[3] Educated at the Sultan Yusuf School in Batu Gajah, he entered the minor seminary in 1955 and started his priestly formation at the College General in Penang three years later.

[4] Pakiam completed his studies for a master's degree in moral theology (ethics) at the Lateran University in Rome in 1974, and upon his return to Malaysia became a lecturer at Penang's College General.

[5] On 24 May 2003, Pakiam succeeded Anthony Soter Fernandez, who resigned due to poor health, as metropolitan archbishop of Kuala Lumpur.

[8] In 2007 The Herald, and Pakiam, as its publisher,[8] filed for a judicial review after it was ordered to stop using the Arabic word "Allah" in its publication[9] by the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs.

In the case of The Herald, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar prohibited the usage of the word "Allah" on the grounds of national security and to avoid misunderstanding and confusion among Muslims.

[12] Justice Lau Bee Lan quashed the Home Minister's prohibition against The Herald to use the word "Allah", declaring the order as "illegal, null and void".

[10] In 2009, two Muslim reporters from Al-Islam, a small Malaysian magazine, participated in a Catholic Mass and received Holy Communion, which they then spat out and photographed.

[21] In 2005, the King of Malaysia, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, made Pakiam a Member of the Order for Important Services or "Panglima Jasa Negara" (PJN), which carries the title "Datuk".

[22] In 2008, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin made him Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia, or Panglima Setia Mahkota (PSM), which allows the recipients to use the title Tan Sri.