CULTURAL AWARENESS EXPEDITION BY ICSZ TO MALAYSIA II

HISTORICAL PLACES IN PENANG
Europeans have been making frequent visits to South East Asia as early on as in the 15 th Century. First the Portuguese, then the Dutch and eventually the British and the French. The French went inland into Indochina whilst the British made their presence felt in Indonesia, Malaya, Burma and Singapore - strategically along shipping routes.
With regions secured (well, almost - apart from insurgence uprising by the Malays now and again), came the trading companies and along with that, changed the course of South East Asia's history.

Francis Light was born in Suffolk, England in 1740. At age 19, he entered the Navy as a midshipman. After four years' service in various junior appointments, he went to India and became master of a ship trading between India and the Malay Peninsula. Francis Light picked up colloquial Malay and in no time made fast allies in Malaya.

On receiving an enquiry from the Madras government to look for a trading post east of India, Light on 22nd November 1771, recommended Penang as a "convenient magazine for trade". However, nothing came about on the recommendation until some 15years later under the leadership of
Sir John MacPherson, the Governor-General of India. Light recommended two stations, Junk Ceylon (modern name, Salang), where he had his own headquarters, and Penang, which he was able to offer on behalf of the young Sultan of Kedah, with whom he was friendly.

Finally, Light was able to negotiate a settlement whereby Penang was ceded to the Company for the annual payment of £1,500. Francis Light became the first superintendent and moved his partner Martina Rozells of Thai-Portuguese descent and 2 children including young William Light who later followed his father's footsteps in reputation and founded the city of Adelaide.
Penang as it was today.

In fact Penang has a history that goes way back to the days of the Malaccan Sultanate in the 14 th century. Portuguese traders from India used Penang as their replenishment centre for water, food and traded with the villagers. The main stopover point was at Batu Feringghi or Feringghi's Rock. The word Feringghi is an Indian term for Europeans. Today, Batu Feringghi remains a lure to Europeans. Beach resorts and hotels gradually replaced Fishing and Malay Villages that used to line this beautiful beachfront. Today, a walk down Batu Feringhi and one familiarity pops to mind - Pattong, Phuket.

Batu Feringghi has maintained quite a bit of its charm despite the sudden influx of restaurants ranging from steak houses and Indian cuisine to seafood outlets and even a large food court selling local food at reasonable prices. In the evenings, the walkway along the main street disappears as the night market vendors take over the area. Visitors can find all sorts of handicraft work, movie and music VCDs/DVDs, handbags and t-shirts and some pretty kitsch items for sale.

The good side of this is that all though the hustle and bustle is there at Batu Feringghi, it's still only found mainly along the main street. For those looking for peace and quiet, one can retreat into the comforts of their hotels, the tranquillity of their pool areas or on the beach. Once within the sanctuary, sanity restores.

Light had his men build a wooden stockade within the clearing. Later convicts were put to work on a construction of a fort on the same site. Light named the fort after the Governor-General of the EIC - Charles Cornwallis. The total cost of the fort amounted to 67,000 Spanish Dollars in 1793. Early pictures of the Fort showed a moat surrounding the fort walls and also a number of buildings within the compound. A small group of Europeans resided within the walls whilst the Sepoys lived in Attap huts just outside of the fort.The moat was filled in a century ago due to the escalating problem with malaria in the area.

Today, the Chapel, the cells, gunpowder magazine and a few cannons remains at the fort. The tiny chapel I had its first recorded consummation of marriage in 1799 when Sir Francis Light's widow, Martina Rozells was wed to Mr John Timmers.

The cell was built in 1811 and was formerly used as barracks to house artillery and later converted to cell rooms. These cell rooms are currently used to house a little museum.

The Gunpowder Magazine was added in 1814, and was built to store explosives. Next to this are the cannons. The most noted of cannons is the Seri Rambai Cannon.

This cannon was initially presented to the Sultan of Johor by the Dutch. If you look closely, you will just make out Dutch East India Company's seal, VOC inscribed on the cannon. However, later the invading Achehnese confiscated the cannon and gave it away to the Sultan of Selangor. Eventually the Madras Native Infantry seized Seri Rambai and brought it to Penang. The cannon still sits at a vantage point, facing the open ocean, seemingly lying in wait for a resurrection of days gone.

Francis Light planned the original colonial town spanning out from Fort Cornwallis. The early commercial centre was laid out along Lebuh Light, Beach Street (Lebuh Pantai), Chulia Street and Pitt Street (Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling). Lebuh Light was reserved for offices homes and public buildings. The State Assembly Buildings (formerly Police Recorder's Courts and Magistrate Courts) , the Immigration Building, City Hall, Town Hall (originally the social venue for Penang's European Community - consisting of a Ballroom with adjoining supper rooms), The Supreme Court and a little further away, the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus.

Malacca (Malay: Melaka, dubbed as The Historical State and also Negeri Bersejarah amongst locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south. The state's capital is Malacca Town.
Although Malacca was once one of the oldest Malay sultanates, the state has no Sultan today. Instead, the head of state is the Yang di-Pertua Negeri or Governor.
The precise origins of Malacca are disputed. It appears that Malacca was founded by Parameswara, a Srivijayan prince of Palembang who fled Sumatra following a Majapahit attack in 1377. He found his way to Malacca c. 1400 where he found a good port accessible in all seasons and on the strategically located narrowest point of the Malacca Straits.[1]
According to a popular legend, Parameswara was resting under a tree near a river while hunting, when one of his dogs cornered a mouse deer. In self-defence, the mouse deer pushed the dog into the river. Impressed by the courage of the deer, and taking it as a propitious omen of the weak overcoming the powerful, Parameswara decided on the spot to found an empire on the very place that he was sitting. He named it 'Melaka' after the tree under which he had taken shelter. Another version of the story says that Parameswara chose the name 'Malacca' from the Tamil word 'mallakka' which means upside down or on ones back. Old illustrations of the scene where the mousedeer kicks the dog shows the dog falling on its back into the river, hence the inspiration. Parameswara converted to Islam in 1414 and changed his name to 'Raja Iskandar Shah'.

In collaboration with allies from the sea-people (orang laut) the wandering proto-Malay privateers of the Straits, he established Malacca as major international port by compelling passing ships to call there, and establishing fair and reliable facilities for warehousing and trade.[1] Mass settlement of Chinese, mostly from the imperial and merchant fleet occurred during the reign of Parameswara, occurred in the vicinity of the Bukit China ("Chinese Hill") area, which had among the best Feng Shui (geomancy) in Malacca then. Sultan Iskandar Shah died in 1424, and was succeeded by his son, Sri Maharaja also called Sultan Muhammad Shah.
The prosperity of Malacca attracted the invasion of the Siamese. Attempts in 1446 and 1456, however, were warded off by Tun Perak, the then Bendahara (a position similar to Prime Minister). The development of relations between Malacca and China was at that time a strategic decision to ward off further Siamese attacks.
Because of its strategic location, Malacca was an important outpost for Zheng He's spectacular exploration fleet. To enhance relations, Hang Li Po, allegedly a princess of the Ming Emperor of China, arrived in Malacca, accompanied by 500 attendants, to marry Sultan Manshur Shah who reigned from 1456 until 1477. Her attendants married the locals and settled mostly in Bukit China (Bukit Cina).(See Zheng He in Malacca).
A cultural result of the vibrant trade was the expansion of the Peranakan people, who spread to other major settlements in the region.
During its prime Malacca was a powerful Sultanate which extended its rule over the southern Malay Peninsula and much of Sumatra. Its rise helped to hold off the Thai's southwards encroachment and arguably hasten the decline of the rival Majapahit Empire of Java which was in decline as Malacca was rising. Malacca was also central in the spread of Islam in the Malay Archipelago.

In April 1511, Afonso de Albuquerque set sail from Goa to Malacca with a force of some 1200 men and seventeen or eighteen ships.[2] It became a strategic base for Portuguese expansion in the East Indies. Sultan Mahmud Shah, the last Sultan of Malacca took refuge in the hinterland, and made intermittent raids both by land and sea, causing considerable hardship for the Portuguese. In the meantime the Portuguese built the fort named A Famosa to defend Malacca (its gate is all that remains of the ruins at present). Finally in 1526, a large force of Portuguese ships, under the command of Pedro Mascarenhas, was sent to destroy Bintan, where Sultan Mahmud was based. Sultan Mahmud fled with his family across the Straits to Kampar in Sumatra, where he died two years later.

It soon became clear that Portuguese control of Malacca did not mean they now controlled Asian trade that centred around it. Their Malaccan rule was severely hampered by administrative and economic difficulties.[3] Rather than achieving their ambition of dominating Asian trade, the Portuguese had fundamentally disrupted the organisation of the network. The centralised port of exchange of Asian wealth exchange had now gone, as was a Malay state to police the Straits of Malacca that made it safe for commercial traffic. Trade was now scattered over a number of ports amongst bitter warfare in the Straits.[3]

Ruins of Fort A Famosa attracted millions of tourists to Malacca every year

The Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier spent several months in Malacca in 1545, 1546 and 1549. In 1641 the Dutch defeated the Portuguese to capture Malacca with the help of the Sultan of Johore. The Dutch ruled Malacca from 1641 to 1795 but they were not interested in developing it as a trading centre, placing greater importance to Batavia (Jakarta) in Indonesia as their administrative centre. However they still built their landmark better known as Red Building or Stadhuys.