St. Thomas Kuantan Pahang

    The idea of having a community centre where the activities of the various parish organizations could be held was first mooted by Fr. A. Henriott in the late sixties. After the completion of the new church, he also bought a 3-storeyed shop house opposite the church with that purpose in mind. However, as it was not practical to hold parish activities there, the place was rented out. The idea of a community centre was bandied about over the years. As the parish grew and the number of the church activities greatly increased, the need for a community centre was felt more and more.

1992
    Some time in the 1992, the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) discussed the proposal with Archbishop Soter Fernandez and received the green light to proceed. The PPC led by Fr. Joachim Tan and Mr. Francis Loh decided to establish a Committee for the proposed project. In December 1992, the following office-bearers were elected to form the building Committee: Dato’ David Lim Chin Hui & Dato’ Dr John-Paul Yong (Co–Chairman), Aw Dai Kooi (Secretary), Peter Tan Kat Seng (Asst. Secretary), Priscilla Phua (Treasurer).

1993
    In February 1993, the Committee met with the architect, Mr. Linus Low of Messrs. Hussein & Loh to discuss the lay-out of the proposed building. The Committee at the same time wrote to Archbishop enquiring the proper procedure to carry out the project and how to finance it. The reply from the Archdiocesan Financial Administrator was that each parish had to raise funds for the project but the Archdiocese would provide help if needed to ensure its successful completion.

1994
    In early 1994, the PPC wrote to the architects to proceed to draw up the building plan for submission to Majlis Perbandaran Kuantan (MPK) and also instructed the surveyor to survey the church land at Jalan Gambut. In December 1994, the PPC Chairman wrote to Archbishop seeking his approval of the preliminary plan of the community Complex. After some correspondence between the Archdiocesan Finance Committee (AFC) and the PPC, the written approval was given by AFC on 15.6.1995.

1995/1996
    However on 18.9.1995, MPK exhibited the draft local development programme for the town centre of Kuantan aiming to develop the town into a major commercial and service centre. One of the proposals in the draft was to relocate all schools in the town centre to other residential areas and the land to be reclassified as commercial zone, thus affecting our church land. The PPC wrote to MPK to object to this proposal and in January 1996 instructed the architect to stop working on the Community Complex due to the implication of MPK’s proposed plan.

1997
    On 5.9.1997, the Land Office Kuantan wrote to Archbishop informing him of the change of category of the St. Thomas Church land (CT4414, Lot 1 Sek. 20 bandar Kuantan) from “Tiada” to “Bangunan Rumah Ibadat-Gereja”.

1999
    There was a lapse of 2 years before the new PPC (Chairman: Dato’ Bodipalar) decided to proceed with the Community Centre building project at its meeting on 19.9.1999. A new committee was then formed in October 1999 comprising the following- Chairman: Dato’ Mathew Lim; Vice-Chairman: Dato’ Bodipalar and members: Linus Low, Aw Dai Kooi. Roland Ting and Camelia Fong (Secretary).

2000
    On 4.5.2000, the Building Committee met officially the first time during which Linus Low presented the first draft of the proposed structure plan. This plan was subsequently displayed for comments and suggestions from parishioners. Based on the feedbacks received modifications and alternations were made.

2001
    The revised plan was presented to PPC on 11.1.2001 and was accepted. Following that two sub-committees were formed, viz – Fund-raising and Publicity. The plan was sent to Archbishop for his official endorsement. Meanwhile there was much brainstorming for fund-raising projects on scales of small, medium and large. The written approval of the building plans was given by Archbishop on 10.7.2001 and the plans were submitted to MPK on 15.11.2001.

2002
    In January 2002, MPK wrote asking to include the future road improvement of Jalan Gambut into the working plans for the Centre. Conditional approval by MPK was given on 13.4.2002 subject to compliance of the matters related to road alignment, letter of confirmation on the use of the Centre and acknowledgment by the St. Thomas Secondary School.

2003
    A Technical Sub-committee chaired by Alan Ten was set up on 16.1.2003 and preparation of the Committee Constitution was started as required by Archbishop. The building plans were officially approved by MPK on 6.11.2003.

2004
    In January 2004, the approved plans and Constitution were sent to Archbishop. Then in July, in conjunction with St. Thomas Feast Day celebrations, Fr. Eugene Benedict assisted by Fr. George Packiasamy, officiated the Blessing and Dedication of the Land and the Ground-breaking Ceremony.

The Construction work and its progress:
    Work on the Community Centre commenced on 10^th November 2004 with the contractor, Ow Construction Sdn. Bhd., given possession of the site. However, the actual demolition on the old church and parish house did not start until 9 days later, at the end of the school term. The demolition work was completed in two weeks and the old timber was taken away to St. Theresa’s Chapel for storage and to be reused later.
    On completion of the demolition of the parish house and old church, the excavation for raft foundation commenced immediately. The retaining wall at the back of the church was also constructed. The excavation works and placing of steel bars were completed by 21^st December 2004. It was fortunate that the Monsoon rains had yet to arrive. The concreting of the raft foundation started on the following day. The raft foundation involved a volume of about 200 cubic metric concrete and it was one of the biggest single pouring of concrete in town. Work began at the break of dawn and was only completed after midnight. The pouring of the concrete was made possible by the availability of ready-mix concrete which made it possible to supply the volume needed and the quality of the concrete mix.
    After the Christmas break, work resumed on the reinforced concrete frame for the ground floor comprising the kindergarten, secretariat, staff quarters, kitchen and toilets. This was followed by the first floor consisting of the hall and the priests’ quarters and finally the second floor consisting of the classrooms and meeting rooms. By May 2005, the reinforced concrete of the building was completed excluding the finishing, fittings and infrastructure.
    During July 2005, 18 teams in the Technical Committee were formed for fittings and furnishing of the Community Centre. The teams covered all areas of the Centre, among them the hall, library, classrooms, breakfast corner and kitchen, archives and museum, priests’ quarters, public address system, and electrical and plumbing requirements. One committee was also formed for the opening ceremony. The leaders of various teams were to recruit other parishioners to help formulate and furnish ideas, get quotations, and assist in any other ways necessary.
    While the infrastructure works were going on, the tiling, doors, painting, fittings and other works related to the Centre were carried out. By January 2006, the building was completed except for the premix in the church compound which would only be done after the kindergarten classes have shifted to the new building and TNB has laid the electrical cables. In June 2006, the TNB was in the process of finalizing the supply of electricity to the Centre. The Certificate of Fitness for Occupation was finally given on 11 October 2006.

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