Rev. Father John McAulay a Scottish and priest of the Orang Ulu

Rev. Father John during a Sunday Mass at Belaga's St. Francis Xavier church.

It a reminiscent of the old days of colonial Sarawak. Belaga is a remote, rural town, a place one would least expected to encounter a foreigner and certainly not a Scottish. 

Reverend Father John McAulay it has been his home for nearly two years already. He is serving at Saint Francis Xavier Church, Belaga since the middle of 2018. Before that, he was serving at another remote place, Lapok Parish where he spent two years living with the Iban, Berawan and Kenyah people. 

According to Fr. John, his first missionary work in Asia was at Pakistan, Sindh area. Asked what it was like in Pakistan, he remarked: "It is a much dangerous place compared to Belaga".  

He then quipped, "they would not harm a priest, certainly not someone like me anyway".  

Fr. John admitted he knew very little about Sarawak prior to this arrival here. In his mind, he said he was expecting to see a heavily forested state, with limited to no rural road networks. 

"I was thinking of it would involving moving around by perahu (longboat) a lot, " he said. 

"That is the impression that people gave me." Fr. John said he was rather surprised when told to drive to Belaga.  

Father John McAulay
Rev. Father John blessing and celebrating Jemarang 100-years old birthday at Belaga, 2020.


Regardless of its remoteness, Fr. John seemed to be enjoying the slow, easy and relaxed lifestyle of Belaga town. He said people are charmingly friendly and the town has a decent internet connection speed.  

Belaga town is located 110 km to the southeast of Bintulu, the nearest major towns and connected by a paved road until Bakun hydroelectric dam site. The remaining 20km going to Belaga is the only unpaved portion of the road. The town has nearly 6,000 year-long residence and the farthest town up the Rejang River. 

It was started as a Fort with a few rows shophouses in early 1884.  There are about 500 Roman Catholic in Belaga according to Fr. John. Besides road, an express boat is still plying the Rejang River daily from Kapit. The journey between Belaga and Kapit took about six hours. 

The first impression that I got meeting Fr. John is - his language skill. He is unbelievably fluent Malay speaker - far better than the average apek one encounter in the urban areas. He delivered his Sunday sermon flawlessly in the national language - with a strong Scottish accent, of course. 

Father John McAulay is hailed from Glasgow, Scotland and it is his work with the Mill Hill Missionaries that brought him to Sarawak. We're praying he would be serving in Belaga parish, to spread the God's scripture to rural communities for many more years to come. 

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