Penang
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Current revision
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| State motto: "Bersatu dan Setia" (United and Loyal), formerly "Let Penang Lead" | |||||
| Image:MalaysiaPulauPinang.png | |||||
| Capital | George Town | ||||
| Governor | Tun Dato' Seri Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Abbas | ||||
| Chief Minister | Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon | ||||
| Area | 1,056 km2 | ||||
| Population - Est year 2000 | 1,225,501 | ||||
| State anthem | Untuk Negeri Kita ("For Our State") | ||||
| Time Zone | UTC +8 | ||||
Penang (Malay: Pulau Pinang; Chinese: 檳城) is a Malaysian state located on the north-west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
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Name
The name "Penang" comes from the word "pinang", the betel nut tree (Areca catechu). The name "Pulau Pinang" translated literally from Malay means "betel nut island".
The general Chinese name for Penang is 檳城 (pinyin: Bīnchéng / Bīngchéng), which loosely refers either to the city of George Town, the island of Penang, or the state of Penang. If more precise names are needed, then George Town is 喬治市 (Qiáozhì Shì), Penang Island is 檳榔嶼 (Bīnláng Xù - not the more modern Yǔ for 嶼)) or 檳榔島 (Bīnláng Dǎo) and Penang state is 檳州 (Bīn Zhōu). Province Wellesley is 威省 (Wēi Shěng).
Geography
The state is geographically and administratively divided into two sections:
- Penang Island: an island of 293 square kilometres located in the Straits of Malacca; and
- Seberang Perai (also known as Province Wellesley): a strip of land of 760 square kilometres across a narrow channel on the Malay peninsula.
The state capital of Penang, George Town and its principal town on the mainland, Butterworth has a close proximity to several satellite towns in Kedah and Perak, forming a large urban area in northwestern Peninsular Malaysia. George Town was accorded city status by Queen Elizabeth II on January 1, 1957.
The highest point in Penang is Penang Hill, on the island (the actual peak at 830 metres above sea level is called Western Hill, which is considered to be part of Penang Hill).
The state has the highest population density in Malaysia with 2,031.74 people per square kilometre on the island and 865.99 people per square kilometre on the mainland. Penang is the only state in Malaysia in which the ethnic Chinese are a majority. The ethnic composition in 1995 was:
- Ethnic Chinese: 772,700 or 66%;
- Malay: 246,700 or 23%;
- Ethnic Indian: 127,000 or 11%;
- Others:
- Bumiputra: 1,300;
- Non-bumiputra: 6,200.
History
Penang, originally part of the Malay sultanate of Kedah, was given to the British East India Company in 1786 by the Sultan of Kedah, in exchange for military protection from Siamese and Burmese armies who were threatening Kedah. On 11 August 1786, Captain Francis Light, known as the founder of Penang, landed in Penang and renamed it Prince of Wales Island in honour of the heir to the British throne.
The location of the island at the opening of the Straits of Malacca attracted the British East India Company to use the island as a natural harbour and anchorage for their trading ships, and as a naval base to counter growing French ambitions in the region. The settlement on the north-eastern tip of the island was named George Town after King George III of Great Britain.
Unbeknownst to the Sultan, Light had acted without the approval of the East India Company when he promised military protection. When the Company failed to aid Kedah when it was attacked by Siam, the Sultan tried to retake the island in 1790. The attempt was unsuccessful, and the Sultan was forced to cede the island to the Company for an honorarium of 6,000 Spanish dollars per annum. This was later increased to 10,000 dollars, with Province Wellesley (Seberang Prai) being added to Penang in 1800. An annual honorarium of 10,000 ringgits continues to this day to be paid each year by the Malaysian Federal Government to the state of Kedah.
In 1826, Penang, along with Malacca and Singapore, became part of the Straits Settlements under the British administration in India, moving to direct British colonial rule in 1867. In 1946 it became part of the Malayan Union, before becoming in 1948 a state of the Federation of Malaya, which gained independence in 1957. In 1963 it became one of the 13 states of Malaysia.
The island was a free port until 1969. Despite the loss of the island's free-port status, from the 1970s to the late 1990s the state built up one of the largest electronics manufacturing bases in Asia, in the Free Trade Zone around the airport in the south of the island.
Recently (in 2004), widespread dissatisfaction with the decline of Penang has led to a media campaign to return Penang to its former glory. [1]
Due to its long colonial history and Penang’s awareness of its past legacy, many buildings of colonial times can still be seen today. Such buildings include the City Hall, the Eastern & Oriental Hotel, the Old Court House, Suffolk House (Francis Light’s residence), Uplands International School building, Standard & Chartered Bank building and the HSBC Bank building. Local conservationists are lobbying the state government to restore many other historical buildings but sadly a number of them have dilapidated beyond repair.
Interestingly, Penang still retains many street and place names bearing a stamp of its colonial past. These include Beach Street, Union Street, Light Street, Downing Street, Anson Road, Macalister Road, Magazine Road, Green Lane, Love Lane, Rope Walk, Gurney Drive, Weld Quay and Western Avenue.
State government
The state has its own state legislature and executive, but these have very limited powers in comparison with those of the Malaysian federal authorities.
The head of the state executive is a Yang di-Pertua Negeri (Governor) appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia. The present Governor is Tun Dato' Seri Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Abbas. In practice the Governor is a figurehead, and he acts upon the advice of the state Executive Council, which is appointed from the majority party in the Legislative Assembly.
The current Chief Minister of Penang, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon is from the Gerakan party which its representatives have held the chief-ministership since 1969. It is the only state chief-ministership in Malaysia which is held by an ethnic Chinese, reflecting the state's ethnic majority.
There are two local authorities in Penang, the Municipal Council of Penang Island (Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang) [2] and the Municipal Council of Province Wellesley (Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai)[3]. Local councillors have been appointed by the state government since local elections were abolished in Malaysia in the 1960s. The state is divided into 5 administrative divisions:
- Seberang Perai:
- Central Seberang Perai (Seberang Perai Tengah)
- Northern Seberang Perai (Seberang Perai Utara)
- Southern Seberang Perai (Seberang Perai Selatan)
- Penang Island:
- North-East District (Daerah Timur Laut)
- South-West District (Daerah Barat Daya).
The current Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, hails from the mainland town of Kepala Batas, whereas the former Deputy Prime Minister Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim is from the town of Bukit Mertajam, also in Province Wellesley.
In May 2005, there were calls by UMNO members from the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN), to rotate the Chief Minister post between BN component parties but the Prime Minister rejected the idea. Analysts have pointed out that if Penang does have a Malay chief minister, by logic the other 11 Malay majority states would also have to have a Chinese or Indian as Chief Minister. From a bigger perspective, this idea would not be feasible to the UMNO-ruled states.
George Town, the state capital, is a sister city of (in order of establishment) Adelaide, Australia, Medan, Indonesia and Xiamen, China.
Food
Main article: Penang cuisine
Penang island, also known as the "Pearl of the Orient", is a paradise for food lovers, who come from all over Malaysia and Singapore to sample the island's unique cuisine. Penang's cuisine reflects the Chinese, Nyonya, Malay and Indian ethnic mix of Malaysia, but is strongly influenced by the cuisine of Thailand to the north. Penang is especially famous for the "hawker food" sold and eaten by the street, in which noodles and fresh seafood feature strongly.
Arts and Culture
Penang has a relatively active arts scene. The Penang State Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (PESSOC) is a government-supported youth orchestra and choir under the helm of Japanese conductor Jascha Shimano and chorus director Khoo Hooi Lay. The Penang Symphony Orchestra is another amateur orchestra. Both provide good training grounds for many budding musicians. Other groups include the Penang Huayue Orchestra (a Chinese instrumental orchestra), the Fingerprints choir, and many other school-based musical groups.
The Actors’ Studio Green Hall performs stage plays from time to time.
The Penang State Art Gallery showcases the works of local artists. A newer gallery, the ABN Amro-USM Art Gallery, located at Beach Street, has recently been established to promote art awareness among Penang citizens.
Penang is also home to the indigenous boria, a fading art form with singing and dancing once popular among the local Malay community.
Penang hosts the annual Penang-YTL Arts Festival in December, with theatrical performances, contemporary and traditional dances, art and photography exhibitions, as well as concerts of classical and modern music. The programmes are drawn up by the Penang Arts Council every year and are partly sponsored by the YTL Group of Companies, a corporate patron of the arts scene in Malaysia.
Places of Interest
• Numerous shopping complexes on the island offer a variety of goods both locally made and imported at competitive prices. The premier shopping mall is Gurney Plaza, located at Gurney Drive (named after the former British High Commissioner to Malaya, Sir Henry Gurney who was instrumental in the fight against the communist insurgents) facing the sea. This complex houses a new 11-screen cineplex, the largest outside the national capital. Swanky cafes and restaurants, from Japanese to American are found within the complex.
• Next to Gurney Plaza is the famed Gurney Drive hawker food center which is popular with locals and tourists alike. A huge variety of local cuisine can be found here where patrons eat in an open-air condition. The food prices are generally higher though due to its fame as a tourist hotspot.
• Prangin Mall and its adjoining and older KOMTAR (Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak) are other popular shopping destinations primarily for their variety of clothes, mobile phones, computers, jewellery and entertainment outlets. There is a cineplex is its topmost floor. KOMTAR with 65 storeys at 232m is Penang's tallest building. KOMTAR is also the main bus interchange station on the island.
• Penang Botanic Gardens is a sprawling conservational cum recreational park. Located at the outskirts of George Town, it forms the green lung of the city. Adjoining it is the Youth Park which is equipped with playing fields, an extreme sports court, a skating rink, jungle trekking trails, basketball courts, a shooting and archery range, playgrounds, an open air theatre and a cafeteria.
• Penang Hill is accessible by the funicular train or otherwise by hiking, the most popular route being the one at the Penang Botanic Gardens. The hill is the highest elevation on the island, commanding breathtaking scenery of the entire city.
• Kek Lok Si Temple at Air Itam is the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia. Continually expanded and renovated since its establishment in the 19th century, it is a temple complex of noteworthy architecture and beauty.
• Penang Butterfly Farm, located at Teluk Bahang, showcases hundreds of varieties of butterflies from around the world, purportedly to be one of the largest in the region.
• Penang Bird Park, situated on the mainland Seberang Perai houses many bird species from around the world including ostriches, eagles and parrots.
• Fort Cornwallis, originally built of wood, marks the place where Cpt. Francis Light landed on Penang. Adjacent to the fort is the seaside Esplanade and the newly restored (2005) British era City Hall.
• Khoo Kongsi is a large Chinese clanhouse with elaborate and highly ornamented architecture, a mark of the dominant presence of the Chinese in Penang. It is located in the heart of the oldest part of the city, in the midst of narrow, winding lanes and quaint-looking pre-War houses exuding a palpable old world charm.
• Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion on Leith Street is a large blue mansion once owned by its namesake Chinese tycoon in the 19th century
• Batu Ferringhi is a stretch of beautiful beaches popular to tourists and locals as a place for picnics and water sports. It is dotted with a great many world-class hotels and service apartments. Once primarily a holiday resort, Batu Ferringhi is now a bustling and lively township, most visibly at night when traders set up stalls along the main street selling various items and curios. A good place for fine dining as well.
• The Penang State Museum houses artefacts and cultural exhibits. Outside the museum building is a bronze cast of Cpt Francis Light, the founder of Penang.
• The Sleeping Buddha Temple located off Burma Road is a Siamese Buddhist temple housing a colossal Buddha in the reclining position. The architecture of the temple is noteworthy. Directly opposite this is the Burmese temple.
• Chulia Street and Upper Penang Road are the focal points of budget travellers and backpackers due to the many budget hotels and guesthouses. These roads are vibrant and especially colourful at night due to the many nightspots and bars catering mostly to travellers.
• The historic centre of George Town which is largely made of nineteenth-century Straits Chinese shophouses, with Indian and Malay quarters. Anglo-Indian colonial buildings are also to be found amongst elaborate Chinese and Indian temples and Indian-Muslim mosques.
• The Snake Temple in Bayan Lepas houses many harmless snakes slithering around inside the temple
• The northwest tip of the Penang Island has been gazetted as a National Park. It is one of few remaining virgin forest on the island. The park is noted as a refuge for migratory birds and for its rich flora.
The more rural southwest district of Penang produces durians of high quality, priced for their exquisite taste and varieties. The famed Balik Pulau durians often fetch high prices and are exported to as far as Hong Kong. Nutmegs are another trademark produce of Penang.
Hotels
There are many fine hotels in Penang, from the five-star luxurious resort hotels to the many economical but reasonably comfortable budget hotels in Inner George Town. Among the preferred hotels in the city are Sunway Hotel, Shangri-La Hotel, Sheraton Hotel, Cititel, and the extravagant five-star Eastern & Oriental Hotel, whose origins stretched back over a century and whose building is an architectural gem of Penang.
In the coastal resort township of Batu Ferringhi, one can find a multitude of world-class hotels like Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang and Golden Sands Hotels, the lavish Penang Mutiara Hotel, Casuarina Beach Hotel, the charming Lone Pine Hotel, Holiday Inn as well as service apartments like Merit Sri Sayang.
Economy
Penang state is today the third-largest economy amongst the states of Malaysia, after Selangor and Johore. Manufacturing is the most important component of the Penang economy, contributing 45.9% of the State's GDP (2000). The southern part of the island is highly industrialised with high-tech electronics plants (such as Intel, AMD, Motorola, Agilent, Hitachi, Osram, Bosch and Seagate) located within the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone.
The entrepôt trade has greatly declined, due in part to the loss of Penang's free-port status, but also due to the active development of Port Klang near the federal capital Kuala Lumpur. However, there is a container terminal in Butterworth which continues to service the northern area.
Other important sectors of Penang's economy include tourism, finance and other services.
Language
The lingua franca of Penang, depending on social class and social circles, are English, Penang Hokkien, and Malay. (But note, Mandarin is gaining ground).
Penang Hokkien is a variant of Minnan and is widely spoken by a substantial proportion of the Penang populace who are descendants of early Chinese settlers. It bears strong resemblance to the language spoken by Chinese living in the Indonesian city of Medan and is based on the Minnan dialect of Zhangzhou prefecture in Fujian province, China, but incorporates a large number of borrowed words from Malay and English. Many Penangites who are not ethnically Chinese are also able to speak in Hokkien. Most Penang Hokkien speakers are not literate in Hokkien but instead read and write in standard (Mandarin) Chinese, English and/or Malay.
Malay is spoken locally with northwest dialect features, such as hang for "you" and depa for "they/them".
English, as in the rest of Malaysia, is often in Malaysian English.
Other languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese and Tamil, are also spoken in the state. Teochew is heard more on Province Wellesley than on Penang Island.
Education
Penang boasts of a good system of education stretching back to the early days of the British administration. Many of the public schools in Penang are among the oldest in the country and even in the region as a whole. Most notable of these are:
• Penang Free School, the oldest English school in the country as well as Southeast Asia, is the former school of Tunku Abdul Rahman, the nation’s founding Prime Minister, a Perlis Ruler, as well as numerous great personalities of the nation (founded in 1816 by Catholic missionaries);
• St Xavier’s Institution (founded 1825);
• Methodist Boys’ School, the alma mater of Penang’s present Chief Minister as well as the Prime Minister (founded 1891);
• Convent Light Street, the first girls’ school in the region,
These pioneer schools formed the backbone of Malaysia’s early education system which has educated generations of rulers, prime ministers, chief ministers, lawmakers, politicians, professionals and people of social standing.
Later schools of prominence include Chung Ling High School and Jit Sin High School, both of which have consistently performed very well in the national examinations.
Penang is also home to the prestigious Universiti Sains Malaysia, est. 1969 being the second oldest university in Malaysia after University of Malaya. Its main campus is situated in Gelugor while its engineering campus is located in Seri Ampangan on the mainland part of Penang, bordering the states of Kedah and Perak. The university’s medical faculty is in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan on the east coast.
With 35 000 students in 2005, USM is the biggest university in terms of enrolment in Malaysia. In March 2006 USM is also earmarked as one of four research-intensive universities in Malaysia. Within the expansive and undulating university grounds can be found lakes, hillocks, and swathes of trees, making it a very ‘green’ university.
Penang is also known as a regional education hub attracting students from foreign countries due to its ubiquity of colleges and institutions of higher education and affordable tuition fees. Penang Medical College is a private medical college in Penang. Other colleges include Sedaya College, Inti College, Equator Academy of Art, Olympia College, Institut Perkim-Goon (IPG) and Han Chiang College.
Healthcare
Healthcare in Penang is provided by the government as well as private hospitals. The healthcare system in Penang is very good by any standards. The most comprehensive government hospital on the island is the Hospital Besar Pulau Pinang (Penang General Hospital) while the mainland strip is served by the Hospital Seberang Jaya. In addition to these are numerous smaller community clinics.
Private hospitals supplement the system with better facilities and equipments. These are Island Hospital, Gleneagles Medical Centre, Adventist Hospital, Pantai Medical Centre, Lam Wah Ee Hospital and Tanjung Hospital. These hospitals cater not only to the local population but also to people from other states and health tourists from neighbouring countries. Patients from the Indonesian city of Medan across the straits regularly flock to these hospitals for quality treatment and also due to more affordable costs as compared to places like Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Transport
Penang Island is connected to the mainland by the 13.5-kilometre Penang Bridge (completed in 1985), one of the longest bridges in Asia. A second link had been under discussed since 1999 or earlier. In September 2004, it was announced that a second link was not currently planned and instead the existing bridge would be extended from 4 lanes to 6 lanes. On March 31 2006, the Malaysian Government announced a second bridge project, to be built under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
Ferry services are available between Georgetown and Butterworth (where the nearest Malayan Railway station is located) on the mainland and to the resort island of Langkawi in the north.
Penang International Airport (PEN) is located in the south of the island, and international flights are available to London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Medan, Taipei, Bangkok, Bangalore, Seoul, Riau, Xiamen and Guangzhou.
A quaint mode of transportation, the three-wheeled trishaw, still operates in certain parts of George Town. However, with the advent of modern transportation, the trishaw has increasingly become a mere tourist attraction. Unfortunately, modern transportation has also brought the problem of traffic congestion to Penang's roads, as most of the roads in the city centre are narrow, due to lack of proper planning.
Penang has had a monorail under consideration since 2004 or earlier but this was finally confirmed when the Malaysian Government announced plans to build a Penang monorail under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
The Penang bus services are generally unsystematic and do not have a reputation of reliability. Therefore the usage of public transportation is still low, exacerbating the traffic jams in the city during rush hours. The city council has, however, provided free shuttle bus services for short intra-city travel to lessen the congestion, with mixed success. In early April 2006, the government announced a revamp of the bus service the result of which remains to be seen.
Taxis in Penang have not conformed to the meter system as exhorted by the federal authorities, citing unprofitability. It is therefore wise to set the price before boarding a taxi. Taxis are also available on call.
The controversial Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) is now under way. The idea of the project is to cut travelling time on the eastern part of the island. Concerned citizens voiced protests over the designated route which will cut across quiet residential areas and will cause some environmental damage. Already the Jelutong Expressway has reduced travelling time from the Penang Bridge to the city centre by half.
Famous Penangites
Malaysia's fifth Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is also from Kepala Batas, Penang.
Anwar Ibrahim, the ex-deputy prime minister when Tun Dr Mahathir was the PM, is also from Penang where Cherok Tok Kun is his hometown.
Dr. Wu Lien Teh (1879 - 1960), world-renowned Plague Fighter and pioneer in the modernization of China's public health system, was from Penang.
Malaysia's legendary actor/singer/director P.Ramlee is also a Penangite.
The famous shoe designer, Jimmy Choo was born in Penang.
The current international women's squash champion Nicol David is from Penang.
References
- The Penang Tourism Action Council. "The "Light" Years and Beyond". Retrieved Jul. 26, 2005.
External links
- Government official tourist guide to Penang
- Photos of Penang from PenangPage.com
- Satellite map of Penang from Google Maps
- Template:Wikitravelpar
- Penangites Forum
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