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Front View
Front view - notice the original pillars of the gate leading to the Gurdwara Sahib?
GURDWARA SAHIB GREENTOWN
104, JALAN HOSPITAL, 30450 IPOH
Tel: 05-5460697
Some very old pictures of the Gurdwara Sahib Greentown in 1947.
swbk syvk Past Secretaries
swbk KzwncI Past Treasurers
mOjUdw prbMDk kmytIO Current Management Committee
cldIAW pirXojnwvW Ongoing Projects
History of Gurdwara Sahib Greentown, Ipoh
Before 1942, the British Army comprising of some Sikh and Muslim soldiers served in this Camp Ashby. The Sikhs – to keep their religious and moral practices alive – erected a simple wooden shed for a gurdwara and the Muslims a small mosque within the precincts of the Camp.
The Japanese Invasion of Malaysia started in 1942 and the Camp was then used by the Japanese for their operational purposes as a Prisoner of War camp.
The Japanese prisoners of war in this camp consisted of quite a numbers of Sikhs and Muslims from the British Army.
In 1943, the Indian National Army also moved into this camp.
Col. Matab Mulk when he was the Officer Commanding, decided that the temple and mosque cannot be in the compound of the Camp, and hence the mosque was shifted out, followed by the temple which was moved on to this little hillock. This was around 1944
The present site was selected by Capt. Teja Singh of the 2nd. Battalion and Capt. Qatar Singh of the Sappers and Miners Unit.
The Sikh soldiers were told to collect 100 bricks each for the project.
The sappers and Miners themselves built the temple at this site.
When Col. Bishen Singh from the Officers Training Camp in Batu Pahat took over command of the Camp here, the building of the temple was completed. It was a temporary type of brick and plank structure with Zinc sheets for the roof.
The present site was selected by Capt. Teja Singh of the 2nd. Battalion and Capt. Qatar Singh of the Sappers and Miners Unit.
In 1944, the command of the Division in Ipoh was passed on to Col. Bhonsle.
The Japanese POW that were in the camp around the temple also used the temple for their daily prayers.
Before the INA moved out, the Japanese recruited some of these POWs to go to Burma and those who refused were left behind as POWs under the INA.
When the INA moved out of Ipoh in 1945, the Division was under the Command of Col. Bhonsle. When he surrendered the Division to the British, the Sikh POWs were taken back to India.
The management of the temple was taken over by the civilians staying in the neighbourhood.. Sardar Bhagwan Singh Lallpuria and the Government servants, pensioners, and a few others staying in the Greentown and Kg. Kepayang areas took charge of the Gurdwara from late 1945.
Bhai Gurdial Singh was the first Granthi to serve on a voluntary basis from 1947.
The Sikh community around the vicinity grew, and in 1963, started a donation drive to build a new Gurdwara in place of the old one. The Malayan Government also donated towards this worthy cause.
The foundation stone of the present building was laid by Sant Baba Sohan Singh Ji on 9th. June 1964,
The opening ceremony was performed by the then Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Haji Abdul Razak bin Hussain, and the Chief Minister of Perak Dato Hj Ahmad bin Said.
Apart from the daily prayers and other religious functions, the Gurdwara is also used to promote the teaching and learning of Punjabi, academic and moral studies for Sikh children in and around Ipoh, and other events to promote good moral values in the Sikh community.
