Herald Malaysia
MELAKA – The High Court in Melaka has ruled that the land on which the 120-year-old Sacred Heart Convent school stands belongs to the state government.
Judge Datuk Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid delivered the verdict by dismissing a legal bid by the Canossian Sisters and the Portuguese Mission to secure title to the land, known as Lot 6 (Portuguese Convent).
The lawsuit, filed in May 2022, was brought by two statutory entities seeking ownership of the property, which has been occupied and managed by the Portuguese Mission and the Canossian Sisters since 1905.
The first applicant, the Mother Superior of the Daughters of Charity of the Canossian Institute (Malaya), was established in 1957 to hold property belonging to the Canossian Sisters. The second applicant, the Agent of the Commission for the Administration of the Estates of the Portuguese Missions in China and Singapore, was founded under a 1910 colonial law and claimed legal ownership of the land.
The land, located near A’Famosa Hill, originally housed the Portuguese Mission Girls’ School, which was later renamed Convent of the Sacred Heart and is now known as Sekolah Kebangsaan Sacred Heart Convent.
The applicants claimed that a Dutch Title Deed had been issued for the land before the National Land Code Act of 1963 came into effect. However, the deed, said to have been in the possession of Fr Alvaro Martins Coroado, was lost after he was captured by the Japanese army in 1943.
In 2014, the applicants requested a replacement title deed from the state land and mines director, but the request was rejected. The respondent argued that the land is state property and was never legally registered under the applicants’ names. They also stated that the Dutch Title Deed was merely a lot index, not an ownership document, and that they no longer had the authority to issue a replacement title.
The applicants contended that they had a legal and beneficial ownership interest in Lot 6 and that the refusal to issue a replacement title was illegal. In response, they filed for a judicial review.
Judge Mohd Radzi ruled that long-term occupation of land does not automatically confer ownership rights. He noted that there was no documentation proving the applicants’ legal title to Lot 6 and highlighted their delayed action, which suggested acquiescence on their part.
“The applicants had been in a long slumber, and it is now too late for them to pursue the claim,” Judge Radzi said, adding that the opportunity to act had “left the station.”
Lawyer Datuk Joy Appukuttan, representing the Canossian Sisters, stated that they will be appealing to the Federal Court. – Herald Malaysia
