Lest We Forget - Penang Monthly (Page 2)

The Spout: The Little Victorian Hill Resort

7 min read

ONE FINE MORNING last July, I went with my intrepid friend, James Wong, to explore the hills behind the Vale of Tempe in Tanjung Bungah. As we reached the end o...

James Dollery Fettes of Penang Waterworks: A Life of Civil Engineering and Service (Part Two)

9 min read

DURING A MEETING on 30 April 1909, the President of the Penang Municipal Commission, James Wilson Hallifax, asked Leonard Moore Bell how long “the new engineer”...

Mount Palmer and Pulau Betong: Penang’s Forgotten Southern Flagstaff and Watering Place

7 min read

AS ONE VENTURES further southward of Paya Terubong, the mountain pass brings one onto a winding hill road. This road climbs to a height of 316m, offering breath...

General on the Great Hill: US Civil War Hero Visits Penang – Part Two

7 min read

IN PART ONE, the 18th President of the United States of America, Ulysses S. Grant, arrived at Penang and was hosted to a dinner at Government House on Flagstaff...

Indian Socio-cultural Influences in Penang: Both Rich and Prevalent

6 min read

Tea kadai at Little India back in the day.PENANG WAS A colonial port on the margins of the East India Company’s sphere of influence, and a magnet fo...

The Japanese Surrender in Penang

7 min read

IN LATE 1944 as the Allied forces, spearheaded by British Commonwealth troops, were launching a major offensive against Japanese-occupied Burma, an equally sign...

Enzo Sim

The Sarkies Brothers and Their Hotel Empire

12 min read

The E&O was founded by the Sarkies brothers. Who were they and what brought them to Penang?

Enzo Sim

The Forgotten Travails of Indentured Indian Women in Malaya

5 min read

Women coolies drying rubber. Photo: Arabis.orgTHE MIGRATION OF indentured labourers from India to Malaya – via the kangani or independent hiring sys...

The Japanese Conquest of Penang: Part Two

9 min read

[IN DECEMBER 2021, Penang Monthly published Part One of The Japanese Conquest of Penang. This issue covers the remainder of the campaign and what came after].Th...

Enzo Sim

FUN on Mount Pleasure: The Life and Times of Uncle Templeton

8 min read

ON THE MORNING of 9 September 1940, a Friday, Police Constable (PC) Ahmad bin Haji Abdul Rahman was on duty in front of the Penang Swimming Club. It was the sec...

The Coming and Going of Penang’s Trams

7 min read

From Steam to HorseThe first tramway introduced in Penang was the steam tram operated by one Mr.Gardiner with concessions from the government. Commencing oper...

Koay Su-Lyn

Vestiges of Penang’s Entrepot Days

7 min read

As the last surviving Chinese surname jetties in Penang today, the beginnings of the Clan Jetties are intertwined with the island’s once-bustling entrepot...

Pan Yi Chieh