The Bishop of West Malaysia is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

prelate who oversees the

Diocese of West Malaysia The Diocese of West Malaysia is an Anglican diocese which covers the entire West Malaysia. The Diocese of West Malaysia (DWM) was founded on 8 April 1970, as DWM together with Diocese of Singapore split from Diocese of Singapore and Malaya. As ...

in the

Church of the Province of South East Asia The Church of the Province of South East Asia is an autonomous member of the Anglican Communion, created in 1996 with the four dioceses of Kuching, Sabah, Singapore and West Malaysia. There are approximately 98,000 Anglicans within the pro ...

. The current bishop is the 5th Bishop of the Diocese since its creation in 1970. His seat is St. Mary's Cathedral,

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

History

Anglicanism came to the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

following the establishment of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

's administered settlement on Penang island in 1786. The local magistrate, George Caunter, was appointed a Lay Clerk/Acting Chaplain to provide spiritual ministry to the settlers. Under his ministry the first entry into the Church Register was made in 1799. The Diocese of Calcutta provided episcopal supervision for the chaplaincy work on Penang island and the first Anglican Church building, the Church of St. George the Martyr, was built and consecrated in 1819. In 1867, the administration of the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

passed from the hands of the East India Company to the British Crown and in 1869, Anglican churches in the Straits Settlements was placed under the episcopal supervision of the Bishop of Labuan and her Dependencies with the diocese expanded and renamed as the Diocese of Labuan, Sarawak and Singapore. In 1909, the Straits Settlements was separated to form its own diocese, the Diocese of Singapore. With the

Independence of Malaya Independence Day ( ms, Hari Merdeka, also known as ''Hari Kebangsaan'' or "National Day"), is the official independence day of Malaya. It commemorates the Malayan Declaration of Independence of 31 August 1957, and is defined in Article 160 o ...

in 1957 and by 1960, the diocese was renamed the Diocese of Singapore and Malaya. After the

Independence of Singapore The history of the modern state of Singapore dates back to its founding in the early nineteenth century; however, evidence suggests that a significant trading settlement existed on the Island of Singapore in the 14th century. The last ruler of ...

in 1965, Singapore was separated from the diocese and in 1970, the Diocese of West Malaysia was established with the former Bishop of Sabah,

Roland Koh Tan Sri Roland Koh Peck Chiang ( – 6 October 1972) was a Malaysian clergyman in the Anglican Church. He was the second Bishop of Sabah from 1965 until 1970, and then the first Bishop of West Malaysia from 1970 until his death. Koh was the s ...

, being appointed as the first Bishop of West Malaysia. In 2015, a decision was made by the Diocesan Synod to further divide the diocese into three separate dioceses and in 2016, two area dioceses were created, the Area Diocese of the Northern Peninsula and the Area Diocese of the Southern Peninsula, in preparation and two suffragan bishops were licensed to oversee the area dioceses. Provisional approval of the Provincial Synod for the creation of the new dioceses by 2020 has since been obtained.

List of Bishops

References

External links

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Anglican Communion church bodies Christian organizations established in 1970 Anglicanism in Malaysia 1970 establishments in Malaysia {{Anglican-stub