The Legacy of Penang
 

THE PENANG STORY  is a project organised by The Star newspaper and the Penang Heritage Trust. An oral history workshop and four history coloquiums will examine the history of Penang. The sponsors are The Japan Foundation, ABN-AMRO Bank, with the Penang State Government as a co-sponsor. The first coloquium was on Muslims in Penang, the second on Indians. The third, on Chinese and the fourth, on historical minorities, will be conducted next year. The culmination will be an International Conference in the year 2002
 

(from the paper by Prof. Mohd Kazha Kasdid of USM )

The people known as the Semang-Pangan inhabited the Guar Kepah area of the present Province during the Palae-Malenesian period and the early Malay settlements of 600 AD.

(from the paper by Omar Farouk Bajunid)

During British times Arabs were in Leboh Acheh and their port was Batu Uban. They spread to Jalan Melaka and Jalan Seang Teck, Kampong Syed along Burmah Road. They were mainly from the Hadhramaut and formed 50 clans

(from the paper by Mala Rajo Sathian o f the National University of Singapore)

Penang was the  "gateway" to  South Thailand. Kader Mydin Merican (1786), Kapitan Kling,  traded in cattle from Pattani/Nakorn Sithimmarat. Prominent among the traders was  Khaw Soo Cheang (1810) who became governor of Ranong. Trade was in tin, animals, rice, fish and salt. Penang processed tin from Phuket, Betong , Yala, Kroh From Thailand also came getah perca, resin and other jungle products. Phuket imported rice from Kedah via Penang. The well-known "Hokkien network" traded in rubber with Trang. Aristocrats sent their children to the Penang Free School and St Xaviers school for education. Khaw Sim Bee, the governor of Trang, donated money to the building of the Penang Free School.  Penang also provided political refuge for such as Putera Damrong, a former interior minister at the time of Rama VI. Chinese sold opium in south Thailand and the Khaws had the tax monopoly in the south.

(from the paper by Mahani Musa of USM)

The Red Flag and White Flag societies were active in the 19th and the early 20th century in Penang. These two groups were closely associated with Chinese secret societies. Syed Alatas, a Red Flag leader, was married to the daughter of Khoo Poh, a leader of the Toh Peh Kong 

(from the paper by Abdur-Razzaq Lubis,
the official representative of the Badan Warisan Sumatra di Malaysia)

"Administrative ethnic cleansing": defined as the erasing of the history of the local non-Malays. This was inspired by narrow nationalist sentiment which wanted to create a Malay tribe. The result was that many historical ethnic cultures were lost 

The peoples of Indonesia had come to Penang before the arrival of the British as traders, sailors, slaves, students, economic refugees and political refugees. Before Francis Light, three brothers, Nakhoda Bayan, Nakhoda Intan (Haji Mohamed Salleh) and Nakhoda Kecil (Nakhoda Ismael), connected with the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, had permission of the Sultan, Ahmad Tajuddin, to settle in Penang with their followers. They lived in Bayan Lepas, Balik Pulau, Gelugor and Tanjung. 

It was Nakhoda Kecil who helped Light with the building of Fort Cornwallis He opened up Jelutong and built the Masjid Jelutong.  Nakhoda Intan opened up Batu Uban and built the Masjid Batu Uban.  The Indonesians built the Masjid Melayu Acheen street, Masjid Acheh, Masjid Lama and Masjid Bahru. Sungai Pinang

Mostly from Aceh they settled in Kg Palembang, Kg Deli, Kg Ambon, and Kg Jawa. Prominent among the arrivals was Tengku Syed Hussain Aideed, from Aceh. The Masjid Melayu Acheen Street, theAceh Building, called by the Hokkiens "the Tall Building" (kuan-lau-ah) marked their presence.  In the 19th century the Sungai Pinang was used by the Aceh and  the Bugis people for transport of their copra and spices. Penang was the centre of trade with Sumatra. Trade included the sale of slaves form Pulau Nias, West Sumatra.  Slaves became wives of the Chinese. 

(from the paper by  P Rajavelan)

In the Sangam Period Tamils travelled as far as Greece and Rome and south east Asia. During the Chola period the military campaigns of Rajendra Chola the First included the conquest of Kedah; hence his title, Kadaaram Kondaan, or Conqueror of Kadaaram (Kedah).  Evidence of the Chola presence is found in the Bujang Valley and Gunung Jerai in Kedah. The Chulais that we refer to are Cholas. 

Convicts in Penang included a prince and followers of the Sivagangai who had been defeated by the British invaders. The next visitors were Gujaratis and Tamil Muslims trading in arecanut, medicinal and aromatic herbs and spices, textiles and food stuffs 

Printing expertise was imported from Madras. These workers were housed in Argyll Road, Transfer Road,  Penang Road and Northam Road and the area was known as Kg Kuil.   V Natesan Pillai was news superindentant of the Pinang Gazette later setting up his own Mercantile Press. 

The labourers who carried people up Penang Hill in chair palanquins settled along the Waterfall Thandayuthapani Temple. Their supervisor was called The Chair Thandai. Their settlement was known as Chair Thandal Kampong. Among the well to do was Maladam Thayammah of Argyll Road who donated the chariot to the Queen Street Maha Mariamman Temple which was used until only recently

As for the well known laundry at Dhoby Ghaut, Rani Dhobi was the Queen of them all. It was she who  built the Ramar Temple at Dhoby Ghaut

Tamil names also remind us of our history. Thanni Caalai (Water Street) marks the Abu Siti Lane /Nagore Rd area where the holding water tank formed part of Georgetown's early water supply. (see Comment below) Waterworks workers had a small temple for Murugan at the Waterfalls reservoir. The Waterfalls hill Thandayuthapani Temple is the centre of Tahipusam festival

At Ayer Itam and Kg Baru, Tamils settled in Senthottam, Viiriyan Thottam, Karuppan Thottam and Puthu Kampam. The  Brown plantations employed Tamils. Tamil fishermen were also to be found at  Tg Tokong and Tk Bahang.#

The temple for Murugan.  Murugan has many incarnations, one of which is Balathandayuthapali, and the temple on the hill at waterfall road, the end point of the Thaipusan devotees pilgramage, is named after Balathanadayuthapali. The temple at waterfall road, also dedicated to Murugan, is the Nattukhotal Temple. The symbol of Murugan is the spear, with a leaf shaped blade, called Vel. Since the Waterfalls was the first source of water for Penang, it may be true that this shrine was founded by waterworks labourers. 

Each year, about two weeks before Thaipusan, two priests of the Balathanadayuthapali temple pay homage to the waterfall shrine and pray to invite the diety to accompany them to the Balathanadayuthapali temple to reside there over the Thaipusan festival. It may be that the second temple was built when access for general public to the waterfall shrine became restricted, due to the waterworks intake.

(from the paper presented buy Suresh Narayanan, School of social Sciences USM)

Malabaris because they came from the Malabar coast, in the area now known as Kerala. Malayalam was the language.  Stone inscriptions prove they were here in the 4th and 5th centuries. More concrete evidence of activity in the 6th century are found in the remains of settlements in the Sungai Bujang, Sungai Merbok and Kuala Muda. On Kedah Peak, Bukit Meriam, Bukit Mertajam and Bukit Choras discoveries of Hindu shrines identical in style to those common during the Pallava dynasty of Tamil Nadu. Traders were active in SE Asia including Kedah between 9th and 14th centuries with attack on Kedah in 1025 by King Rajendra Chola (AD 1014-1042)

A fire in 1789 was reported in Malabar St (now Chulia Street) showing a considerable presence. Mohamed Merican Noordin, a Chulia, came to Penang in 1820 and became a Kapitan Kling. He endowed twenty dollars a month "for the learning of English, Hindoostanee, Malay, Tamil, Malabar and the Alkoran". Among Malabaris was Iskandar of Kerala, of  Muslim descent. His son, Mohamed Iskandar, was  born of a Malay woman, Siti Hawa.  Mohamed Iskandar settled in Kedah from Penang. Iskandar married a Malay woman Wan Tampawan and had nine children youngest of whom was Mahathir bin Mohamad Iskandar, the present Prime Minister. 

Other prominent Malayalees were PK Nambyar, a barrister from Cambridge in 1893, who has a street is named after him. He was the first Indian on the Legislative Council, appointed in 1923. His son, Dr N M Menon was outspoken in his condemnation of the treatment of  Indian labour and was a Penang Settlement Councillor. Nambyar's son in law was the famous N. Raghavan.

The Malabari influence is seen everywhere: Kampong Kaka is named after a prominent Malabari family, and more reminders are the Chowrasta Market, the Keramat Dato Koya and Dato Koya Road, Market Street (Kadai Teru, or Street of Shops)

The influence is found in language. It may be that sampan was fathered by the Malayalam word , perahu from parao, kapal from kappal.  Kelasi,sailor, reminds one of the name of a village in Kerala famous for its ship builders.

(from the paper by Prof. Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof)

Manifestation of fusion of culture of Indian peninsula and the Malays is the birth of the Jawi Pernakan evolving its own cultural traditions and a manner of speaking, popularised by P Ramlee, though now, increasingly, they call themselves Malays

Boria reached Penang with the arrival of the Sepoy regiment and became a form of secular song and dance genre incorporating in its lyrices praises for dignitaries. The Bangsawan which adopted many characteristics of the western theatre becoming a national theatre in the true sense of the word, including  multi racial actors and production crews. There was considerable Indian infuence on the music of Ramlee.

(from the paper by S Seeni Naina Mohamed)

Marikar is from the Tamil Marakalayer - the people of the wooden boats. From Marikar you get Merican. The dilemma of identity of Indian Muslims as noted by an analyst, Hanapi Dollah: "the identity of Indian Muslims changes from Indian Muslim to Indian when they join the MIC and becomes Indian Muslim again when they join KIMMA and finally changes to Malay when they join UMNO" #