Loving family: Tunku Abdul Rahman with his family.On the left is Sharifah Intan.

IT WOULD surely not be appropriate if a series on the streets of Penang and the origins of the names does not include the first Prime Minister of Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman – more so on National Day.

Tunku chose to retire in Penang and not the federal capital because he simply loved the island.

Although Tunku’s royal line was from the Kedah Sultanate, his connection to Penang came early, when he was sent by his mother, back in 1916, to be educated at the Penang Free School.

Ayer Rajah Road has been aptly renamed Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman because he lived his last years in that leafy, affluent neighbourhood.

Tree-lined avenue: Leafy Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman used to be known as Ayer Rajah Road.

The Tunku also had a bungalow along the beach front in Batu Feringghi.

The name Ayer Rajah was in reference to Teluk Ayer Rajah, a bay between George Town and Tanjung Tokong.

According to Penang writer Khoo Salma Nasution, by 1796, 10 years after Captain Francis Light founded Penang, over 2,000 acres of the area had been cleared.

As a rookie reporter in The Star’s Penang office in 1980, I had my first meeting with the Tunku at this residence.

I cannot remember clearly the date but, accompanied by a senior reporter, I was totalling in awe of meeting a living legend up close and personal.

Devoted family man: Tunku carrying great grandaughter Sharyn Lisa, Sharifah Intan’s daughter. With them are Sharifah Hanizah (in blue) and Tunku Khadijah.

Here was the person I have read about not only in the newspapers but also in my school textbooks.

At that point in time, he was not just a former prime minister but also the chairman of the board of directors of The Star. But it wouldn’t be right to say he was also my boss.

I was then waiting for my university entrance results. So my initial stint in The Star was short and only renewed four years later upon my graduation in 1984.

Meeting the Tunku became part of my regular beat.

I would head to the residence when he wanted to give a statement, or when he had visitors paying him a courtesy call. On such occasions, he would add value to the news reports by dispensing some advice, often on the need for moderation and for all the races to live together in harmony.

He had many visitors and they ranged from ordinary Malaysians to VVIPs.

Since some of the assignments were seen as having little news value, it was left to rookies like me to handle.

And the one message that came from him was simple, consistent and clear – all Malaysians must live in peace and harmony, and there’s no room for political and religious extremism.

Tunku was a man of another era. He was open about his love for horses and his trips to the Penang Turf Club were well documented.

His point of view: Tunku’s best articles from his column with The Star was handpicked for this book in 1971, and republished again in 2011.

The Star certainly owes much of its initial success and growth to Tunku. His column, Looking Back, which began in 1974, was featured every Monday, and quickly gained popularity and a loyal following.

His recollections of the fight for freedom enabled Malaysians to gain first-hand insights into the struggles and challenges that took place.

He may not be a historian but as a direct participant in our nation’s history, his writings were powerful.

Occasionally, I had to go to his house to collect his article, typed in huge letters by his secretary, owing to his diminishing eyesight.

He often used a magnifying glass to check the facts and spelling, before passing the articles to me.

Those were the days before the computer and the Internet.

As fate would have it, our two lives would inevitably be intertwined, no matter how minute, for a long time to come, and beyond his natural life.

In 2011 I wrote the foreword of the book, Looking Back – Monday Musings and Memories, which was a collection of his best columns.

The book was published by MPH Publishing and The Star.

The Tunku’s association with The Star was so strong that many believe, to this day, that Star stands for Suara Tunku Abdul Rahman.

I wish it is true, but it isn’t.

It was the paper’s founder K.S. Choong who selected the name for the newspaper which made its debut on Sept 9 1971 which was long before the Tunku came on board as chairman. But such a link is fated and we are thankful.

I am also fortunate to work with th Tunku’s grand daughter Sharifah Intan, a former deputy executive editor of The Star.

Sharifah’s daughter, Sharyn, is now a columnist with this newspaper.

I count it a privilege to have his family member as my colleagues.

Tunku’s cook, Salmiah Md Isa, who cooked for him for over 20 years, since she was 16 years old, is also a colleague at the Menara Star headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

She was originally hired as a nanny for Tunku’s children in 1968 but took over as a cook in 1970 when he retired in Penang.

The official cook in Kuala Lumpur did not want to join him in Penang and the job was suddenly entrusted to Salmiah.

Some of Tunku’s favourite dishes, she recalled, were ikan masin goreng, gulai Siam, kailan goreng belacan and, of course, curry, particularly fish curry.

Thanks to Salmiah, invited guests to The Star still get to enjoy some of Tunku’s favourites.

Tunku was a simple man who did not care about protocol.

He would sometimes go marketing at the Pulau Tikus market, located not far from his home, by himself.

He even dropped by a few times at my father’s roadside hardware stall in Cheapside, Chulia Street, instead of the many shops in the area which were more comfortable.

He told his bodyguard that he liked my father, who was born in Langkawi, because my dad could speak impeccable Malay with a Kedah accent.

I remember seeing the Tunku at his stall often when I was a boy.

As the nation celebrates National Day today, I must count my blessings to have been given the opportunity and honour of having met this great man.

Zainul was an old boy of Penang Free School and had his education there until Senior Cambridge. He then went on to teach at the school for 20 years. — filepic

HAJI S.M. Zainul Abidin, of which Jalan Zainal Abidin is named after, was no ordinary Malaysian. He was a teacher, politician, community writer and author.

Besides Jalan Yahudi, which has been renamed Jalan Zainal Abidin, a school in Hamilton Road and a block of flats in Jalan Perak have also been named in honour of him.

Jalan Zainal Abidin is a minor road in George Town, which runs from Macalister Road to Burmah Road and is parallel to Madras Lane and Lorong Selamat.

Zainul was an old boy of the Penang Free School (PFS) and had his education there until Senior Cambridge, which was a high achievement at that time.

As head prefect for two years, Zainul was awarded the Medal of Merit by his principal Ralph Henry Pinhorn. — ‘Pengkisahan Riwayat Hidup Haji S.M. Zainul Abidin’

As head prefect for two years, Zainul was awarded the Medal of Merit by his principal Ralph Henry Pinhorn. In 1918, the then school head Harold Robinson Cheeseman offered him a job as a school teacher at PFS.

Pinhorn, with the colour blue, is one of the school houses at PFS. A road nearby the school is named after him. The current Chief Minister lives on that road.

Zainul went on to teach at that premier school for 20 years. He was actively involved in promoting cricket, football and judo. He was also a scouter.

Abidin’s fifth son put together the book pictured above to record the family history and contributions of his late father. — ‘Pengkisahan Riwayat Hidup Haji S.M. Zainul Abidin’

He taught geography, literature and even Latin and French, two languages which were offered to the students then.

Not satisfied with his academic achievement, Zainul went on to enrol in an off-campus course, where he became the first Malay to receive a Bachelor of Arts external degree from the University of London in 1933. By then, he already had six children.

The best known son, at least, to those of us in our 50s, has to be the late Datuk Zainal Alam, who was a senior RTM broadcaster. However, he was better known as an entertainer, singer and stand-up comedian.

The multi-lingual legend also wrote the country’s first Undilah song to encourage the people to vote in the 1955 election campaign. He was also the ring announcer for the Muhammad Ali-Joe Bugner boxing match at Stadium Merdeka in 1975.

Maliia Bakery in Transfer Road moved into the building previously occupied by Ismalia Bakery and brought with it a rich history of breadmaking. — CHARLES MARIASOOSAY / The Star

There are also other well-known personalities linked to the family. Zainul Abidin’s youngest sister, Shaharom Bee was married to S. Mohamed Ismail who set up Ismalia Bakery (now renamed Maliia Bakery) on Transfer Road.

The bakery is an institution in Penang known for its roti benggali.

By most accounts, roti benggali is actually a misnomer derived from two Tamil words: roti (bread) and penggalis (sharecroppers). It is said that Penangites in the early years of the 20th century mistook penggalis for Bengali and the name stuck, until today.

The most famous son of the bakery owner has to be former Court of Appeals judge Datuk Shaik Daud Ismail.

But it was Zainul Abidin’s active involvement in politics that earned him national prominence.

Zainul Abidin’s best known son, has to be the late Datuk Zainal Alam, who was a senior RTM broadcaster, entertainer, singer and stand-up comedian. — filepic

At the Umno Malaya meeting in Penang on April 24, 1948, he was elected as the permanent chairman of the party. The meeting was chaired by the late Datuk Onn Jaafar at the Francis Light School, of which Zainul Abidin was then headmaster.

In 1955, Zainul Abidin’s first foray into Federal Elections started when Tunku Abdul Rahman picked him to contest the Barat Daya seat in Penang, where he polled 14,865 votes against independent Isa Sulaiman with 2,925 votes. The MCA candidate Chee Swee Ee, who was challenged by two others, won the Timur Laut seat with 7,253 votes.

His place in history has been correctly recognised with a road named after him, where he and his family actually lived.

Zainul Abidin passed away peacefully on Dec 8, 1969. His place in Penang and national history must be remembered.

His fifth son, Datuk Zainul Aziz, has put together a book in Bahasa Malaysia titled Pengkisahan Riwayat Hidup Haji S.M. Zainul Abidin to record the family history and more importantly, the contributions of his late father.

This writer, who earlier wrote about the origins of the Jews in Penang and how the road was named Jalan Yahudi (The Star, July 6), had wrongly attributed Jalan Zainal Abidin to the late Za’aba, one of the most respected Malaysian writers and Malay language experts, whose real name was Zainal Abidin Ahmad.

The Penang government should consider using the correct spelling of Zainul Abidin for the road to prevent future misunderstanding.

Sikh guards looking at the two remaining buildings – a pawn shop and a police station – which survived the Great Fire of 1935 in Ayer Itam.

VERY few Penangites, I am sure, are aware that Air Itam used to have a swimming club and a zoo. Yes, you read it right.

The Eastern Garden Amusement Park was built in 1950 but it was shut down after several drowning incidents, and the popular park lost its lustre.

I managed to obtain a picture of the swimming pool at this park from the book, Glimpses of Old Penang, but there is little accompanying information.

The park was believed to be located at the foot of Penang Hill.

Then there is Zoo Road, named after the Penang Zoological Gardens sited there, which was supposedly built by a monk in the 1920s. The zoo had a collection of more than 10 types of animals and could well be the earliest zoo in the country.

The Air Itam wet market area is a hive of activity daily, especially because of the popular asam laksa stall there. The asam laksa is said to be the best in Malaysia.

According to the book, published by The Star in conjunction with its 30th anniversary, the animals included tigers and lions, which were kept in separate artificial caves.

The rest of the zoo was landscaped with Chinese-styled decorative bridges spanning fish and lily ponds.

However, the zoo closed down before the Japanese Occupation because it became too expensive to maintain.

Zoo Road is a link road off the Jalan Air Itam main road. A Penang blogger correctly described Zoo Road as extremely fragmented.

“It is not possible to drive from one end of Zoo Road to the other,” the blogger wrote.

“The northernmost portion runs from Jalan Air Itam to end at Sungai Air Itam. The middle portion of Zoo Road emerges in Kampung Melayu.

“It connects with Jalan Pisang Embun near Lintang Zoo, and continues to the junction with Jalan Kampung Pisang, where it once again disappears. Zoo Road re-emerges the third and final time in Farlim, between Solok Zoo 1 and Jalan Ru 1, to end at Lebuhraya Thean Teik.”

Growing up in Jalan Kampung Melayu, I used to ride my bicycle through the myriad roads and lanes.

The writer, as a young boy, posing on a car at his family home in Jalan Kampung Melayu, Air Itam, sometime in the 1960s.

Zoo Road is located two roads away from Jalan Kampung Melayu but I never knew there used to be a zoo there. It was set up by Fa Kong, a flamboyant monk. An inscription of Zen verses attributed to him can still be seen on the rock in the garden of the Kek Lok Si temple.

But the biggest story of old Air Itam — which got its name from the murky waters of the river that flowed through it, hitam or itam is Malay for black — was the big fire that razed the former rural village of attap huts and wooden houses to the ground in 1935.

The writer’s mother, Yeoh Poh Choo, watering plants at their home in Air Itam sometime in the 1960s.

According to Kwong Wah Jit Poh, the oldest existing Chinese daily in the country, the fire started at 1.25pm on Feb 3, which was Chinese New Year’s Day, when a gust of wind blew some burning incense papers onto the attap roof of a house opposite the police station.

By the time two fire engines arrived 45 minutes later, more than 100 homes were gutted, resulting in 1,000 people being made homeless and losses estimated at $200,000 (Straits Dollars) — certainly a huge loss at that time.

Only two buildings survived — a double-storey brick pawn shop and the small, wooden police station next to it.

Described as The Great Ayer Itam Fire, the many incidents of fire that plagued Penang and George Town since its founding in 1786 soon led to more fire-fighting brigades being formed and more equipment bought.

Water pressure in those early days was low and in one case, the firing of firecrackers “during a Chinese funeral ceremony almost led to the destruction of the Supreme Court and the Public Library in December 1916.”

According to the Straits Times issue of March 8, 1935, efforts to raise funds to help the victims through the Ayer Itam Relief Fund proved disappointing.

The fundraising activities included a football match between the Penang Chinese FA and Penang Mohammedan FC while Chinese tycoon Aw Boon Haw of Singapore donated $2,000.

Youth enjoying the swimming pool at the Eastern Garden Amusement Park in Ayer Itam in 1950. The popular park lost its lustre after several drowning incidents. — Pic taken from Glimpses of Penang

But the Straits Times reported in its April 18, 1948 issue that the fire in Ayer Itam had its good turn as a township of brick houses soon emerged with many people from George Town travelling to Ayer Itam — presumably at the present wet market — to shop on Sunday.

The population of Ayer Itam in 1947 was 13,468 people, according to the newspaper.

It reported that in the open market, “squirrels, puppies, turtles and monkeys fret in cages” were on display, adding an exotic touch to the place.

Penangites not familiar with the state’s history may be surprised at the existence of cinemas, amusement parks, clubs and even a zoo in old Penang. However, it has to be remembered that by the 1930s “more than 40 steamship lines connected Penang to the rest of the world, which make Penang one of the most important and busiest hubs in the region,” as one report said.

It was only natural that various kinds of entertainment could be found in Penang at that time, including cinemas, amusement parks and gambling establishments.

The Penang economy took a turn for the worse during the depression in the mid-19th century, but Air Itam continued to draw in local and foreign tourists because of the Kek Lok Si temple and Penang Hill.

But for Penangites like me, it is the popular asam laksa stall at the wet market, said to offer the best asam laksa in Malaysia, that pulls in the crowds.

I still make it a point to go back home to Jalan Kampung Melayu, where my parents still live, at least once a month. Air Itam, for me, is still home.

A part of state’s vibrant commercial district: Bishop Street, or Lebuh Bishop, as it is today.

BISHOP Street is today regarded as just another link road leading to busy Beach Street, which is part of the state’s vibrant financial and commercial district.

But unknown to many Penangites, there is a French connection here. The road is actually named in honour of Bishop Garnault, who escaped from Siam together with his congregation to escape religious persecution in southern Thailand in 1781.

Garnault was in fact ordered to leave Phuket and Ligor, two provinces in Siam, as the Thai kingdom was called then.

Link road: A view of Bishop Street in the 1970s.

An article in The Straits Times dated March 29, 1936, reported that Phya Tak, “a Chinese usurper of the Siam throne ordered the massacre of Christians.”

That was when Bishop Lebon and his two missionaries, Coude and Garnault, were asked to get out of the kingdom.

The Straits Times report stated that when Garnault landed in Kedah, he sought an audience with the Sultan of Kedah and was generously offered a huge house as a place of
worship with. A Portugese captain and a French captain were witnesses to the royal donation.

The Toulouse-born Garnault — whose full name is Arnaud-Antoine Garnault — was an exceptionally bright man. He not only learned to speak Malay but also took the trouble to teach others the language, according according to a Alliance Francaise online site.

A history board of Bishop Street offers an overview of its French influence.

In fact, he reportedly built a Malay school in Church Street, which was then a stretch of mangrove swamp.

Despite his bad experiences in Siam, Garnault eventually returned to Siam where he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Siam in 1811.

According to Penang writer and historian Khoo Salma Nasution, Garnault’s journey into Penang came about when he had to leave Kuala Kedah, where he had joined another 80 Catholics of Portuguese descent, some from Siam and others who had fled Malacca, after the Dutch takeover.

He met up with Captain Francis Light in Kuala Kedah and asked him for permission to relocate the Catholic Mission to Penang.

According to Khoo, Light remembered the request.

“Immediately after taking possession of the island, Light sent his ship Speedwell to fetch the Eurasians from Kedah,” Khoo wrote.

“The first Catholic Church was built on Church Street and the Presbytery of Bishop Garnault on the adjacent Bishop Street.”

Spreading the word of God: The Church of Assumption on Farquhar Street was built by Father Garnault in 1860.

According to another version of the same events by Dr Anthony E. Sibert of the Penang Eurasian Association, the Catholics who fled Siam and were picked up by Light’s ship landed in Penang on Aug 15, 1786, a date that is known to Catholics as the Feast of the Assumption.

“Father Garnault built the first church, named Church of the Assumption, on Church Street. This primitive church was built on timber and roofed with attap,” he wrote, adding that in 1860, the Church of Assumption was built at Farquhar Street.

Later on in 1852, the then Bishop of the French Mission invited the renowned La Salle teaching Order of the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus to take over the parish schools in Penang, wrote Dr Sibert.

It was also the French mission that revived and built the College General to train priests for the Catholic churches throughout Asia. Its teaching staff consisted of many French priests, including Laurent Joseph Marius Imbert, who was beheaded in Korea, because of his faith.

In his research paper, Early Catholic Church, La Salle Education and the Penang Story, Sibert wrote that “1932 records indicate that of the seminary students and professors from the College, 51 have been martyred for their faith and of these, eight have since been beatified as Saints of the Catholic church, and all are from Pulau Tikus, Penang.”

Training priests: A facade of College General’s first site in Pulau Tikus. It remained there for 176 years before moving to Mariophile in Tanjung Bungah in 1984.

The more than 200-year-old College General, which was located at Pulau Tikus, is now at Tanjung Bungah.

Interestingly enough, while it was Light that brought Garnault into Penang, relations between the two men were, however, not pleasant.

“When the priest left in 1787, Francis Light wrote to Bengal for a replacement, stating that a Portuguese padre would be better than a French, the latter being too great politicians,” Khoo wrote.

One posting in Wikipedia claimed that in November 1786, Francis Light wrote to one John Fergusson, stating that “Our inhabitants increase very fast — Chooliars, Chinese, and Christians; they are already disputing about ground, every one building as fast as they can.

“The French Padre from Quedda (Kedah) has erected his cross here, and in two months more, it will never be believed that this place was never before inhabited.”

Another report that showed the French connection in the early days of Penang has it that “Monsignor Jean-Baptiste Boucho (who arrived in 1824) of the Paris Foreign Missions, with an allowance of a hundred Piastres a month from Governor Fullerton, moved the school from the church compound to a brick house he had constructed, turned it into an English-medium school for boys in 1825 and renamed it the Catholic Free School.

“On 20 April 1852, St Francis Xavier’s Free School, as it was known as then, and its 80 pupils came under the management of the De La Salle Brotherhood under the responsibility of two French Brothers, Lothaire-Marie Combes and Venere Chapuit and one American Brother, Jerome.”

It has been pointed out that the Sisters of the Infant Jesus, previously also referred to as Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus or Les Dames de Saint-Maur, is a Roman Catholic Missionary order. It was founded in 1666 by Father Nicolas Barré, a Minim priest, for the gratuitous instruction of poor girls.

Rich in history: Convent Light Street, which is today located on Light Street, is said to be founded by three French nuns in October 1852.

The Convent Light Street or the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus was also set up by a French Sisters Mission in 1852. One report said that in October 1852, four French nuns were sent to the East and after a long and perilous journey when one of them died on the way, they arrived in Penang.

The official history of the Convent Light Street indicates that it was founded by three French nuns — Sister Gaetau, Sister Appolinaire and Sister Gregoire.

Writing this series on Penang streets has been a learning experience for me as I have had to dig into the archives and scour through different reports to get more information.

However, each time an article appears, I will also get feedback from readers who are able to point out any factual error and to shed even more light on my recollections.

For many years, Bishop Street was just another street where I look for my nasi kandar and to meet up with friends.

But now, I see this street in a different perspective and I hope the Penangites especially will appreciate how the French contributed much to Penang as well.

The newly refurbished church in Farquhar Street is one of the country’s 50 national treasures.

IT IS easily the most beautiful church in Penang but more than that, St George’s Church, which was built in 1816, is the oldest Anglican church in South-East Asia.

Not surprisingly, the church, located on Farquhar Street, has been declared one of the 50 national treasures of Malaysia by the Government.

The landmark church was completed in 1818 on the initiative of the Penang Colonial Chaplain Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings, more popularly known as the founder of the Penang Free School.

Much has been written about Hutchings but there is another name associated with the church that is not so common — Rev Louis Coutier Biggs, of which Biggs Road is named after.

Biggs Road is a relatively unknown tree-lined road in the Ayer Rajah/Pulau Tikus area, which runs from Cantonment Road on one end to Park Road on the other.

Landmark: A photo of St George’s Church taken sometime between the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Biggs is virtually unknown today even to Penangites, which is quite sad considering the unwritten legacy he had left behind.

Biggs and his wife, Katherine, were missionaries of the St George’s Anglican Church, who had the honour of founding the St George’s Girls School.

In 1886, he also founded the St Paul’s Church, formerly known as the St George’s Church Chinese Mission, which is located on Macalister Road.

The newly refurbished St George’s Church in Farquhar Street. 30 April 2011

Biggs was a man of distinction, graduating at Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1863 and a Master’s degree in 1866. He was already an ordered deacon in 1864 and ordained a priest in 1865.

He was the Colonial Chaplain of Penang from 1885 to 1897.

Their contributions to church and education are thankfully well-recorded in Penang.

According to reports, the St George’s Girls’ School, now located on Macalister Road, was started on Farquhar Street at their home called “The Manse”.

It was here that Mrs Biggs taught for a year before a formal school was set up and named after St George, the patron saint of England, who is often pictured slaying a red dragon.

Edwardian architecture: The former St George’s Girls’ School in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah. — Picture taken from ‘Giving Our Best: The Story of St George’s Girls’ School, Penang, 1885-2010’.

St George was often used throughout the British Empire for schools and churches established by Anglican missionaries.

In Penang, it is reported that in the early days of St George’s Girls’ Schools, the pupils mostly come from well-to-do families.

“They often come to class on trishaws, shielded from public view by a curtain, ferried right up to the school entrance.

“In that Victorian age, it was considered indecent for unmarried ladies — especially those of well-to-do families — to be seen in public,” one report said.

Sun Yat Sen’s daughters, Sun Yan (right) and Sun Wan, studied in St George’s in 1911. — Photos taken from ‘Giving Our Best: The Story of St George’s Girls’ School, Penang, 1885-2010.

The school population expanded and it was relocated to its present premises in 1954.

The school has produced famous personalities such as Raja Permaisuri Tuanku Bainun, Wanita Umno leader Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, playwright Datuk Faridah Merican, conductor Datuk Ooi Chean See, historian-writer Khoo Salma Nasution, athlete-sports psychologist Zaiton Othman, journalist-actor Fatimah Abu Bakar and former DAP women’s wing chief Dr Oon Hong Geok.

“Former students included the daughters of Dr Sun Yat Sen, the founder of the Republic of China — Sun Yan and Sun Wan,” according to Giving Our Best: The Story of St George’s Girls’ School, jointly written by Khoo Salma Nasution, Alison Hayes and Sehra Yeap Zimbulis.

The Sun girls stayed in Penang from September 1910 to February 1912, and attended St George’s in 1911. “Here, they spent precious time with their father, who was usually away making revolution,” they wrote.