PENANG (Herald Malaysia): Forty-eight Catholic Indonesian migrant workers from Sg Kroh, Kampar, Perak, visited Penang on Oct 29 and 30 and City Parish played host to them. They arrived in a chartered bus and headed for the Assumption Formation Centre. Members from the parish and Penang Human Development Committee (PHDC) were there to welcome them. The visitors were provided dinner before being taken to their rooms. Parish priest, Fr Dominic Santhiyagu, dropped by later, to greet them.

The next morning, they joined parishioners for the morning Eucharistic Celebration at the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Fr Ronnie Luni, from Keningau, Sabah, was the main celebrant, with Fr Dominic concelebrating. The Eucharistic Celebration was in English and Bahasa.

In Fr Ronnie’s homily, he touched on being a Christian community in the Church. He said that the Christian community is a family that unites us in the Church.

The Indonesians read the second reading and sang two hymns during the Mass. During the presentation of gifts, they offered up rambutans, mangosteens and mangoes brought from Kampar.

After Mass, there was a fellowship for the Indonesians and other migrants who were present. The Indonesians then went on a sight-seeing tour of Penang Island before they headed back home to Kampar.

These Indonesian Catholics are workers from the Sg. Kroh estates in Kampar. There are about 200 of them in the community. Most of them work in oil palm plantations or fruit and vegetable farms. They were very happy when their employers got them registered under the government’s 6P plan. This means they are now ‘legalised’ and can go out without fear, hence they themselves arranged this tour to Penang, at their own expense. —By Lucia Lai