Now attention could be focused on Malaya. Six missionaries were assigned to the area. Two of them, James Rowe and Neil Crockett, were able to preach for one year in Kuala Lumpur, but the other four unfortunately were only allowed to stay one month, and they served in Penang. Why their stay was so short is a story in itself.

Missionaries in Kuala Lumpur

Early in 1951 the ship Steel King chugged into the port of Penang from New York with six missionaries aboard. At Penang the immigration officials inspected the passports of Brothers Crockett and Rowe and stamped them for a one-year stay in Malaya. However, when they checked the passports of the other four missionaries, it suddenly dawned on them how many missionaries of Jehovah’s Witnesses were entering the country. They told the missionaries that newly passed regulations would not allow foreign Witnesses to stay in the country. However, since the passports of Brothers Crockett and Rowe had already been stamped for a one-year stay, they were permitted to remain, but the other four were granted only a one-month stay in Penang, after which they were to leave the country and were reassigned to Thailand.

The branch assigned Brothers Crockett and Rowe to Kuala Lumpur. A missionary home was soon established at 25-A Klang Road, about two miles [3 km] from the city center. The city had only one active publisher, Sister Mackenzie, an elderly woman of Eurasian background. Imagine her joy when two missionaries joined her in service!

Although the truth had been preached to some extent in the 1930’s and early 1940’s, working the territory in 1951 seemed like preaching in virgin territory. The two missionary brothers were anxious to cover the territory as quickly as possible. With a keen desire to search for prospective sheep, they spent whole days as well as evenings preaching and calling back on interested ones. So it was not unusual for them to place a hundred books in a month. Thus, in a short time, each missionary was conducting 15 to 16 Bible studies per month. And after approximately six months, the first congregation was established, with as many as 14 attending the meetings.

Since Communist insurgents were active in Malaya about this time, it was deemed foolhardy for any Westerner to venture outside the city limits for fear of being ambushed and killed as a suspected plantation owner or colonial government official. However, Sister Mackenzie had a son George, who lived in a distant province, and he wanted to study the Bible. How could the missionaries visit him in view of the dangerous traveling conditions? Brother Crockett had an idea​—blend in with the local people. So he would board an old interprovince bus and seat himself among the other passengers, who had their clucking hens and squealing pigs with them. Many were the tense moments. Every time the bus would round a turn in the road, the passengers never knew what to expect. Perhaps they would run into an ambush and a hail of bullets. Thankfully, during the many months of traveling to study with George, no life-threatening incident occurred. Incidentally, George was eventually baptized and became a well-respected elder until his death in 1986.

All too soon for the two missionaries, their permit to stay in Malaya neared its expiration date. Would their request for an extension be granted? All hopes were dashed when the answer was no.

Thus, Brothers Crockett and Rowe sadly said good-bye to their Malayan family and boarded a boat for further missionary service in Thailand. Did their departure stop the work in Malaya?

So it was arranged for Alfred and Thelma Wicke to move up from Singapore and establish a missionary home in Penang. This home would also serve as a depot to supply literature throughout Malaya. Soon a small congregation was organized. The two schoolgirls, Lee Siew Chan and Ng Yoon Chin, were delighted to have Brother and Sister Wicke with them and continued to make good progress. They attended a convention in Singapore in 1956, on the occasion of Brother Knorr’s third visit, and were both baptized there. When they finished their schooling, they both joined the pioneer ranks. Then they were thrilled to receive an invitation to attend the 31st class of Gilead, along with another pioneer from Singapore, Grace Sinnapillai. In 1958 they graduated from Gilead at the Divine Will International Assembly at Yankee Stadium, New York, and were then assigned back to Malaya to share in expanding the work there.

Kuala Lumpur Receives More Attention

Norman Bellotti and Gladys Franks had been serving as missionaries in Singapore since 1949. They married in 1955 and were later reassigned to Kuala Lumpur. This again established a foothold in Malaya’s capital city and enabled some of those who had shown interest four or five years earlier, during the year-long stay of missionaries Rowe and Crockett, to be contacted and gathered together.

Meanwhile, Les Franks, who was serving as circuit overseer, traveled up and down the west coast of Malaya. This was a dangerous time to travel because of the guerrilla warfare then being waged against the British colonial government. “When traveling by train,” Les reminisces, “my fellow passengers and I spent most of the time lying on the carriage floor, as the guerrillas would shoot indiscriminately from the jungle along the railroad track.” But it also had its lighter moments. Once, for example, when visiting a tin miner in charge of several dredges, Les turned on what he thought was his bedroom light. However, the switch he flicked had actually let loose a blaring warning siren and turned on emergency lights that flooded the entire compound. To his embarrassment, this brought all the residents to arms immediately, expecting a guerrilla attack.

In 1958, Les married Margaret Painton, an Australian missionary serving in Japan. They were now assigned to Kuala Lumpur, to take over from Norman and Gladys Bellotti, who were then moved to the city of Ipoh. The Bellottis helped establish the Ipoh Congregation, and then they were called back to Singapore for Norman to replace the branch servant.

The former branch servant had earlier married a fellow missionary. He had continued serving at the branch, but now that a baby was expected, it was necessary for him to take up secular work to provide for his family.

The steady, consistent work and good example set by these three missionary couples did much to put the Kingdom work on a good, solid footing, ready for the future increase that was to come.

[Picture on page 222]

Neil Crockett and James Rowe arriving in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, in 1951, to begin their missionary assignment

[Pictures on page 224]

Alfred and Thelma Wicke with Lloyd Barry, right, who was serving as zone overseer in August 1956. In the background is the old Chinese school used for meetings in Penang

Alfred and Thelma Wicke in 1989

[Picture on page 225]

Motorized bikes, called Cyclemasters, were used to spread the good news. Thelma Wicke, in 1951, is ready to start her day of preaching in Singapore

[Picture on page 226]

From left, Lee Siew Chan, Grace Sinnapillai and Ng Yoon Chin, graduates of Gilead’s 31st class in 1958, who helped expand the Kingdom message

[Picture on page 227]

Norman and Gladys Bellotti, missionaries since 1949, established a Kingdom foothold in Kuala Lumpur. They later served in Indonesia and in Papua New Guinea

[Picture on page 228]

Les Franks served as a traveling overseer, and after his marriage to Margaret, they both served in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya

[Picture on page 230]

Kingdom Hall and the missionary home of Brother and Sister Bellotti in Ipoh in 1960