The pioneers in the construction of the various Railway in Malaya during the latter half of the l9th century and the early years of this century were British Engineers and Permanent Way Staff from the various Railways in  the United Kingdom  Since the Permanent Way Institution had been founded in 1834, it is reasonable to assume that these expatriate Engineers and Permanent Way Staff would have been members of The Institution and on coming to the Malay States would have maintained their link with the Institution.

         It is on record that the Malay States Section of the Institution was functioning in 1903 with Mr. G.H Fox, District Engineer at Kuala Lumpur as vice President.

         However there must have been a lapse in the continuity of the Section as will be seen by the following extract which appears in the Silver Jubilee Souvenir (I934) of the Permanent Way Institution, United Kingdom.

         In 1920, Mr. R.W. Hiam, MICE., M.I. Mech. E., MIRSE., Engineer for Way and Works, Federated Malay States Railways (Vice President for Malaya) considered the question of the formation of a Malaya branch of the Permanent Way Institution, not only with a view to enjoying the benefits derived from association with the Permanent Way Institution., but also with the idea of achieving closer co-operation between the various grades and nationalities which make up the permanent way staff of the F.M.S. Railways.  Towards the end of 1920, after negotiations with the Home Council, the first preliminary meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur. Mr. Hiam being in the Chair and subsequently rules were drafted and arrangements made for the formation of a F.M.S Section.  In 1921 a beginning was made with an initial membership, including all grades, of 57 and from then onwards regular meetings were held and arrangements made for the members to visit periodically the various engineering works of considerable magnitude then being carried out in Malaya. All members displayed considerable keenness, often traveling great distance to attend meetings and the growth of the F.M.S Section was greatly encourage by the interest taken in it  Mr. P.A. Anthony. CMG., MICE., General Manager and Chief Engineer, F.M.S RaiIways.

         The membership continued to increase, reaching a maximum of 263 in 1931, but during recent years this membership has been affected by a reduction in staff contingent upon financial stringency and the present moment stands at 189 members. Despite this inevitable drop in membership, regular meetings are still held, visits to work of interests are arranged and papers on technical matters are regularly submitted and read at local meetings."

         The membership continued to increase and the Institution continued its activities The war in Europe (World War II) broke out in 1939 and in December 1941 Japan invaded MaIaya. The Japanese Military Administration ran the Railway but maintenance of the permanent Way was minimal. Many of the bridges that had been destroyed during the war were rebuilt by the Japanese but a good portion of track on the East Coast Railway, including some from the Branch Lines, were removed and sent to build the infamous Death Railway between Thailand and Burma. Hundreds of Permanent Way Staff including several members of the Institution were taken from Malaya to work on the Death Railway and some of them never returned.

         The Permanent Way Institution celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in 1944 and the following appeared in the Diamond Jubilee Souvenir:

         From information recently received it was learned with much regret that, with the exception of two or three, all members were in Japanese hands  It need hardly be said that the members of the Institution as a whole trust that many of their unfortunate colleagues will soon be liberated and be able to meet again to continue the good work so ruthlessly interrupted.

         The Allied Forces liberated Malaya in August 1945 and the task of rebuilding the Railway began but in 1948, the communist terrorists began to sabotage the rai1ways and were dynamiting bridges and trains. The Permanent Way and Civil Engineering Staff were in the forefront; repairing tracks and rebuilding bridges to keep the trains running. It was against this background that Mr. J. Cruikshank Chief Civil Engineer of the MaIayan Railway, (the name Federated Malay States Railways had been changed to Malayan Railway) convened a meeting of Civil Engineering Staff on 4th October 1949 with a view to re-establish the Malayan Section of the Permanent Way Institution,

          The following is an extract from the Minutes of the Meeting.

         The Chairman told the members that under normal circumstances the attendance at the meeting would have been very much greater, but because of the Emergency and the necessity for outstation members remaining at their posts in view of the many sabotage attacks against the Railway by terrorists, he had purposely that only members in or near Kuala Lumpur Headquarters should attend. It must therefore not be assumed that the small attendance at the meeting represented in any way a lack of enthusiasm in regard to the reforming of the Malayan Section.

         The Chairman explained that since the Reoccupation of Malaya in 1945, he had kept in touch the  parent Institution in Britain on the subject of reestablishing the Malayan Section. He regretted that it had not been possible to call a meeting earlier because of the very heavy post war Railway rehabilitation work in Malaya coupled with the outbreak of terrorist attacks during the past twenty months. However as various members had recently approached him on the matter, he bad obtained from the Hon. Secretary particulars of current rates of subscription and an indication of the financial liability of the Malayan Section to the parent Institution. A circular letter had been sent to all the Engineering Department Staff giving details of subscription rates and entrance fees and 116 members had stated that they would join the Malayan Section if it were restarted.  The Chairman stated that this was so encouraging that it had been decided to call this meeting to reestablish the Section. He proposed that the following resolution be adopted-

         'That the Malayan Section of the Permanent Way Institution be reestablished as from today - 4th October, 1949,"

         This was seconded by Mr., N. Vyramuthu.

         The Chairman stated that the Hon. Secretary had agreed that even if the Section was formally restated now,

          The first annual subscriptions would apply for the year 1950. He went on to say that it was a matter or great interest o him personally to have the Section formally reconstituted now before he left Malaya on retirement in four weeks' time. The Chairman's resolution was carried unanimously.

         Office bearers for the period until 31st December, l950, were elected as follows:-

The Chairman stated that when he wrote early in August to Mr. H Janes, Hon Secretary of the Permanent Way Institution about the proposal to restart the Section he reported that, due to courage and initiative the pro-war Hon Treasurer, Mr. K. Kandiah, who kept the Bank Books during the whole of the Japanese Occupation, it had been possible to re-establish the pre-war balances as follows:-

In his reply, Mr. Janes wrote, "Your Hon Treasurer, Mr. K. Kandiah is much to be congratulate on his splendid action in retaining your financial records from the hands of the Japanese and you will have a good start for your Section activities. The Chairman informed the Meeting that he had specially extended an invitation to Mr. Kandiah to attend the Meeting and expressed his pleasure at Mr. Kandiah's presence with them. On behalf of all the members he expressed his thanks to Mr. Kandiah for his courageous action in retaining the Bank Books during the three and half years of Japanese Occupation, and he proposed that this appreciation should be recorded in the minutes. This was seconded by Mr. H. W. McAughtry and carried.

         Mr. Doctray pointed out that in pre-war years it had been the practice to elect Honorary Life Members of the Malayan Section and that in 1939 there were two Honorary Members, Mr. R.W. Hiam, formerly Chief Engineer, Way and Works and Mr. V.R Subramaniam, formerly Senior Technical Assistant. it was unanimously agreed that they should be re-elected as Honorary Members and that a letter IC this effect should be sent to each of these two gentlemen who have been in retirement for many years in England and in India respectively. It was further agreed unanimously that Mr. J.W. Lewis, another former Chief Engineer, Way & Works, who had retired from Malaya in 1939, be elected an Honorary Member. The Chairman reminded members that Honorary Life Membership should only be bestowed on those retired members who had especially concerned themselves with the interests of the Section, otherwise the honor would tend to lose its value.  He had, however, no hesitation in recommending that Mr. K. Kandiah should be elected an Honorary Life Member and this was unanimously agreed to.

         At the conclusion of the meeting Mr. Mack expressed his thanks to all members for the work that the Chairman had done to reform the Malayan Section."

         From 1956, the situation in the country improved and since Independence in 1957, the Institution arranged regular technical visits, around the country. Papers, on technical improvements in the Railway, were presented and which were included in the journals of the Malayan Section of the Institution. Technical visits were made to Singapore (Port Authority of Singapore, Jurong Industrial Area) and official visits to Thailand. The Civil Engineering Department of the Royal State Railway of Thailand arranged the programs of these visits and entertained us socially.  The Malayan members cannot forget the courtesy and Lavish entertainment afforded by their counterparts in the Royal State Railway of Thailand.

           In June 1966, Mr., T.F. Xavier, the then Hon, Treasurer of the Malayan Section attended, as a Delegate from the Malayan Section, the Annual Convention of the Institution held in Harrogate, England. It was the first attendance by a Malayan Delegate to a Permanent Way Institution Convention  It was during this visit that Institution's Crest and the Malayan Section Vice President's badge of office was presented to the Malayan Section. The Crest and Badge were received by Mt. T.F. Xavier on behalf of he Malayan Section.

           Sabah is one of the two states in East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. The other state is Sarawak which is has no railway, The Sabah Railway is owned and operated by the State Government and The Civil Engineering Staff occasionally met their counterparts in the Malayan Railway. the meetings led to discussions on the Institution and in 1970 the Annual Meeting of the Malayan Section resolved to amend the Constitution to rename the section as the Malaysia Section so as to permit members from the Sabah Railways.

             In 1973, a party of 39 members visited the Indonesian State RaiIways as guests of the Civil Engineering Department of the Railway. They arranged a program of Technical and Social visits that took the Malayan members the length and breadth of Java, traveling by trains and buses. Visits included all the various workshops (Civil and Mechanical) and to the famous Temple at Borobudur. The visit extended to famed Bali.  The members were overwhelmed by the friendliness, courtesy and the entertainment arranged by their Indonesia counterparts and their wives.

              In 1974., tentative arrangements were made for an official visit by a group of members to the United Kingdom, but it was not until 1976 that the visit materialized. About 30 members left Kuala Lumpur on the 29th of June and the members attended The Annual Convention of the Institution held at Brighton in July. The were taken on tours covering parts of Scotland and England and were feted by the home Section of the Institution. It was a memorable visit and the greatest benefit, apart from meeting and exchanging news and ideas with the U.K. Section members, was the visual knowledge of seeing the advances technology in Civil Engineering work, Track maintenance, Signaling Systems and Trains Operation in England.

             The members knowledge was further enhanced when at the invitation of SOFRE RAIL and GISMA of France, PLASSER of Austria and MATISA of Switzerland, the members toured their factories as well as the countries.

             The Malaysia Section of The Permanent Way Institution is the oldest Overseas Section we celebrate our 75th Anniversary in 1994.

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