THE EXISTENCE OF the countryside is key to city development. It balances urban stress and supplies the city's needs and sustenance. Urban resilience is almost impossible without this balance.
For Penang Island, the western plains have always been a psychological counterweight to the globally connected eastern lowlands, where the seaport, airport and free trade zones lie. Low-lying and hemmed in by high hills on three sides, and openly facing the Indian Ocean, this part of Penang has naturally acted as a rural anchor sustaining its people physically and emotionally.
The term "Balik Pulau" and its Chinese equivalent "浮罗 山背" refer to the hinterland – the opposite side – of the Island. Its long coastline bordered by rising slopes provided it with a sense of mystery and inaccessibility. It was recorded in 1807 that there was a Malay village with 35 to 40 people there, who supported themselves by planting rice, sugar cane, pumpkins and other vegetables, and fishing at the river mouth. Whatever extra crops they had were apparently sent with some difficulty to the east coast, to George Town's markets.
