Penang Travel Guide

"Lest we forget—lest we forget!" Rudyard Kipling in "Recessional".

Penang's history meaningfully began when a quick-witted Francis Light discovered the island, off Malaya's northern west coast, and deemed it a seamless fit in the British Empire's Eastern money puzzle. The East India Company (EIC) had been pulling in the Empire's 18th century bacon from Asia—particularly from India--with profitable and un-compassionate finesse, but something was still missing. When the island caught Francis Light's fancy and imagination in 1771, Pulau (Malay for island) Pinang (betel nut), as it was known, had a population of roughly 50 and the Sultanate of Kedah owned it. A deal was struck a decade later when the Sultan's heir, Abdullah, came to the throne. "Take the island and take away my enemies," were the Sultanate's terms, referring to the northerly Siamese and Burmese, plus $30,000 a year for rent.

Light set up a port in Penang in 1786, but the British occupation of Penang was not legally ratified until five years later when gunboat diplomacy forged a 1791 treaty. This treaty imposed on the Sultanate of Kedah a reduced annual rental of $6,000. In 1800, the adjacent mainland area, Province Wellesley, also became British territory. Penang's stronghold of fisherman then gained a new kind of life under Light's founding zeal, and generous land grants attracted many settlers—particularly the Chinese. The first Chinese to establish themselves in Penang came from a Chinese community in Kedah, and the first Kapitan Cina was a baba (Chinese male who has assimilated some Malay culture) named Koh Lay Huan.

In two years, a cosmopolitan population of several thousand sprouted, largely Chinese, Indian, Sumatrans and Burmese. Light was declared the Superintendent and Penang a free port. Light renamed Penang "Prince of Wales Island", while Georgetown was named after the reigning king, George III.

Light passed away in 1796, overworked and disillusioned, and he was buried at the Protestants' Cemetery. His legacy abounds in Penang from a street in his name, Lebuh Light, to a memorial at St George's Anglican Church, and a Francis Light Well at the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus where his former residence, a handsome bungalow, remains in good condition.

Thus Penang became Malaya's first EIC settlement followed in quick succession by Singapore in 1819 and Malacca in 1824, leading to the formation of the Straits Settlements in 1826. The British Colonial Office took direct control in 1867, and Penang officially became a crown colony. From then on, Penang grew as oriental as the Chinese coolies and merchants who settled on the island in increasing numbers. The Chinese through the ages sought protection and a sense of belonging in clans, which were largely organised along dialect groups or ancestral districts. Khoo Kongsi, Cheah Kongsi, Chung Keng Kooi Temple, Carpenters' Guild, Ng Fook Thong Cantonese Districts Association, and the numerous guilds and clans along Lebuh King provide good illustrations.

An unsavory mutation of these benevolent self-help formations and fronts of solidarity developed with the infiltration of triad, or secret society, operations in the thick of these patriotic and hot-blooded people. The Penang Riots marked nine days of fighting and bloodshed among the big-name secret societies in the streets of Penang. The authorities were helpless against the rout, and the jails could not keep up with a surge of criminal demand.

Soon the Malay Peninsula entered a new phase of interventionist rule under the British, and a semblance of civility and order gradually developed. The Pangkor Agreement in 1874 gave rise to the appointment of Sir Frank Swettenham, who lent his name to the Frank Swettenham Pier, the first British Resident-General of the Federated Malay States who would significantly improve British political control. A historian noted, "The economic development and the law and order brought about by the British served as a great stimulus to immigration, and hence the Chinese population in Singapore and Malaya increased substantially."

In addition, the Suez Canal opened in 1869 with the effect of quadrupling the volume of British trade with India alone by the end of that century. The first rail line in Malaysia--8.5 miles from Port Weld to Taiping—started service in 1885. Penang prospered and the nouveau riche towkays built themselves grand temples of wealth along Millionaire's Row. Even grander exhibits of success include the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, with its accompanying servants' quarters across the road, which has been converted into modern dining and entertainment outlets including 20 Leith Street and Jaipur Court. The legacy of the Chinese immigrants lives on in the heart of Chinatown, the riots a distant and forgotten memory. The most visible landmark along Lebuh Armenian today is 120 Armenian Street, once the office of Dr Sun Yet Sen's revolutionary campaign.

The cosmopolitan population of Light's time persists to this day; however, some communities like the Jews and the Armenians moved on long ago. The proof lies in the kaleidoscopic parade of the island's religious monuments, such as the Cathedral of the Assumption and Georgetown Baptist Church; the Taoist and Tua Peh Kong Temple; Dharmikara Temple and Wat Chayamangkalaram; the Hindu Ayira Vaisyar Sri Meenakshi Jhn Sundraeswarar Temple and the Sikh Gurdwara Temple; and finally, the State Mosque and Acheen Street Mosque.

Perhaps, true to Kipling's call to humility and the warning that the proudest empire is ephemeral as a day's pageant, the British walked into a moment of weakness, a permanent one in retrospect, with the onset of World War II. The curtains came down for the British and their "white men's burden". Nevertheless, the island inherited the best samples of British colonial architecture in Malaysia with buildings like the Town Hall, the State Legislative Building and many more along the commercial thoroughfare of Lebuh Pantai. When Malaya gained independence in 1957, Penang became an inseparable part of the country's nationhood, together with the other states. But, alas, it gradually lost its free-port status, which was an invaluable legacy of the colonial era.2008-08-02T07:29:22.000 364