Ipoh World

We thank  Louis Rozario Doss for the following article, based on an interview with the present owner of the famed Sinhalese Bar.

ONE OF IPOH’S ICONIC FIGURES

The Story of Alfred Perera, the son of Ipoh, who has laboured to sustain the Sinhalese Bar, one of Ipoh’s oldest watering holes.

“ I was born in Ipoh on 1stNovember 1941 – All Saints Day. My father is the late G.M.Perera – of Sinhalese ethnicity- and my mother ,Tan Ah Tong, is a Thai. I am a Buddhist by faith and a Sinhalese-Thai by ethnicity. My late father G.M. Perera, the founder of the Sinhalese Bar, Ipoh, was very particular about giving me the best education so he sent me to St.Michael’s Institution, Ipoh in Standard 1 and Standard 2 where I had excellent teachers, notably Miss Chin and Mr Ritchie (an Australian expat) and Mdm Woodward (of Eurasian extraction). They created for me the beginnings of the wider world of Malaya coming into being, and even a broader vision of the British Commonwealth . Brother Ultan Paul (though he did not teach me personally) was a popular figure on the sports fields and courts. Bro Denis was the Irish Brother Director (Principal) of this great school.

I was still a little child when World War 2 broke out. My father’s Sinhalese Bar must have had a new surge of Japanese customers when the British retreated to Singapore. I really have no memories of the Japanese interregnum (1942- 1945) as I was still a little child.

At the age of 10 (1952), I was sent back to my ancestral village in Galle, Sri Lanka, where my father wanted me to be brought up with Sinhalese values. I stayed with my grandparents and studied at the Galu Vidayalaya (School) in Galle.

“It was a totally Sinhalese world – with only Sinhalese teachers infusing us with secular and Buddhistic values. It was a sharp contrast with St Michael’s, Ipoh, but the contrast both fascinated and mystified me. I believe the contrastive experience has prepared me well for working life in a cosmopolitan world. From this grounding, I came to believe that Sinhalese Buddhists like myself can successfully achieve happiness and success in an ever-changing world.”

In early 1962, my father recalled me to Malaya. I was then in Form 2 . I joined the Ipoh Tutorial Institute, a private school, where I completed my secondary education. My principal was the late Mr K.N.K.Kurup and among my teachers I remember the late Mr Pillay.

After completing my Form 5 at ITI, I was ready to enter the working world. I began by assisting my father at the Sinhalese Bar. However, my father did not really want me to continue his role as a barman. He wanted me to work in a different line. It so happened that the Sinhalese community was also noted for its expertise in jewellery making and trading. So, my father spoke to the late Arthur De Silva, the Ipoh manager of the distinguished jewellery company, SPH de Silva Jewellers, one of the most highly reputed Sinhalese business concerns in the world.

Mr Arthur De Silva liked me very much and had great plans for me. After  a few years at SPH De Silva Ipoh, on the recommendation of Mr Arthur De Silva I was posted to their Hongkong branch. I spent two years working on Pedder Street on Hongkong Island.

My wife is Kamalawati. She is a mixed Sinhalese-Tamil. She was working as a dental nurse in the government service until she retired in 2005. My wife comes from a family known to us when our paths crossed in Pahang in the 1990s .During the years when my wife was in the government service, she helped me at the Bar after her working hours. Meanwhile, we also had a devoted  Tamil lady assistant at our Bar. Her name is Susie and she was a tremendous support to me in maintaining the cleanliness and décor of the Bar. Her loyalty and devotion to our family and the Sinhalese Bar have earned her a place in the gallery of shining personalities who have given the Sinhalese Bar its distinctive character as a colonial-age British-type bar.

I WISH TO THANK ALL OUR FRIENDS WHO COME TO SHARE THEIR CAMARADERIE AT OUR SINHALESE BAR,IPOH. THEY COME FROM FAR AND NEAR. THANK YOU ,MY FRIENDS!”

-Interviewed by Louis Rozario Doss in July-August 2023