Khaw Sim Bee and the Na Ranong family: a shared history of Penang and southern Thailand
The Khaw clan was a central player in the socioeconomic wellbeing of Penang and Phuket.
Window into History
Of birds and buffaloes, alligators and white ants, 1816
By Ooi Kee Beng The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and its Dependencies carried in Vol. II (from June to December 1816) the following appealing text about animal life on Penang Island. The author was with a [...]
Inhabitants of Penang, 1803
By Ooi Kee Beng After Captain Norman MacAlister had served for over a decade as the Commander of the Artillery Upon Prince Of Wales Island, he published in 1803 a book lengthily titled Historical Memoir relative to Prince of Wales [...]
Systems of Government in the Straits Settlements, 1942
By Ooi Kee Beng The following text is taken from Dr Lennox A. Mills’ book, British Rule in Eastern Asia. A Study of Contemporary Government and Economic Development in British Malaya and Hong Kong (London: Oxford University Press). Mills was [...]
Developers of 18th century Penang
"What is of greater interest, at least to me, is how speedy the process of development on Penang Island in the first two decades after Light arrived was."
Penang and East Sumatran Ports, 1824
A reminder of what the cultural, commercial and political diversity in the Straits of Malacca looked like before colonialism divided the region.
Martina Rozells – Penang’s first First Lady
Little is known about the woman who ended up being Sir Francis Light's common-law wife.
