Charles Joseph Pemberton Paglar

Dato Dr. Charles Joseph Pemberton Paglar (1 September 1894 – 9 December 1954) was a Singaporean surgeon, gynaecologist, politician, philanthropist, and leader of the Eurasian community of Singapore. He was the personal physician and a close friend of Sultan Ibrahim of Johor. During the Japanese occupation, he was appointed the head of the Eurasian Welfare Association, which had been established by the Japanese. This led to his indictment of treason by the British following the end of the occupation. However, the case was later withdrawn and he was acquitted of all charges.

It is believed that, not long after he was acquitted, Paglar successfully convinced Sultan Ibrahim to support the formation of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in May 1946. For his service to the Sultan, he received the Order of the Crown of Johor. Paglar successfully ran for the Changi seat of the Legislative Council of Singapore in 1951. He served in various positions in several boards, clubs and associations, and was a prominent sports patron. Thousands attended his funeral in December 1954.

Early life and education Paglar was born in Alor Gajah, Malacca on 1 September 1894 to a British father from Wigan and an Indian mother. Orphaned at a young age, he was adopted by Alexander John Francis Paglar, a prominent Eurasian businessman in Malacca of German descent. He received his early education at a convent in Penang. He later returned to Malacca and began attending the St. Francis' Institution. He began attending the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore after receiving the Diamond Jubilee Scholarship.

Career After graduating from college in 1917, he remained in Singapore and began working at the Singapore General Hospital as an assistant house surgeon. He also did post-graduate work in gynaecology in Germany, Scotland and Lebanon. He advised the Sultan on the planning and construction of the General Hospital in Johor Bahru. He was struck off the medical register for "professional misconduct" by the local medical council in 1932. In July 1933, he appealed the decision but was rejected by the Supreme Court. However, he was reinstated on 28 November 1934 following a successful appeal with the General Medical Council in London. He then established the Paglar Surgery on Coleman Street and the Paglar Clinic and Maternity Hospital on Joo Chiat Place. The hospital eventually became the Parkway East Hospital.

In 1937, he accompanied Sultan Ibrahim at the Coronation of King George VI, during which he received the King George VI Coronation Medal, and attended the Afternoon Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. He made several personal contributions to the Bahau Fund for the Bahau settlement. He frequently gave public speeches in support of the Japanese. On 7 December 1943, the Japanese appointed him the Eurasian Representative of the Consultative Council. During the war, he obtained medical supplies through his friendship with Mamoru Shinozaki, as well as his Japanese patients, which he used to treat local patients. In 1950, he was made a justice of the peace. He served as the vice-president of the Singapore Olympic and Sports Council. In 1951, he was elected the president of the Singapore Amateur Athletic Association. In October 1953, when the Singaporean table tennis team was unable to pay for return passages to Singapore from Tokyo, Paglar donated $1,000 to the team.

In August 1951, he arrived in Manila on a three-week visit to the Philippines and began giving local doctors and officials conferences on tuberculosis. While on the trip, he also visited local hospitals and tuberculosis sanatoriums to study the local methods of combatting tuberculosis. He also met with local scout officials. In the same year, he became a member of the Order of the Brotherhood of St. John of Jerusalem. He was also a founding member and the president of the Singapore People's Education Association.

Political career Paglar contested the Municipal North-East Constituency seat of the Legislative Council in the 1948 Singaporean general election as an independent. He stated that he would "champion the cause of the poor and fight for the welfare of Eurasians", support an income tax based on an "equitable rate", provide better housing for the poor, tackle the tuberculosis problem and support the introduction of a state lottery. He came in fourth, behind Mohamed Javad Namazie, John Laycock and M. K. Chidambaram, with 13.0% of the votes.

Paglar joined the Progressive Party and was elected a member of the Legislative Council of Singapore in the 1951 Singaporean general election representing the Changi district. He continued to serve in this position until his death in 1954. The evicted were from various communities across Singapore, including Kampong Chantek in Bukit Timah, Kampong Amber near Katong, Geylang Serai, Kampong Siglap and Pulau Tekong Kechil. He and Dr. W. J. Vickers, then the Director of Medical Services in Singapore, were previously successful in giving the residents an extension of the time for the eviction. He later suggested that the evicted be resettled in large plots of unused land in Changi, and stated that the cultivation of alternatives to rice, such as millet, should be encouraged. In February 1952, he established a committee with 180 squatter families who had been evicted from their homes in Yio Chu Kang. The committee aimed to arrange a settlement with the Serangoon Garden Estate Company, who were then the owners of the land. Most families wished to settle around the property or to be provided with alternative accommodation. In March, he urged the government to set up a committee consisting of one Land Officer, one Social Welfare representative, one member of the Chinese Secretariat, three to four members of the District Committee and a representative of the Legislative Council to investigate the position of the squatters in Yio Chu Kang. In September 1953, he criticised the government's decision to resettle squatters in Bedok without testing to see if the land there was suitable for food production, calling it a "wastage of public funds", as many of the resettled claimed that the land in Bedok was unsuitable for food production.

In July 1951, he urged the government to build a sanatorium to house tuberculosis patients. In March 1952, he suggested that the elections law be amended such that only those born within the colony should be allowed to run for a seat in the council. In July, he urged the government to register all opium addicts within the colony and to provide them with the drug on a diminishing scale. He advocated for the establishment of a clinic to take care of opium addicts in August. In February 1954, he was part of a select committee which sought to amend the Land Acquisition Bill to introduce a ten per cent tax on landlords for all land sales. He had previously spoken out against landlords who were using questionable methods of evicting residents. He advocated for the lowering of income tax for philanthropists, and the exemption of all contributions to charities from tax. He also advocated for lowering the cost of rice in the colony to the cheapest possible price. He advocated for the provision of "prompt and sufficient relief" to farmers who had been affected by a major flood in Bedok in October 1954. citing the success of the New South Wales state lotteries as evidence. He also suggested that the government allow people across British Malaya to participate in the Federation of Malaya state lottery as tickets for the lottery were not selling as quickly as initially expected. He pushed for the introduction of a minimum wage.

Personal life and death Paglar married four times and had five children. After their divorce, she moved to Sumatra, where she was incarcerated by the Japanese. He obtained her release, after which she lived with him and his family in Joo Chiat for a while before moving elsewhere. He also spent a year obtaining the release of Sandy Hope, a friend of his. Following his release, Paglar made Hope his personal secretary, thus providing the latter with protection from the Kempeitai. He had two sons and three daughters, including Renée Paglar, a dancer who was frequently featured by the Japanese during the occupation. Prominent Eurasian novelist Rex Shelley was his nephew. He also owned a bungalow in Pulau Ubin. He was a close friend of Sultan Ibrahim, who frequently referred to him as "Charlie" and consulted him on matters unrelated to medicine. His funeral, which was held at the Bidadari Cemetery on 12 December, was attended by more than 4,000 people. William Goode, Colonial Secretary of Singapore, was present at the funeral, where he gave a speech on the behalf of then Governor of Singapore John Fearns Nicoll. Also present were the Tengku Mahkota of Johor, several state officials of Johor, various representatives of the Eurasian community of Singapore, Dato Syed Ahmad bin Mohammad Alsagoff representing Sultan of Pahang Abu Bakar, senior police officers and members of the Johor Military Forces, Director of Education R. M. Young, representatives of various sports organisations and the leaders of seven countries participating taking part in the Third Asian Table Tennis Games. Over 400 wreaths were placed at the funeral. On 6 August 1955, the Singapore Boy Scouts Association opened the Paglar Cabin at the Jurong Park Scout Camp, named in memory of Paglar.

His son, Eric, began collecting information for a biography of Paglar but died in 2005 without completing the manuscript. Shelley began writing the biography in 2008 but died in August 2009, leaving the final chapter unfinished. The book was then completed by other relatives of Paglar, as well as several members of the Eurasian Association. On 18 January 2010, the biography, titled Dr Paglar: Everyman's Hero, was launched by President of Singapore S. R. Nathan at the Eurasian House in Tanjong Katong. Emily, then 87 years old and living in Perth, was present at the book launch.