approximate area of the ‘Republic of China’ or Taiwan, a territory with disputed status in Asia that Includes Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (36,188 sq km). It is also the approximate size of Guinea-Bissau in Africa, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia, and Pahang, the third largest state in Malaysia.

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO) is in the Russian Far East, close to Heilongjiang province in China, with Birobidzhan as its capital. The JAO was designated in 1928 and officially established in 1934. At its height in the late 1940s, the region had a Jewish population of 46,000-50,000, about 25% of its population; today, only 800 or so ethnic Jews are left there.

The JAO is Russia’s only autonomous oblast, one of two officially Jewish jurisdictions in the world, the other being Israel, and one of the few places in the world where Yiddish is a recognised minority language.

36,000 km is 36 million metres. At an altitude of 36,000 km (36 million metres), hundreds of satellites orbit in a special zone called geostationary orbit, moving at exactly the same rate as Earth rotating beneath them. From the ground, they appear frozen in one spot of sky. These satellites handle everything from television broadcasts to military communications, and unlike their low orbit cousins that zip across the sky in minutes, geostationary satellites can remain within a telescope’s field of view for hours.

36 million minutes is about 68 years, 5 months and 10 days. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take almost 68½ years, from late 1957, to reach today’s latest figure of 36 million.

I retired from active parish ministry over four years ago, on 30 March 2022. These days, though, about 120-140 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning. A similar number have been reading my current series of postings on churches and local history in Staffordshire, and were reading my recent series of postings on the churches and chapels of Walsingham. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 800-1,000 or more people each week.

This afternoon, I am truly grateful to the real readers among those 36 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I am thankful for the faithful core group of 120-140 people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each morning.

The Bank of Ireland is investing €36 million in a three-year project to restore its College Green buildings in Dublin, the former Irish Houses of Parliament (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Three Governors in the Straits Settlements who had immediate family links with Lichfield

The Hedgehog Vintage Inn in Lichfield … as Lyncroft House, it was the home of the composer Muzio Clementi, direct ancestor of two governors of the Straits Settlements (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I arrived at Kuala Lumpur from Kuching early this afternoon today, hoping to catch a seven-hour flight to Muscat in Oman tonight and then a third, eight-hour flight in the early hours tomorrow to London. But the Trump regime’s decision to wage war on Iran has created mayhem in the Gulf, and all my travel plans are now shrouded in great uncertainty.

I am in Kuala Lumpur with no idea when I am going to get home, or how to get home at this stage. With all this uncertainty, I decided to spend the day in the airport and to forego any ideas of spending a few hours in Kuala Lumpur. Those postponed hopes have have become the least of my woes at the moment.

When I was in Singapore on a previous journey to and from Kuching, I had taken the opportunity to learn a little more about colonial administrators there who had Irish connections, including Major General Sir William Orfeur Cavenagh (1820-1891), who was the Governor of the Straits Settlements in 1859-1867 and who had strong family connections with Co Wexford, and Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson (1834-1897) from Co Westmeath, who was the Governor in 1877-1879.

This time, I was hoping to learn a little more about three Governors of the Straits Settlements who had strong family connection with Lichfield: Major General Sir Edward Archibald Harbord Anson (1826-1925) was the last Governor of Penang and as the acting governor of the Straits Settlements on four occasions: in 1871-1872, for one day in 1873, for four months in 1877, and for a fourth time in 1879-1880; Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916) was the governor in 1887-1893; and his nephew Sir Cecil Clementi (1875-1947), was governor in 1930-1934.

Anson was related to the Earls of Lichfield, while Clementi Smith and Clementi were direct descendant of the composer Muzio Clementi who lived in his later years at Lyncroft House, now the Hedgehog Vintage Inn.

Major-General Sir Archibald Edward Harbord Anson (1826-1925) was acting governor of the Straits Settlements on four occasions between 1871 and 1880

Major-General Sir Archibald Edward Harbord Anson (1826-1925) was a member of the Anson family of Shughborough Hall and of Lichfield. He was born at 32 Devonshire Place, London, on 16 April 1826, the youngest son of Major-General Sir William Anson, the first baronet, who grew up in Shugborough Hall, and he was also a first cousin of Thomas Anson (1795-1854), who became the first Earl of Lichfield in 1831.

Archibald Anson’s military career began in 1844, and he had postings in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Crimea. After the Crimean War, Anson returned to Ireland where was married Limerick on 9 January 1851 to Elizabeth Mary Bourchier, daughter of Richard Bourchier. One of the best-known members of her family was the journalist James David Bourchier (1850-1920), from Baggotstown, near Bruff, Co Limerick, an advocate of both Crete’s unification with Greece and Bulgarian interests in early 20thc century European political diplomacy.

After his marriage in Limerick, Anson had a career in colonial administration that brought him to Mauritius, Madagascar and India before he was appointed the last Lieutenant Governor of Penang, a post he held from 1867 to 1882.

In his memoirs, About Others and Myself (1920), Anson describes the feeling of depression upon his appointment as Penang’s Resident Councillor. His time there was marked by the Penang Riots. When the riots ended, Anson negotiated a peace agreement between the contending parties: Red Flag and Tua Pek Kong members against the White Flag and the Ghee Hin.

While Anson was in Penang, he was also the acting Governor of the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements on four occasions: 4 March 1871 to 22 March 1872; 3 November 1873 to 4 November 1873; 3 April 1877 to 29 October 1877; and 10 February 1879 to 16 May 1880. When he retired from the army, he was appointed as an honorary major-general. He was knighted (KCMG) in 1882 when he retired from Penang and returned to England.

Elizabeth (Bouchier) and Archibald Anson retired to Hastings. There he was a magistrate and they gave the name Penang to their house on Markwick Gardens. They were the parents of two sons and a daughter, and Elizabeth Mary (Bourchier) Anson died on 23 September 1891. Anson married again on 15 May 1906; his second wife Isabelle Jane Armistead was from Dunscar, Lancashire. Isabel Anson died on died 11 May 1923; Sir Archibald Anson died at the of 98 on 26 February 1925 and is buried in Hastings.

Anson gives his name to Anson Road or Jalan Anson (安顺路), Anson Bridge and Anson Bay in Penang and Anson Road in Singapore. The Chinese call these road it ann-soon-lor (安顺路), derived from the English name. To the local Chinese, the name Anson is a good name, because Anson, pronounced as An-soon in Chinese, means peace (安) and stability with smooth sailing (顺).

Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916) was the Governor of the Straits Settlements in 1887-1893

Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916), who was the governor of the Straits Settlements in 1887-1893, was a grandson of the composer Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), who had lived at Lyncroft House in Lichfield, now the Hedgehog Vintage Inn. Muzio Clementi rented the house from the Earl of Lichfield’s Estate from 1828.

Cecil Clementi Smith’s father, the Revd John Smith, was an Essex rector, while his mother, Cecilia Susanna Clementi, was a daughter of Muzio Clementi. Smith was educated at Saint Paul’s School, London, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

He began his civil service career as an interpreter in Hong Kong in 1864, learning about Chinese culture and becoming the Colonial Treasurer of Hong Kong. He moved to Singapore in 1878 as a Colonial Secretary in the Straits Settlements. There his knowledge of Chinese culture and language proved useful and he was involved in quelling Chinese secret societies in Singapore.

Clementi Smith was knighted (KCMG) in 1886 and was appointed Governor of the Straits Settlements and High Commissioner to Malaya in 1887. He was a popular governor, and the local Chinese community petitioned for a continuation of his appointment when he left Singapore in 1893.

Clementi Smith married Teresa Alice Newcomen; they were the parents of three sons and four daughters. He died in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, on 6 February 1916, at the age of 75.

Sir Cecil Clementi (1875-1947), was the Governor of the Straits Settlements in 1930-1934

Clementi Smith’s nephew Sir Cecil Clementi (1875-1947), who was also Governor of the Straits Settlements and held other colonial postings in Hong Kong and Singapore, was a great-grandson of the musician Muzio Clementi.

Clementi, who was the Governor of Hong Kong in 1925-1930, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements in 1930-1934, was born in Cawnpore (Kanpur), where his father, Colonel Montagu Clementi, was Judge Advocate General in India. He was educated at Saint Paul’s School and Magdalen College, Oxford.

Clementi joined the civil service in 1889, and was sent to Hong Kong and Canton at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. He was seconded to India in 1902, but he returned to China a year later to join famine relief work in Kwangsi (Guangxi). A year after that, Clementi was appointed a member of the Land Court, an Assistant Land Officer and a Police Magistrate in the New Territories, Hong Kong, a position he served in until 1906.

Clementi was promoted to Assistant Colonial Secretary and Clerk of Council in 1907. He represented the Hong Kong government at the International Opium Conference in Shanghai in 1909. A year later, he became the Private Secretary to the Administrator, Sir Francis Henry May. Clementi eventually became Acting Colonial Secretary and Member of both the Executive and Legislative Councils of Hong Kong, and remained there until 1912. He also played a part in the founding of the University of Hong Kong.

From 1913, Clementi had colonial postings to British Guiana(Guyana) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), but returned to Hong Kong as Governor in 1925, and held that post until 1930. He organised the opening of Kai Tak Airport which continued to operate as the main airport in 1998, and is remembered for ending Mui Tsai, the traditional Chinese ‘female maid servitude’ that meant the abuse of young servant girls.

To counter the growing radicalisation of the Chinese intelligentsia against colonialism and imperialism after the May Fourth Movement, he proposed a revised school curriculum in Chinese language that stressed loyalty and traditional Chinese values, and he advocated training more teachers in the Chinese language and setting up a Chinese Department at the University of Hong Kong.

From Hong Kong, Clementi went on to become the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements, which included Singapore, and High Commissioner for the Malay States, from 5 February 1930 to 17 February 1934, when he left for England due to illness. Clementi married Marie Penelope Rose Eyres, daughter of Admiral Cresswell John Eyres (1862-1949), in 1912, and they were the parents of one son and three daughters. Clementi died in High Wycombe on 5 April 1947.

I have no idea of how or when I am going to get from Kuala Lumpur to Oman later this evening. Searching for Anson, the Clementis and links between Lichfield with this part of the world are going to have to wait for another visit to Malaysia and Singapore on my way to and from Kuching.

The composer Muzio Clementi, who lived in Lichfield, was the grandfather and great-grandfather of two governors of the Straits Settlements

A balcony view at night in Kuching gives insights into Chinese religious and cultural traditions

The Hin Ho Bio temple, seen from our kitchen window in Kuching, has been lit up throughout the night each night during the Chinese New Year celebrations (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

The Chinese New Year celebrations in Kuching began last week (18 February), and this is the Year of the Horse. The Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, marks the new year and the arrival of spring, and is the most important festival for Chinese communities everywhere.

While most Chinese-owned businesses reopened this week, the celebrations of the 15-day lunar festival continue, with lion dancers visiting restaurants and shops as they reopen, people exchanging traditional gifts or red-wrapped packets and mandarin oranges and visiting homes and temples. The celebrations here focus on family reunions, and there are red decorations everywhere and fireworks and firecrackers late into the night to welcome prosperity,and it all comes to a dramatic finale with Chap Goh Mei next week (Tuesday 3 March), when the Lunar New Year celebrations end with spectacular Lion Dances, fireworks and firecrackers, and colourful performances on the streets and in the temples.

This year, the celebrations of Chinese New Year coincide with Muslim observances of Ramadan and Christian observances of Lent, all part of the religious, cultural and ethnic diversity found throughout Kuching. From our flat we hear the bells of Saint Thomas’s Anglican Cathedral, the call to prayer from the neighbouring mosques, and the drumbeats from a variety of pageants and rituals in the four Chinese temples nearby.

The Hin Ho Bio temple is easy to miss on Carpenter Street, with its hidden rooftop location (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

From our kitchen area, we look out onto the Tien Hou Temple, also known as the Hin Ho Bio temple, which has been lit up throughout the night each night during the Chinese New Year celebrations. The other three Chinese temples in the neighbourhood are the Hiang Thian Siang Ti Temple, a 19th century temple around the corner in Carpenter Street, the Hong San Si Temple on the corner of Ewe Hai Street and Wayang Street, and Tua Pek Kong Temple on a small mound overlooking the Kuching Waterfront and the Sarawak River.

Kuching in the 1800s had two major Chinese dialect groups: the Hokkien from southern Fujian and the Teochew from Guandong province. Both are mostly merchants and tradesmen compared to the rural-based Hakka who are mostly farmers and miners.

The Teochews built the Hiang Thian Siang Ti Temple in 1863 on Carpenter Street, sandwiched between commercial shophouses, and the Hin Ho Bio temple is the main Hainan temple in Kuching.

A rooftop view from the Hin Ho Bio temple, looking down on Carpenter Street below (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Although we see it from our kitchen window, it is probably unknown to visitors and tourists because it is tucked away far above the street, sitting on the top floor of the Kuching Hainan Association building.

The ground floor has a hair salon and a traditional Chinese restaurant, and I had to climb the stairs to the top floor to see this small Chinese shrine with its rooftop views of Carpenter Street below.

The temple is dedicated to Mazu, the goddess of the sea or ‘Heavenly Sage Mother’, recalling the maritime traditions of the Hainan community.

There was a small number of Hainanese people in the area that is now Carpenter Street and China Street from ca 1840, and the first Hin Ho Bio Temple was on Carpenter Street by 1878. The temple was renovated following the Kuching Great Fire in 1884. In the early years, new Hainanese migrants lived in the temple while looking for permanent places and jobs. The temple also served as a martial art hall and a social gathering place for the Hainanese, and was used as a school too.

The temple had a major uplift in 1987-1991, and the Kuching Kheng Chew Association changed its name to the Kuching Hainan Association in 1992.

Inside the Hin Ho Bio temple in its hidden rooftop location (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Kuching Hainan Association marked its 140th anniversary last year (2025) with major events, including a visit from a grand Mazu statue from Meizhou Island in Fujian in China in November. A 14-member delegation from the Kuching Hainan Association travelled to the Mazu Temple on Meizhou Island to formally receive the statue.

The statue was escorted from Kuching Airport in a vibrant procession with a lion dance troupe through several key cultural sites, including Wisma Kuching Hing Ann Thien Hoe Kong, Tua Pek Kong Temple, Hong San Si Temple and Hiang Thian Siang Ti Temple, before arriving at the Tien Hou Temple on Carpenter Street, where a special enshrinement ceremony was attended by the Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian and community leaders.

The association chair, Teo Kwang Hock, said the initiative for the visit of the statue came from the Fujian Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, which is presenting 100 Mazu statues to Tien Hou temples worldwide.

There are plans for a Mazu Park in the grounds behind the temple. The project is waiting for official approval and will provide easier access to the temple, marking a significant new chapter in Kuching’s cultural and religious heritage. It may even may make for a more colourful view from our kitchen window.

Catching a glimpse of the Hin Ho Bio temple from below on Carpenter Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The ‘lost Jews’ of Malacca survived the Inquisition but are losing their language, heritage and identity

The Kristang or ‘Portuguese-Eurasians’ of Malacca include people of Sephardic descent

Patrick Comerford

During my first visit to Sarawak at the end of 2024, I tried to learn about the history and the stories of Malaysian Jews, and heard about the lost community of the Jews of Penang from Zayn Al-Abideen Gregory, the Kuching-based writer and academic and author of The Last Jews of Penang.

Penang was home to a Jewish community until the late 1970s. But there were Jewish communities in other parts of Malaysia too, especially in Negeri Sembilan and Malacca.

Traces of these lost Jewish communities were found among Mizrahi Jews, the majority of whom are Baghdadi Jews, Malabar Jews and Ashkenazi Jews. But there are also people of Sephardic descent who continue to live among the Kristang people and who have tried to maintain or recover their traditions.

The Kristang – also known as ‘Portuguese-Eurasians’ or ‘Malacca Portuguese’ – are a creole ethnic group of people primarily of Portuguese and Malay descent, but also with substantial Chinese and Indian ancestry. They are found mostly in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.

The number of Kristang people is estimated at between 37,000 and 54,000 and in Malaysia they are found particularly in Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor. Kristang groups are also found in Singapore, and due to significant migration in the second half of the 20th century there is a diaspora that has spread to Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The Jenti Kristang or Orang Serani people are predominantly Roman Catholics, but small numbers of them are Jews, and some are Sunni Muslims and secular people too. Their languages are Papia Kristang, English and Malay.

These people are mainly Malay and Portuguese in their ancestry, but they also have some Dutch ancestry due to intermarriage. This group emerged with their own particular identity in Malacca in the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was part of the Portuguese Empire. Today the Malaysian government classifies them as Portuguese-Eurasians.

The name Kristang comes from the Portuguese creole Kristang, meaning Christian, and in turn it is derived from the Portuguese Cristão. A derogatory term for the Malacca Portuguese community was Grago or Gragok, a slang term for Portuguese camarão (shrimp), referring to the fact that the Portuguese Malaccans were traditionally shrimp fishermen. They also call themselves Gente Kristang (Christian people).

The Padrão dos Descobrimentos or Monument to the Discoveries in Lisbon recalls the Portuguese explorers who set out for the new world (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Portugal was once one of the world’s largest and longest-lived maritime empires, with colonies that included Brazil in Latin America, many African countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and many port cities throughout Asia, including Goa and Macao. Places that were once part of the Portuguese Empire remain home to small ethnic groups of mixed heritage such as the Macanese in Macau, and the Kristang people in Singapore and Malaysia, with their own unique languages.

The Kristang community traces its origins back to Portuguese sailors, soldiers and traders who came to Malacca during the age of Portuguese explorations and colonialism. There they formed relationships with local women who were indigenous people, Malays and Chinese.

The arrival of Vasco da Gama in India in 1498 sparked Portuguese interest in Malacca as a key, wealthy spice trade hub, and Malacca became a major destination in the great wave of sea expeditions launched by Portugal, becoming part of the Portuguese Empire. The first Portuguese expedition to reach Malacca landed in 1507. The geographic and fiscal advantages of Malacca were obvious, as one Portuguese official noted: ‘Whoever is lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice’, the Venetians being the great rivals of the Portuguese as importers of spices to Europe.

In the early years, the Malays called the Portuguese Serani, a Malay contraction of the Arabic Nasrani, meaning followers of Jesus of Nazareth. One story records a Portuguese landing party inadvertently insulted the Malaccan sultan by placing a garland of flowers on his head, and he had them detained. A Portuguese fleet was sent from India to free the group in 1511 and then conquered Malacca.

From 1511 on, Portuguese officials encouraged the explorers to marry local indigenous women, under a policy endorsed by Afonso de Albuquerque, then Viceroy of India. The King of Portugal granted freeman status and tax exemption to Portuguese men (casados) who ventured overseas and married local women. With Albuquerque’s encouragement, these mixed marriages flourished and 200 were recorded by 1604, leading to new families and settled communities.

The Dutch took Malacca from the Portuguese in 1641, and almost all political contact between Portugal and Malacca ended. A large number of people of Portuguese descent were sent to Batavia (now Jakarta), the Dutch East India Company headquarters, as war captives and there they settled in an area called Kampung Tugu.

The tomb of Vasco da Gama in the church in Belém in Lisbon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Even after Portugal lost Malacca in 1641, the Kristang community largely preserved its traditions, practicing Catholicism and using the Portuguese language, and they also absorbed some Dutch crypto-Catholics.

Many Sephardic Jews from Portugal and around the Red Sea and Malabar settled in Malacca in the 16th and 17th centuries, and then assimilated into the local Portuguese-Malay community to escape persecution. They were anusim or conversos – Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism under the pressure of the Inquisition. It continued in the Portuguese colonies until 1821, enforcing Catholic orthodoxy, policing ‘blood purity’, suppressing heresy, and persecuting Jewish ‘New Christians’, often resorting to extreme severity, including public torture and execution.

In the 16th century, Malacca was a significant hub for these communities, with reports of active, though often hidden, Jewish culture. Many of the Jews who remained in Malacca during Portuguese rule (1511-1641) integrated into the local Eurasian or Kristang community, which carries a mixture of Portuguese, Dutch, Jewish, and local Malay heritage.

Diego Hernández Vitoria ‘the elder’ (or Diogo Fernandes Victória) was a Portuguese merchant from Porto but also a Judaeo-converso and one of the most important Sephardic merchants in the late 16th century. He protected and financially helped the Judaeo-conversos who were poor or on the run and also tried to develop a closer relationship with the Jesuits.

Diego Hernández Vitoria lived in Spanish America, South-East Asia and Manila. His commercial network extended through Mozambique, Mombasa, Cambay, Gujarat, Sindh, Bijapur, Golconda, Malabar, Ceylon, Coromandel, Bengal, Orissa, Pegu, Siam, Malacca, Moluccas, China and Japan. In these places, 89 per cent of Vitoria’s investments were centred on trade with China and Japan. But because his Jewish origins were well-known In Malacca, he was ostracised by the resident Portuguese trading community.

Thanks to the protection that Vitoria granted to the Judaeo-conversos living between China, Japan and the Philippines, it is possible to list the main traders of Jewish ancestry who had settled in the region: Afonso Vaez, Diego Jorge, Francisco Rodrigues Pinto, Francisco Vaez, Góis, Luís Rodrigues (Manuel Fernandes), Manuel de Mora, Manuel Farias (Manuel Faria), Manuel Gil de la Guardia, Manuel Rodrigues (Manuel Rodrigues Navarro), Paulo Gonçalves, Pero Nabo, Pero Rodrigues, Rui Perez and Vilela Vaz.

The rules surrounding ‘the status of purify of blood’ (limpeza de sangue) blocked any convert or a descendant of converts from many spheres of public activity, and from many privileges, including honorific titles. This discriminatory legislation was based on racial criteria: it was no longer a question of religion but of ‘blood’. One had to provide a certificate, following thorough genealogical investigations, going back as far as possible in the lineage, that one had no Jewish ancestor in his genealogical tree.

A memorial at the Igreja e Convento de Sao Bento da Vitória in Porto apologises for the treatment of Jews during the Portuguese Inquisition (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Inquisition continued its presence until the Dutch captured Malacca in 1641. Because of its persecution of Jews, many of the Jews of Malacca assimilated into the Kristang community. Most of the Sephardic-Asian creoles became genuine Christians, but in some cases, conversos managed to preserve their Jewishness in secret.

Nowadays, intermarriage occurs more frequently between Kristang and people of Chinese and Indian ethnicity rather than Malay because of religious laws that require non-Muslims who marry Malay Muslims first to convert to Islam.

The Kristang people in Malaysia do not have full bumiputera status, a status that applies to indigenous ethnic groups. Since Portuguese times, the Kristang have been living by the sea. It is still an important part of their culture. Even today, with only 10 percent of the community earning their living by fishing, many men go fishing to supplement their income.

Kristang traditional music and dance, such as the Branyo and the Farrapeira are derived from Portuguese folk dances, Kristang or Malacca Portuguese cuisine is similar to the Eurasian cuisine of Singapore and Malaysia, and the Kristang people traditionally used Portuguese and Christian first names, while their surnames were Portuguese.

In general the Kristang practice Roman Catholicism. Christmas (Natal) is the most festival and celebrate many saints’ days, including Saint John (San Juang) on 24 June and Saint Peter (San Pedro) on 29 June.

Kristang Jews are a small, often hidden, subgroup. They trace their ancestry to the Sephardic Jews who survived the Inquisition in Portuguese-controlled Malacca. They had assimilated into the Catholic Kristang community but retained some residual cultural practices. These ‘hidden’ Sephardic Jews are identified in a number of analyses of Asian communities with Jewish roots.

In recent decades, some Kristang people were interested in rediscovering their forgotten Jewish heritage. This led to the formation of the Kristang Community for Cultural Judaism (KCCJ) in 2010, although it is no longer active. Edgar Pinto Xavier also wrote a book about the Jewish history of Malaysia and how the Inquisition persecuted heretics and non-Christians in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Asia.

Today the Kristang community in Malaysia is primarily based in the Portuguese Settlement in Ujong Pasir, Malacca. They speak Papia Kristang (Malacca Portuguese Creole), a language that continues to mark them out from their Chinese and Malay neighbours.

The Kristang language is threatened with extinction and is classified as critically endangered by Unesco. The work of Kristang language activists has been compared by one writer to that of Yiddishists. But their work in Malaysia and Singapore is no guarantee that Kristang will survive as a living language for future generations.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום‎

The Melaka or Malacca River … once known to European seafarers as the ‘Venice of the East’ (Photograph: Engin Akyurt - Pixabay / Wikipedia)

25 million drachmai in war-time, 25 million visitors to Greece, 25 million metres from Malaysia and 25 million blog readers

A 25 million drachmai banknote issued by the Bank of Greece in 1944

Patrick Comerford

This month of February and this year so far have seen a phenomenal amount of traffic on this blog, reaching a volume of readers that I could never have expected in the past. Earlier today (26 February), this blog passed a new milepost of 25 million, and has passed the half-million mark six times in all this month: 24.5 million hits earlier this week (22/23 February Sarawak or Irish time), 24 million last week (20 February 2026), 23.5 million (17 February 2026), 23 million (12 February 2026), and 22.5 million (4 February).

At the end of 2025, this blog had 21 million hits by New Year’s Eve (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 4 million hits or visitors for 2026, and February 2026 has been the busiest month ever, with over 2.6 million hits.

I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers – a number reached six times this month alone. Half of the 25 million hit – 12.5 million – have been within the nine months since 6 June 2025.

Throughout last year and into this year, the daily figures were overwhelming on many occasions. Seven of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog have been in this month so far, one was last month, two were in December last and two were in January 2025:

• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 261,422 (13 January 2026)
• 195,391 (20 February 2026)
• 190,630 (23 February 2026)
• 190,467 (21 February 2026)

• 188,376 (19 February 2026)
• 183,317 (22 February 2026)
• 166,155 (15 December 2025)
• 156,311 (18 February 2026)
• 146,944 (14 December 2025)
• 145,259 (17 February 2026)

The rise in the number of readers seems to have been phenomenal throughout last year, and the daily figures are overwhelming at times, currently running at over 100,000 a day. Ten years ago, the daily average was around 1,000.

The blue-domed churches of Santorini in a poster … I was only one among 25 million visited Greece during the first eight months of last year, an all-time record (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

With this latest landmark figure of 25 million readers, I once again find myself asking questions such as:

• What do 25 million people look like?

• Where do we find 25 million people?

• What does £25 million, €25 million or $25 million mean?

• What would it buy? How far would it stretch? How much of a difference would that much make to people’s lives?

I was just one among almost 25 million people who visited Greece between January and August last year, and by the end of 2025 Greece had 38 million international visitors, surpassing all previous records.

Malaysia welcomes almost 25 million tourists annually.

About 25 million people, including 14 million children, are in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Sudan.

The bubonic plague or Black Death in the 14h century, killed more than one third of Europe or 25 million people in the space of 10 years.

The US spent about $12 billion on global health in 2024. Those programmes are now severely threatened by the capricious polices of the Trump regime. Yet, the journal Nature warned last year, without that yearly spending, about 25 million people could die in the next 15 years, according to models that have estimated the impact of such cuts on programmes for tuberculosis, HIV, family planning and maternal and child health.

A study published in the British Medical Journal last year (March 2025) estimates the number people with Parkinson’s Disease worldwide will grow to more than 25 million by 2050.

Schizophrenia affects approximately 23 million people or 1 in 345 people (0.29%) worldwide.

The number of Asian Americans reached 25 million, or 7% of the US population, in 2023.

Ireland is providing €25 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund to support Ukraine in restoring light and warmth to people’s homes.

25 million sq metres is 25,000 sq km, and that’s roughly the same size.

In 2023, Seet Wai Song, a 65-year-old chef, concluded an epic overland journey from Kuala Lumpur to Stuttgart, Germany, traversing 21 countries in 60 days. He drove the 25,000 km journey done in a 1974 custom-painted Mercedes-Benz W115 sedan. The self-funded journey aimed to raise funds for the National Cancer Society Malaysia.

Inflation in Greece was so overwhelming during World War II that the Bank of Greece issued a 25 million drachmai banknote on 10 August 1944.

A federal judge in the Southern District of California in 2018 finalised a $25 million settlement to be paid to people who attended the so-called Trump University. The Attorney General of New York, Eric T Schneiderman, described the settlement as a victory for Trump University’s ‘victims’, meaning the victims of ‘Trump’s fraudulent university will finally receive the relief they deserve.’

And 25 million minutes is 47 years, 6 months, and 26 days, or more than 17361 days, or almost 416,667 hours. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take more than 47½ years to reach today’s 25 million mark.

It is almost four years now since I retired from active parish ministry. These days, though, about 100 people on average are reading my daily prayer blog posted on this blog each morning. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 700 people or more each week.

Today, I am very grateful to all the 25 million readers of this blog to date, and in particular I remain grateful for the faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.

Lion dancers as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations on China Street in Kuching this week … Malaysia welcomes 25 million tourists annually (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

A stopover at Kuala Lumpur International Airport during the long marathon journey from Heathrow to Kuching

The ‘forest in the airport’ is one of the most unsual features of Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Patrick Comerford

We had just 2½ hours between flights in Kuala Lumpur late on Thursday night, between one flight arriving from Muscat in Oman and the next, much shorter flight on to Kuching in Sarawak, arriving after midnight on Thursday night or early on Friday morning.

For some international travellers, I imagine, Kuala Lumpur International Airport is probably just another airport transit lounge they pass through as they catch their next flight.

The airport is about 55 km from Kuala Lumpur city centre, but transport links are good enough to allow a short city visit possible if your stopover is long and well-timed. Passengers with at least six hours – and ideally more – may find it worthwhile to make the journey. The fastest option is the KLIA Ekspres train, which connects the airport to KL Sentral in under 30 minutes. KLIA Transit trains are slower with more stops, while buses and taxis are also available.

Once in the city centre, many visitors head for the Petronas Twin Towers or Kuala Lumpur Tower for city views. Areas like Chinatown and Little India offer quick cultural snapshot, Jalan Alor is popular for casual street food, and KL Forest Eco Park is a pocket of greenery close to the city centre.

But getting into Kuala Lumpur’s city centre needs at least an hour and then another hour to get back to the airport – a return trip that requires better planning and more time that we thought we had on our hands. Allowing at least two hours of travel time to and from the city centre and then at least another hour back at the airport for security and passport controls and to check back in again.We were on a marathon journey or odyssey that was taking 26 hours in all, and, apart from it being very late at night, we simply did not have those six hours on hand.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is a massive hub in Sepang, about 55 km south of the Malaysian capital. It is the busiest airport in Malaysia, one of the largest in south-east Asia by land area alone – about 100 sq km – and one of the 30 busiest airports in the world, with over 57 million passengers a year.

The concept for Kuala Lumpur International Airport dates back to 1993, when the Malaysian government decided that the old airport, Subang International Airport, was too small for future needs and that Kuala Lumpur needed a bigger, more modern airport.

KLIA was planned as part of the Multimedia Super Corridor, a major project to develop technology and business in Malaysia. The main terminal was designed by the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa (1934-2007), and features Islamic-inspired roof structures.

The plan was ambitious, with three main stages, and the goal was to have three runways and two terminals, each with two satellite terminals.

The first stage involved building the main terminal and one satellite terminal. This allowed the airport to handle 25 million passengers. It also included two full-service runways. In this first stage, the airport had 60 gates where planes could connect directly to the terminal. It also had 20 remote parking spots and 80 places for aircraft to park. There were also four maintenance hangars and fire stations.

The second stage was designed to increase the airport's capacity to 35 million passengers a year. The third stage aims to make the airport big enough for 100 million passengers a year.

KLIA officially opened on 27 June 1998, just a week before Hong Kong International Airport opened, and in time for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia.

One of the more unusual features is the ‘forest in the airport’, with a transplanted rainforest that includes real plants and elevated walkways, trees and a stream, and a complete section of rainforest transplanted from the Malaysian jungle.

The airport even has a free cinema lounge in the Satellite Building. The space features couches and reclining seats, with popular films shown on large screens.

The airport has two terminals: KLIA1 and KLIA2. Terminal 1 is the main airport, the busiest in Malaysia and the primary hub for Malaysia Airlines; Terminal 2 is the low-cost carrier terminal from which Air Asia operates. KLIA2 is connected to a full shopping centres, known as Gateway@klia2, that includes shops, restaurants and services, and it feels more like a city-centre shopping area than a terminal add-on.

Eventually, we had a stopover of just 1½ or 2 hours but – and forgive the pun – it flew by. We had to change terminals, get a light rail, check-in all over again. We got out next departure gate on time, but with only 15 or 30 minutes to spare, enough time to grab that mandatory cup of coffee but notthing more.

Traffic, passport queues, and security re-entry all add time, so city sightseeing probably works best for confident travellers with a generous buffer before the next flight. With tight schedules, it never even entered our minds late on Thursday night.

Perhaps on the return journey from Kuching two weeks from now, I may look at the option for short peek at Kuala Lumpur. But it’s obviously going to involve clever booking so that I don’t miss my flights back to Muscat and on to London.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport was designed by the acclaimed Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa

A $24.5 million Elvis mansion, a $24.5 million payout to Trump, 24.5 million in the Philippines, and 24.5 million blog readers

Malaysia welcomed 24.5 million visitors in the first seven months of last year … walking along the waterfront in Kuching last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

This blog is reaching more and more readers at a phenomenal rate this month, and passed a new milepost of 24.5 million readers late last night Irish time or early this morning Sarawak time today (22/23 February 2026). This comes only three days after it passed the milepost of 24 million readers last Friday (20 February 2026), having reached the 23.5 million mark three days before that (17 February 2026), 23 million readers only five days before that (12 February 2026), and 22.5 million earlier this month (4 February).

These figures follow passing the landmarks of 22 million hits late last month (20 January) and 21.5 million hits a week before that (13 January). At the end of 2025, this blog had 21 million hits by New Year’s Eve (31 December 2025), with almost 2.5 million visitors throughout December (2,423,018).

So far this year, there have been more than 3.5 million hits or visitors for 2026. This means, this blog has passed the half million mark five times this month alone, compared to twice last month, and five times in December.

I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers – a number reached within the past week alone. It then took more than another year before this figure rose to 1 million by September 2013. This blog reached the 10 million mark a year ago (12 January 2025), almost 15 years later. In little more than 13 months since then, another 14.5 million hits have been counted.

Throughout last year and into this year, the daily figures were overwhelming on many occasions. Seven of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog have been in this month so far, one was last month, two were in December last and two were in January 2025:

• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 261,422 (13 January 2026)
• 195,391 (20 February 2026)
• 190,467 (21 February 2026)
• 188,376 (19 February 2026)

• 183,317 (22 February 2026)
• 166,155 (15 December 2025)
• 156,311 (18 February 2026)
• 146,944 (14 December 2025)
• 145,259 (17 February 2026)
• 144,935 (16 February 2026)

The latest figure of 24.5 million is all the more staggering as more half of those hits have been within the past nine months, since May 2025. The rise in the number of readers seems to have been phenomenal throughout last year, and the daily figures are overwhelming at times, currently running at almost 80,000 a day. Ten years ago, the daily average was around 1,000.

With this latest landmark figure of 24.5 million readers, I once again find myself asking questions such as:

• What do 24.5 million people look like?

• Where do we find 24.5 million people?

• What does £24.5 million, €24.5 million or $24.5 million mean?

• What would it buy? How far would it stretch? How much of a difference would that much make to people’s lives?

YouTube agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump after he was suspended from the platform

The population of the Philippines is estimated at 24.5 million, the Red River Delta region of Vietnam has a population of 24.5 million people, Shanghai has 24.5 million permanent residents along with another 5 million people regarded as a floating population, and the immigrant population in the US includes 24.5 million naturalised citizens and 21.6 million non-citizens.

The number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Horn of Africa is said to be about 24.5 million people.

There are 24.5 million voters in Iraq, 24.5 million voters took part in the first-round of voting in presidential election in Iran in 2024, and there were 24.5 million registered voters in Algeria’s presidential election in 2024.

Here in Malaysia, the country welcomed 24.5 million visitors in the first seven months of last year, between January and July 2025. Turkish Airlines carried 24.5 million passengers in the third quarter of 2024, while 24.5 million people visited Moscow in 2023.

Malaysia generates 24.5 million units of e-waste annually. Many of these discarded gadgets end up mishandled by unregulated recyclers, exposing workers to hazardous chemicals; illegally dumped, polluting the air and harming communities; or worsening Malaysia’s waste crisis, as landfills near capacity, risking an environmental emergency.

Soccer is said to have 24.5 million fans in Italy.

British pubs expect to sell a total of 24.5 million pints during the entire Six Nations Rugby matches.

24.5 million sq metres is 24,500 sq km, and that’s roughly the same size of Rwanda.

Elvis Presley’s former home in Los Angeles was put on the market last year with an asking price of $24.5 million. Elvis lived for six years in the part-modern, part-French Regency home in Beverly Hills designed by the architect Rex Lotery after he bought the house in 1967 for $400,000.

Some 24.5 million viewers watched Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025 on 15 networks, according to Nielsen Media Research. Perhaps not surprisingly, Fox News led the viewership figures.

It emerged last September that YouTube agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump after he was suspended from the platform in 2021 – and that would pay for a lot of bling in the Oval Office, or the equivalent of the largest-ever medical malpractice settlement in the State of California.

And 24.5 million minutes is 46 years, 7 months, and 12 days, or almost 17,014 days, or more than 408,333 hours. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take more than 46½ years to reach today’s 24.5 million mark.

It is almost four years now since I retired from active parish ministry. These days, though, about 100 people on average are reading my daily prayer blog posted on this blog each morning. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 700 people or more each week.

Today, I am very grateful to all the 24.5 million readers of this blog to date, and in particular I am grateful for the faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.

British pubs expect to sell a total of 24.5 million pints during the entire Six Nations Rugby matches (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A changeover that left no time to get into Kuala Lumpur or to visit the Anglican cathedral

Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur (Photograph: Flaming Ferrari / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Patrick Comerford

After a furtive flurry rushing through Kuala Lumpur International Airport, dashing from a flight from Muscat to catch a flight to Kuching late on Thursday night and early on Friday morning, I put aside entertaining any dreams of snatching a few hours in the Malaysian capital, of perhaps even visiting the Anglican cathedral in Kuala Lumpur.

The Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin or Saint Mary’s Cathedral is the cathedral of the Diocese of West Malaysia in the Anglican Church of the Province of South-East Asia. From one small congregation in a simple wooden building in the 19th century on the present site beside Independence Square or Dataran Merdeka, the cathedral community has grown into 10 diverse and active congregations that form one cathedral community.

The original church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and was consecrated by Bishop George Frederick Hose, Bishop of Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak, on 13 February 1887. This early church was built of timber on Bluff Road, on top of a hill now known as Bukit Aman, where the headquarters of the Royal Malaysian Police are now located. It served a small number of Anglicans in Kuala Lumpur at the time, and the parishioners at that time included the British Residents of Selangor, Sir William Hood Treacher (1849-1919) and Sir Frank Swettenham (1850-1946), later Resident-General of the Federated Malay States and Governor of the Straits Settlements.

With a growing congregation, a decision was taken in 1893 to build a new church and a new site was found beside the Padang or Parade Ground of the Selangor Club, now known as Dataran Merdeka or Independence Square. The congregation raised the funds to build a new church a further 5,000 Straits dollars came as a gift from the government of Selangor with the support of the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916), a grandson of the composer Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) who lived at the end of his life in Lichfield in Lincroft House, now the Hedgehog Vintage Inn.

The foundation stone was laid on 3 February 1894 by the British Resident of Selangor, Sir William Treacher, and the service was led by Bishop Hose. It was the first brick church in the so-called native States of the Malay Peninsula and it was consecrated by Bishop Hose on 9 February 1895.

The church was designed by the government Arthur Charles Alfred Norman (1858-1944), whose design was based on Early English Gothic architecture. Norman contributed to the design of some of Malaysia’s most important buildings in the historic core of Kuala Lumpur lining the perimeter of Merdeka Square, including the Sultan Abdul Samad Building (1897), the Royal Selangor Club, the Residence of the British Resident of Selangor (1888), the Victoria Institution (1893) and Kuala Lumpur Library (1909).

Norman designed Saint Mary’s Church with a nave that is 87 ft long by 28 ft wide, and a chancel 29 ft long by 22 ft wide with an octagonal end, along with a vestry and organ chamber. The nave can hold a congregation of 180 people and the chancel a choir of 20.

The back of the main sanctuary was extended in 1958 to accommodate a hall named the Jubilee Hall. Later developments have included a multi-purpose hall, as well as offices for the clergy and a studio apartment.

The pipe organ in the church is a second-hand built in 1898 by Henry Willis (‘Father Willis’), the English organ maker who also built the organ of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, and the original grand organ in the Royal Albert Hall. One of his organs is also in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.

The organ was originally bought by Frederic Duberly, the Acting Resident of Pahang, for his personal use in 1898. Duberly died of a heart attack on 3 April 1903, and his organ was packed up and shipped to Kuala Lumpur. It was installed in Saint Mary’s in 1904 and dedicated on 7 August 1904 but it was soon dismantled after a dispute over its legal ownership. The church eventually paid Duberly’s executors $2,000 in 1915, and the organ was then installed on the north side of the church.

The organ was damaged in two floods in 1925 and 1926 and repaired and then moved to its present position in the loft. The organ was rebuilt in 1927, when most of the wooden pipes, the pedal board, the wind chest, and some of the keys were replaced. It was badly damaged again during World War II and was completely rebuilt in 1951.

Canon Paul GT Samuel laid the foundation stone for a two-storey annexe on 28 April 1968. This annexe replaced the ‘old wooden parish hall on stilts’ was dedicated by Bishop Chiu Ban It, Bishop of Singapore and Malaya, on 5 February 1969.

The Diocese of West Malaysia, covering the entire West Malaysia, and the Diocese of Singapore were formed out of the former Diocese of Singapore and Malaya in 1970, and Saint Mary’s Church became the seat of the Bishop of West Malaysia. Saint Mary’s Church was proclaimed the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary the Virgin by the Bishop of West Malaysia, Bishop Tan Sri JG Savarimuthu on 8 September 1983.

The Church of the Province of South East Asia, with four dioceses, was formed on 2 February 1996, with the dioceses of Kuching, Sabah, Singapore and West Malaysia. It includes most of South-East Asia as well as Nepal, apart from Myanmar and the Philippines.

The cathedral was designated a National Heritage building of Malaysia in 2014. Today, Saint Mary’s stands in a strategic location in the most historical and charming section of Kuala Lumpur.

The Right Revd Dr Stephen Soe is the Bishop of West Malaysia and the Very Revd Andrew Cheah is the Dean of Kuala Lumpur Cathedral.

The cathedral has three traditional liturgical services in English on Sundays: Said Eucharist (7 am), a Sung Eucharist with choir (9 am), and a said Family Eucharist with choir (11 am). Other Sunday services include the three ‘Contemporary Sunday Services’ at 9 am off-site at Wisma Anglican, at 11 am and at 5 pm in the Multipurpose Hall beside the cathedral.

In addition. an Iban Service for the Iban congregation, made up mainly of ethnic Iban migrants from Sarawak, is held at 8 am on Sunday mornings in the Multi-Purpose Hall. There are Bahasa Malaysia services at 11 am and 3 pm in the Lady Chapel, mainly for people from Sabah and Sarawak.

After all the fuss and frenzy of changing flights and catching flights on Thursday night and Friday morning, I never did get into Kuala Lumpur and I never got to see Saint Mary’s Cathedral. Perhaps I may share some of my impressions of the airport in the next day or two. And, perhaps, I may even look at the opportunities to visit Kuala Lumpur itself on my return journey at the end of next week.

Inside Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur (Photograph: Tripadvisor)

Time enough to catch a coffee in Muscat airport on my first visit to Oman on the way to Kuala Lumpur and Kuching

Does a quick coffee in Muscat airport count as my first visit to Oman? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

In my books, I have been somewhere if I have at least enough time to have a coffee. It doesn’t count for me as a visit if I pass through an airport, and it certainly does not count if I fly over a country or travel through a place by car or on a bus or train.

We had a 2 ½-hour stopover in Muscat early this morning when we arrived from Heathrow as we changed planes and transferred to a flight to Kuala Lumpur, where the next part of the odyssey now involves catching a third flight to Kuching late tonight (as I write it’s almost (10:30 pm).

I have travelled through and worked in the Middle East in the past, and had short, brief stopovers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai about 45 years ago, back in the early 1980s. But this is my first time to have ever stopped over in Muscat or to have been in Oman.

Muscat International Airport, formerly known as Seeb International Airport, is the main international airport in Oman. It is 32 km outside the old city and capital Muscat, so there was never going to be any possibility of getting to see Muscat itself, and certainly so chance of seeing any of Oman. The airport is the hub for Oman Air, the flag carrier we are flying with, and SalamAir, Oman’s first budget airline.

Muscat’s original airport, Bayt al-Falaj Airport, was established in 1929 and became known for sharp turns and steep descents. It was mainly used for military purposes and was regularly used by oil companies.

Bayt al-Falaj Airport eventually became too small for increasingly large planes, and was considered too dangerous because of the steep approach caused by the surrounding mountains. Consequently, a new airport with larger spaces to expand operations was needed.

The new airport opened as Seeb International Airport in 1973. At first, it had only a single terminal building and two check-in and immigration desks. It was extended in the 1980s and 1990s with new facilities, a new passenger terminal and a new cargo terminal. The airport was given its present name in 2008.

The current terminal makes Muscat airport the biggest airport in Oman. Building began in 2007, and the airport opened in 2018. In 2019, Muscat International Airport became the first international airport in the world to possess an operational drone detection system.

The airport’s newer and significantly larger terminal, located north of the existing terminal and first runway, opened in 2018. Later expansions are increasing the airport’s capacity to 24 and 48 million passengers a year, with 118 check-in desks, 10 baggage reclaim belts, 82 immigration counters, 45 gates, and a 97 metre high control tower.

The airport promises that ‘for a memorable and comfortable family vacation, there are no better options than Oman’ with its ‘white sandy beaches, palm trees, tropical and Khareef weather’ and that the hospitality of Omani resorts ‘is incomparable to any place in the world.’

It is Ramadan throughout the Muslim world. But were still able tofind time to grab a cup of coffee in Muscat, as we moved through the transfer lounges in the airport to catch our connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur. I am travelling back through Muscat in two weeks’ time.

Waiting to leave Muscat for Kulala Lumpur this morning (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Daily prayer in Lent 2026: 1, Wednesday 18 February 2026, Ash Wednesday

Lent offers a time for renewed reflection … February reflections at night at Minster Pool in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Lent begins today with Ash Wednesday (5 March 2025), which is being marked in this parish today with the imposition of ashes and the Eucharist or Holy Communion in All Saints’ Church, Calverton, this morning (10:30) in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, this evening (6 pm).

I m going to miss both as later today two of us set off on an epic journey to Kuching, with a flight from Heathrow that leaves this evening and arrives in Muscat early tomorrow morning local time (07:15), but still the middle of the night back in England (03:15). We have barely breathing time to connect with the next flight from Muscat (09:20) to Kuala Lumpur, and a similar short gap there tomorrow tonight, before our connecting flight, hopefully getting to Kuching after midnight and in the very early hours of Friday (20 February).

But before my day begins, before packing and making sure I have all my papers, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

Lenten array in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 1 ‘Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 ‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

5 ‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

16 ‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

‘Dancing to the Heartbeat of God, Stories of Discipleship’ (SPCK) is the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book for 2026, with a foreword by Archbishop Sarah Mullally


Today’s Reflections:

It is striking how often in the Bible encounters with God take place on a mountain top: Mount Sinai, Mount Zion, the Mount of Olives, Calvary and the Ascension from the Mount called Olivet.

In the Gospel reading on Sunday (Matthew 17: 1-9, 15 February 2026), we heard the story of the Transfiguration, where Christ is presented on a high mountain as the Father’s beloved Son, and placed on either side of him are Moses and Elijah – for Christ is truly the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets, of all of God’s promises.

In the Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday, we meet Christ as we listen to his Sermon on the Mount.

And there is a link between this mountain-side sermon and the Transfiguration.

The Transfiguration presents an opportunity not only for us to Christ as he truly is – the incarnate, living God; but also an opportunity for us to be reminded of how God sees us – made in his image and likeness.

The first reading the previous Sunday (Genesis 1: 1 to 2: 3), which I read at the Parish Eucharist in Stony Stratford on the Sunday before Lent (8 February 2025), is a reminder that when God made us, God made us from the earth, but also that God made us in God’s own image and likeness. What a compliment.

Then, at Christmas, God takes on our image and likeness. God in Christ does not just look like us, Christ is truly one of us, both God and flesh. Again, what a compliment.

On Calvary, Christ shows he is truly flesh. It is not that he appears to die. He dies. He truly is like us, is one of us. Again, what a compliment.

In the Resurrection, we are called to be what we are truly made to be – to be restored so that once again we are in God’s image and likeness. And once again, what a compliment.

So Lent is an opportunity to look back on who we are, and to look forward to who we are truly called to be: made in God’s image and likeness, and restored to God’s image and likeness.

One way of reminding us of this is to read this Gospel reading reminding us to pray, fast, to do good, to give alms, to seek our rewards in pursuing the values of the Kingdom of God.

This Gospel reading can be understood when it is read within the context of the full Sermon on the Mount, including the Beatitudes.

To be like Christ is to what he asks us to do.

A second way of reminding us of how we are made in God’s image and likeness, and how we are to be restored to God’s image and likeness, is the tradition of using ashes on Ash Wednesday.

It is a Biblical paradox that we are both made from the earth and yet are made in God’s image and likeness. We are made from the soil, yet in Saint John’s understanding of the cosmos all creation also dwells within God’s womb.

Our ashes on Ash Wednesday call us back to our beginnings, so that we can look forward to our glory in the Risen Christ at Easter. We are made of the earth, yet we are made in God’s image and likeness.

Quite often, we mark Lent with traditional customs such as giving up things, donating to charity, deliberate attitudes of kindness, or taking part in parish Bible studies. These customs are like New Year’s resolutions: they make us feel good for as long as we keep them, but they make us feel guilty when we fall behind.

But Lent is not about either: about feeling guilty or about feeling better … even if it is a good idea that I should become less self-centred and it is a good for me if, after a few weeks, I feel fitter and healthier.

In Old English, the word ‘Lent’ has the same meaning as ‘Spring.’ It means the days are lengthening – hence ‘Lent’ – and that signs of life are beginning to emerge after the coldness of winter.

As Spring prepares us to look forward to days that are longer and are warmer, so, Lent as a season prepares us to look forward to Easter: to the conquest of death and to new life through the Resurrection of Christ.

In the early Church, Easter was the time to receive new members of the Church in Baptism, the gift of new life in Christ. Baptism was, and is, a second birth, a way of being made one with Christ and one in the great company of believers who are his body, the Church on earth and in heaven.

Before Baptism, the early Church had a careful period of preparation for all new members. This was a period of instruction in Christian faith and practice, leading to Baptism on Easter Eve.

New Christians were taught to turn their back on old ways, superstitions and idolatries, and to replace them in Lent with acts such as generosity to the poor, the sick and those in prison. As their Baptism and Easter approached, they practised fasting, almsgiving and prayer, supported and encouraged by members of the Church. It was a communal exercise and experience.

And so began the customs and traditions we associate with the season of Lent. They were seen as an imitation of Christ during his 40 days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness after his baptism by Saint John the Baptist.

The traditional Ash Wednesday invitation or exhortation begins:

‘Brothers and sisters in Christ: since early days Christians have observed with great devotion the time of our Lord's passion and resurrection. It became the custom of the Church to prepare for this by a season of penitence and fasting.

‘At first this season of Lent was observed by those who were preparing for baptism at Easter and by those who were to be restored to the Church’s fellowship from which they had been separated through sin. In course of time the Church came to recognize that, by a careful keeping of these days, all Christians might take to heart the call to repentance and the assurance of forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel, and so grow in faith and in devotion to our Lord.

‘I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Lord to observe a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy word.’

There are some ways I could suggest for observing Lent this year:

1, Come and See, Discovering Jesus through the Eucharist, is a free online invitation in the Diocese of Oxford to explore spirituality and find out more about the Christian faith. People are invited receive daily emails through Lent, with reflections, readings and encouragements. Each Sunday, there is a video from Bishop Steven Croft unpacking another aspect of the Eucharist. More information here.

2, My reading for Lent this year is Dancing to the Heartbeat of God, Stories of Discipleship, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book for 2026, with a foreword by Archbishop Sarah Mullally and an introduction by Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York. This book brings together around 30 contributors from across the globe, who reflect the breadth, diversity and vitality of the Anglican Communion, and who offer a confident and hopeful vision of faith lived out in everyday life through personal stories, testimonies and reflections on what it means to follow Christ faithfully.

3, USPG’s Lent Appeal this year seeks to bring hope for the future to Myanmar. Through the Church of the Province of Myanmar’s Integrated Education Programme, vulnerable children are finding sanctuary in classrooms, sustenance in daily meals, and strength in community. USPG is supporting this partnership of faith and action throughout Lent 2026. Find out more and support the appeal here.

4, Pope Leo XIV, in his invitation for Lent this year, says: ‘I would like to invite you to a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbour. Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves.’ This is a wonderful way to start Lent, and a wonderful way roo to show we are listening to what Christ asks of us.

There is a necessary rigour to Lent. It is meant to offer a time for change to take place.

Fasting also allows us to learn the extraordinary richness of God’s creation: we can appreciate it more if we seek to tame our appetites for a while. Put this alongside prayer and almsgiving and we cannot but help to turn away from self a little more and so have space for God and the claims of God and neighbour on our lives. Over the past four years, I have been in and out of hospitals and clinics in Milton Keynes, Oxford, Sheffield and London, for tests related to a battery of conditions and injuries falling a fall. I did not need to read today’s Gospel to be reminded ‘whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.’

Spring follows winter and holds the promise of summer; Lent holds the hope of Easter and the Resurrection. And the next six weeks of Lent offer a fresh opportunity to do those things, and to pray in those ways, that make us less self-centred, that make us feel fitter and healthier – spiritually as well as physically – and that renew and refresh our faith, our hope, our love.

A window ledge in the chapel in Dr Miley’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 18 February 2026, Ash Wednesday):

The theme this week (15-21 February 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is: ‘Look to the Amazon!’ (pp 28-29). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by the Most Revd Marinez Bassotto, Bishop of Amazonia and Archbishop of the Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 18 February 2026, Ash Wednesday) invites us to pray:

Merciful God, as we begin this season of Lent, remind us to seek your presence with humble hearts. Teach us to give, to pray, and to fast however we can out of love of you. May we walk each day in the light of your grace.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
you have given your only Son to be for us
both a sacrifice for sin
and also an example of godly life:
give us grace
that we may always most thankfully receive
these his inestimable gifts,
and also daily endeavour
to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Holy God,
our lives are laid open before you:
rescue us from the chaos of sin
and through the death of your Son
bring us healing and make us whole
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Lent offers a time for renewed reflection … night-time reflections in the February rain in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Churchyard, Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org