Not where it all began: The Hong Kong Shoe Store at 177, Muntri Street.

THERE is still no street named in honour of one of Malaysia’s global brands, Datuk Jimmy Choo, but there is a road in Penang that bears special significance to this international icon – Muntri Street.

The only catch is that Penang has got it wrong.

Well-intentioned bloggers and writers have credited a little shop at the corner of Muntri Street and Leith Street as the place where Choo started out as an apprentice.

In fact, a steel-rod sculpture has been erected to mark Choo’s supposedly humble beginnings. The sculpture is based on the caricature of local cartoonist Baba Chuah.

In an interview with Choo, he told this writer that he did not begin his career at 177, Muntri Street which is the address of the Hong Kong Shoe Store.

“The confusion may have started when I spoke at a dinner and made references to many local shoemakers as my sifu or teachers.

International icon: Choo spent much of his childhood days in Muntri Street, Love Lane, Penang Road and Hutton Lane.

“If you are familiar with the Cantonese dialect, we often show our respect and admiration for these older master shoemakers with such salutations,” he said.

Choo revealed that it was his Hakka father who taught him the trade.

But Choo spent much of his childhood days in that area comprising Muntri Street, Love Lane, Penang Road and Hutton Lane.

“I grew up in Hutton Lane. I remember our family shifted home a few times but Hutton Lane was the last stop. My father, Choo Kee Yin, also had a shop in Penang Road, which is the main road,” he added.

It has been widely reported that Choo — or Choo Yeang Keat — made his first pair of shoes at the age of 11, with the help of his dad.

His Chinese name in Pin Yin is spelt Zhou Yang Jie, similar to former Chinese premier Zhou En Lai, Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-Fat and Taiwanese singer Jay Chou — but his name was misspelt on his birth certificate, which was common in the 1950s and 1960s.

Colourful street: Modern-day Muntri Street in George Town, Penang.

From his humble beginnings in Penang, Choo eventually moved to London to pursue his studies. The rest, as they say, is history.

He graduated from Cordwainers Technical College in 1983, making himself one of the most famous alumnus. The college is now part of the London College of Fashion under the University of Arts, London.

I have had the fortune of having Choo as a friend and also guardian to my daughter, Su Qin, when she was studying in the UK.

Despite his busy schedule of travelling and attending many of his engagements, he always had time for my daughter and to see to her needs.

Choo, in fact, has never turned down any request for help from many Malaysians who visit London. That is his hallmark – being humble and helpful.

Both Choo and I were born in 1961. He studied at Shih Chung Primary School in Love Lane while I was schooled at St Xavier’s Institution, just down the road.

Made-over building: Some of the old homes in Muntri Street have been turned into lovely boutique hotels, including the Muntri Mews (above).

Love Lane, Muntri Street and the surrounding streets were home to the humble working class, in contrast to the old days when the upper class, the politicians and rich Chinese merchants lived there.

There used to be horse stables in the homes of people who lived in Muntri Street while the powerful guilds and associations set up their premises there.

According to Khoo Su Nin in Streets of George Town, “there is a theory that Muntri Street was named after the famous Muntri of Larut, Ngah Ibrahim, the son of Long Jaafar.”

Long Jaffar was the chieftain in Larut (Taiping) who was authorised by the Sultan of Perak to govern Larut. As our history books were to record, Long Jaafar was implicated in the murder of the first British Resident in Perak, JWW Birch, and was sent into exile in the Seychelles in 1877.

Another theory, according to a history blog, is that Muntri actually referred to high-ranking colonial officials living in Leith Street and Muntri Street.

For me, Muntri Street was my school’s side entrance. During my time, there were students who managed to cut a small hole along the fence, allowing latecomers to squeeze into the school and also for those who needed to leave the school’s premises before the bell rang for dismissal!

But Muntri Street has plenty of history and heritage. Some of the old homes have been turned into lovely boutique hotels.

The famous one has to be the Muntri Mews which has been redone by renowned hotelier Christoper Ong.

During my childhood days, the row of former horse stables – which is part of the hotel now — were actually lived in by poor families!

Many of the amahs — live-in maids who wore black pants and white tops — used to be a common sight there. Mostly Cantonese, they migrated to Malaya in the 1930s to work in the homes of rich Chinese and Europeans.

Most never got to marry, sacrificing their youths, living a frugal live, remitting their earnings to their poor peasant families in China and most never returned home to reunite with their loved ones.

The Lam Wah Ee Hospital, founded in 1883, which is now located in Batu Lanchang Road, began along Muntri Street where it served the poor, especially those seeking Chinese medical treatment.

Then there were the many Cantonese-based associations, where kung fu and lion dance classes were conducted, bringing in much excitement as the students practised.

There is also the Ta Kam Hong, or Goldsmiths’ Association, founded in 1832, which is the oldest and largest association of goldsmiths in Malaysia, according to Khoo.

“The present guild temple was built in 1903 and dedicated to Wu Ching, the patron diety of goldsmiths,” she wrote.

The King Wan Association is also the first union of Chinese shopkeepers and clerical workers in Penang, which was founded
in 1923 to fight for non-working Sundays and better salaries,
Khoo added.

Muntri Street, located within the heritage area, has a passionate story of people who struggled in their lives. As the name of the road implies, some made it big and famous, while others had to toil, but it is rich with history, for sure.

But it is also time for the Penang state government to honour Jimmy Choo with a road named after him. There has been only one Jimmy Choo after over 50 years of independence, surely a huge icon Penang must be proud of.

Oldest church: Penang's first independent English newspaper, the Pinang Argus, was published from 1867 to 1873 and named after Argus Lane which was just behind the Cathedral of the Assumption (pictured).

PENANGITES are known to be outspoken, fiercely independent-minded, and highly liberal. It comes as no surprise that the state was where many non-governmental organisations had their origins, long before civil society became the fashionable political term it is today.

Penang is also where the country’s earliest newspapers were founded and has produced some of the most prominent activists and writers. As one of the earliest British settlements in the region, Penang has the distinction of producing the first English newspaper in the country.

According to historian Geoff Wade, the Prince of Wales Island Government Gazette published its first issue in 1806 and was published continually until the early 1830s.

“The period over which the newspaper was produced saw great change in Penang and more broadly in the peninsula, and The Gazette was one of the few public records of these changes. By providing a public medium for the exchange of information and ideas, the newspaper also brought new knowledge systems and new ways of knowing to a range of people within the society, albeit an elite, and thus must be seen as a major element in the introduction of modernity to the peninsula.

First issue: The Star launched its first issue on Sept 9, 1971.

“The contents of this journal, and the interests and concerns expressed, provide us with a valuable source for examining various phenomena of early 19th century Malaya and particularly the important entrepôt that was Penang.

“These range from the concerns of the East India Company administrators as seen through their public announcements and orders, the economic bases of the society observed through shipping news, price current lists and auctions of the revenue farms, and social clashes noted through the crime reports,” he wrote.

According to Boon Raymond, the Gazette was not a government publication but a private initiative led by one Andrew Burchet Bone or A.B. Bone.

“Mr Bone had been a printer in India and brought his skills to Penang where he began to utilise his Indian experience. Mr Bone was also engaged in a business partnership with a Mr Court, and their firm “Court and Bone” was one of the major auctioneers in Penang in the first decades of the 19th century, frequently advertising on the front page of the Prince of Wales Island Government Gazette, the name which the newspaper adopted on 7 June 1806.

“This title was subsequently shortened to Prince of Wales Island Gazette (PWIG) in October 1807.”

There were also other firsts – the state’s first independent English newspaper, The Pinang Argus, was published from 1867 to 1873. According to Khoo Su Nin’s Streets of Georgetown, it was at Argus House located at Argus Lane that the newspaper came into being, hence its name.

First editor: Choong was the founding editor of The Star when it opened its doors in 1971.

This was where the state’s earliest Eurasian Catholic settlement was set up.

Despite its historical significance, there are no indications of the building today.

Argus Lane is located off Love Lane near where the 160-year-old Cathedral of the Assumption, which is the oldest church in Penang, is located.

As a student of St Xavier’s Institution, I had spent much time in the area and would go often to the church to pray for divine intervention as I faced the many examinations which still give me the occasional nightmares in my adult life until now. Some of my Eurasian friends and school mates also lived at Argus Lane. Penang is truly the place where the printer’s ink flowed freely.

From 1806, when the Gazette came into being, right up to the 1970s, there were 27 English newspapers published, according to Boon.

They included the Pinang Register and Miscellany, Government Gazette of Prince of Wales’s Island, Singapore and Malacca, The Pinang Gazette, Daily Bulletin, Indo-Chinese Patriot, Eastern Courier, Malayan Ceylonese Chronicle and the Straits Echo.

First English paper: The Prince of Wales Island Gazette was first published in a house somewhere along Argus Lane in 1807.

Within walking distance from Argus Lane is 120, Armenian Street – the birthplace of the world’s oldest surviving Chinese newspaper, the Kwong Wah Yit Poh, since 1910.

The daily was founded on Dec 20, 1910 and masthead in use today was a calligraphy personally written by Dr Sun.

It was during his exile in Penang, as a Penang tourism website rightly puts it, “that history was shaped here – right in the humble rooms of this double-storey shop house where China’s first elected provisional president, Dr Sun Yat Sen held important meetings that helped change the face of China’s political and social structure.

“It was here — the Nanyang headquarters of the South-East Asia T’ung Meng Hui (a revolutionary party led by Dr Sun before China became a republic) that the great leader of the Chinese nationalist revolution held the momentous “Penang Meeting”.

“Held on the 12th day of the 10th lunar month in 1910, the meeting saw members of the T’ung Meng Hui planned the Canton Uprising in 1911 that eventually led to China becoming a republic in 1912.”

Any article on Penang newspapers would be incomplete without the mention of The Straits Echo, which was one of the oldest newspapers in Malaysia.

The Echo, which began in 1903, had a most illustrious history until it officially closed down in 1986.

First office: Members of a chingay team demonstrating their skill with the Star flag outside the newspaper’s offices in Weld Quay, Penang where the newspaper was launched in 1971.

Some of my colleagues actually cut their teeth in journalism at this newspaper, which was renamed The National Echo when it became a tabloid and went national in the early 1980s.

Even after going national, the fight between The Echo and The Star was in Penang, with both championing their Penang roots. There was no love lost between the two newspapers and one of the most interesting battles was to bring out their street editions first.

The early history of the newspapers in Penang has been well-documented by two of The Echo’s editors – Manocasothy Saravanamuttu in The Sara Saga and by George Bilainkin in Hail Penang! Both books are published by Areca Books. In her review, Kirsty Walker wrote that: “The Sara Saga and Hail Penang! are autobiographical accounts written by journalists who both served, at different times, as editor of the Penang-based newspaper – Straits Echo – during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.

“Through witty anecdotes, Manicasothy Saravanamuttu and George Bilainkin related their experiences and encounters in early 20th century Penang.

“As journalists, they were able to observe many of the key moments that shaped Malaysia’s history. Through their eyes, the reader gains access to the intimate workings of Penang’s interwar colonial society, the horrors of the Japanese occupation, and later, the rapid changes brought about by Malaysian independence.”

And of course, we have The Star, which was founded in Penang by KS Choong, which hit the streets on Sept 9, 1971, from its original seafront office in Weld Quay, it moved on to Pitt Street or Jalan Kapitan Keling where it grew from strength to strength to what it is today — the country’s biggest English daily.

According to a news report quoting then news editor K. Sugumaran, Sept 9 was the birthday of the founding editor Choong. Some of the biggest and best journalists in Malaysia who started in that tiny office in Weld Quay included Sugu, M. Menon, Khoo Kay Peng and Charles Chan.

Interestingly enough, Choong later went over to The Echo when it switched from broadsheet to tabloid to fight the paper he founded.

As a student of history and a history buff, I am glad that I am in a profession where I have a ringside seat to witness and record history as it happens. These are magical moments indeed.

Place frequented by legends: It is widely known and reported that it is at this padang where some of the greatest Malaysian footballers used to train and play in the 1960s and 1970s

DATO Keramat Road is not part of the George Town heritage area but it is surely one of the most important and recognisable main roads on the island.

Depending on which direction you come from, the road begins from the heart of the city centre and ends at Air Itam.

It is a busy road but not many Penangites today are familiar with its history.

The word “keramat” usually refers to a shrine dedicated to a holy man or ascetic of the Muslim faith.

It is said that there was once a Muslim settlement in the area, and the link probably refers to Kampung Makam, a Malay village located along Dato Keramat Road.

Kampung Makam, which has existed since around 1840, began as an Acheenese settlement founded by a religious teacher named Haji Kassim.

Despite the ongoing development, the village has retained its kampung-like ambience in the heart of the city.

Brown Memorial: This memorial was erected in memory of David Brown, who donated the land on which Padang Brown is located.

According to Timothy Tye, who blogs on streets of Penang, at one time, the people could travel to the settlement by sampans along Sungai Pinang.

“At that time, it was known as Pengkalan Haji Kassim, after the pier built by Haji Kassim for sampans to berth at the settlement. Haji Kassim also built the village mosque, now known as Masjid Haji Kassim,” Tye wrote.

“It is still in existence today, and is accessed from Jalan Datuk Keramat. The village was only renamed Kampung Makam after the demise of Haji Kassim, as it then began to be referred after the mausoleum or makam of Haji Kassim.”

Driving along the main road, one is unlikely to see the significance of this urban village, which has managed to keep its charm and identity.

There used to be a cinema located next to the turnoff to Kampung Makam. This was the Federal cinema where I spent much time with my only Chinese-educated brother, Wong Chun Sang, watching countless Hong Kong sword-fighting movies produced by Shaw Brothers.

It is now home to the Federal Place Chinese Restaurant but in the 1970s, come every Sunday, my brother would take me on his motorcycle to Federal cinema.

It was here that I entered into the amazing world of flying swordsmen with the likes of Wang Yu, David Chiang, Ti Lung, Chen Kuan Tai, Fu Sheng and Lo Lieh.

I was then in primary school, and like the rest of the world, I was also swept away by the movies of another legendary martial arts exponent — Bruce Lee with his unique kung fu skills.

Now, going to the cinema means having popcorn and carbonated drinks but in those days, at the Federal, for example, we could have either lok lok (small bits of food on skewers), steamed groundnuts, sotong bakar (grilled squid) or sweet barbecued meat buns.

Outside every cinema, there will always be an Indian man with his tray of salted peanuts and yellow kacang putih.

In some cinemas, a woman would walk along the aisle, selling ice cream in the dark while the movie was in progress.

Source of entertainment: The Federal cinema used to be located next to the turnoff to Kampung Makam.

One item which the cinema-going generation of those days will surely remember is the kuaci or sunflower seeds. Of course, cinema-goers were not particularly civic-conscious those days and sweepers had to come in between the showings to clean up.

Another iconic building in the area is the 78-year-old Convent Datuk Keramat, which was founded by Rev Mother Tarcisius.

According to a blog posting, the CDK, as it is popularly known, was founded on Jan 14, 1935 by Tarcisius, who arrived in Malaya in 1904 from England. She believed that education should not be limited to English only but should be provided according to the needs of the society.

It is at CDK that my wife, Florence, studied for 12 years, where she excelled in sport and represented the school as well as the state in athletics.

Just opposite the school is Padang Brown, as it is known to older Penangites, but is now known as Padang Dato Kramat.

It is widely known and reported that it is at this padang where some of the greatest Malaysian football legends used to train and play in the 1960s and 1970s.

They included the Bakar brothers — Ali and Isa, Shukor Salleh, Mohamad Bakar, Desmond David (the father of Nicole David) and the Abdullah brothers, Namat and Shaharuddin.

The padang was also famous for a unique game where bets were placed for anyone to shoot at goal. However, the winner was not the one who shot into the goal, but the one who could hit the goal posts.

Just down the padang is the City Stadium, built in 1956 by the British government, and was known for its “Keramat Roar.”

Significant landmark: Dr Sun Yat Sen’s residence in Penang. His family used to live here when he was in exile in Penang in 1910. — Khoo Salma Nasution’s Sun Yat Sen in Penang.

“The land on which Padang Brown is located was donated by David Brown, one of the wealthiest landowners in Penang. A Scot from Edinburgh, Brown came to Penang in the early 19th century to join his fellow countryman, James Scott, who was the trading partner to Francis Light,” wrote Tye.

“After Light’s death, his business passed into Scott’s hands, and in turn the businesses passed to Scott’s junior partner, David Brown. Brown eventually became one of the wealthiest person in Penang as well as the largest landowner, with plantations and estates throughout the island.”

To Penangites, it is the hawker centre next to the field that matters most. They probably have no idea of the Brown Memorial, erected in his memory, at the hawker centre.

The hawker centre is divided between the halal and non-halal sections.

The Penang-styled poh piah, with its generous wrapping of crab meat and roe, is certainly the best in the state, if not Malaysia. Here you can also have the Penang-styled yong tau foo, Chinese pasembor and ais kacang. The Padang Brown hawker centre remains one of my all-time favourite eating spots in the state.

If you wish to try one of the better known char koay teow in Penang, then just look for Ah Leng’s stall at Café Khoon Hiang opposite Federal Place, which opens in the morning until late afternoon.

Another important historic fact about Dato Keramat Road is that the Father of Modern China and the First President of the Republic of China, Dr Sun Yat Sen, and his family, used to stay there when he was exile in Penang in 1910.

Until the 1970s, the house still existed and I would pass by this derelict home each time I travelled home on the bus.

It never occurred to me the significance of the house as it was never given the attention that it deserves.

According to Khoo Salma Nasution, in her book, Sun Yat Sen in Penang, Dr Sun, together with his first wife Madam Lu Muzhen and two daughters, Sun Yan and Sun Wan, lived there. The girls attended school at nearby St George’s Girls School. His second wife, Chen Cuifen, would to join him in Penang later.

“When Dr Sun’s family was living in Penang, they could not even afford to pay their monthly house rent of $20. The Penang supporters discussed Dr Sun’s situation and undertook to provide his family with $120 and $130 each month for their living expenses,” she wrote.

Dr Sun would take a third wife, Soong Qingling, in his later life. May Ling, the youngest sister, married the late Chiang Kai Shek, the president of Taiwan, and eldest sister, Ai Ling, married HH Kung, one of the richest men in China then.

Who would have imagined that a simple main road in Penang would have such great stories, involving so many giant personalities, to tell? Hopefully from now, as we pass through this busy thoroughfare, we will give some thoughts to these people.

Big complex: There are nine blocks spread over 16.7ha with 3,888 units

THE Rifle Range Flats is one of the most densely populated areas in Penang.

Penangites can tell you if you choose to park your car near the flats in the evening, the chances of your car being blocked by other cars is almost 100%.

The likelihood is that the unsuspecting motorist would never be able to get his stuck vehicle out.

The best way would be to return in the morning when the other cars have left.

That’s how sardine-packed the area is.

The almost non-existent parking bays at the flats is simply because the architects of the country’s first high-rise, low cost flats never imagined that the dwellers would be able to afford a car as low-wage earners.

They probably never believed that the living standards of Penangites living at the mostly single-room flats, would improve.

According to blogger Lim Thian Leong, there are nine blocks of 17-storey buildings within an area of 16.7ha, with every floor consisting of 20 units of single bedrooms and four two bedroom units.

With a total of 3,888 units within the flats, the average size of a unit is merely 340 sq ft!

It is not unusual for the rest of the family members to sleep in the living room while the parents take up the only room in the flat.

Because of its high density, the flats remain a politician’s delight, or nightmare, depending on the crowds you can command come election time.

Almost all the big guns (pun intended) show up at Rifle Range during the last leg of the campaign.

Rifle Range Road or Jalan Padang Tembak is one of the main roads connecting Air Itam and George Town.

Popularly known as pak cheng poh, in Hokkein, is so named because the area used to be a shooting range, according to writer-photographer Timothy Lye.

“It was once an open space used as a shooting range by the police and the military.

“The namesake shooting range located next to the Batu Gantong Cemetery made way for the low-cost flats,” he wrote.

The flats were built by the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu when the then opposition Gerakan party swept into power in 1969.

Through the Penang Development Corporation, the Rifle Range flats, designed by a German firm, was built.

Faced with the problems of housing needs for the poor, more flats were then constructed in other areas.

When he took over Penang, unemployment was running at 16% but he created plenty of jobs through the setting up of the Penang Free Trade Zone in Bayan Lepas.

But according to Farouk Gulsara, in his blog posting, in 1964, the national Ministry of Housing and Local Government had already identified two pilot projects in order to try out the industrialised building or prefabrication system (known as IBS).

The first of these projects was in Kuala Lumpur along Jalan Tun Razak (Jalan Pekeliling).

The second pilot project was set in Penang, consisting the construction of six blocks of 17-storey flats and three blocks of 18-storey flats comprising 3,699 units and 66 shop lots along Rifle Range Road.

“The project in Penang was awarded to Hochtief/Chee Seng using the French Estiot System and took 27 months to complete, inclusive of the time taken in setting up the precast factories.

“When Rifle Range Flats were completed in the early 1970s, they were the tallest buildings in Penang.

“None of the units were big ‑ on average they were approximately 36 sq m for intermediate one bedroom units and 38.7 sq m. for two bedroom end units.

“Nonetheless, they provided housing for many hardcore poor. “

The Rifle Range Flats area where Dr Lim chose as a site for the construction of the buildings was not the more preferred choice for residence.

Located next to the Batu Gantong cemetery, it is said that the ground where the flats now stands used to be the burial plot for the mass burying of those massacred by the Japanese during the Occupation.

As a child growing up in nearby Jalan Kampung Melayu, I used to cycle to the flats to meet up with friends.

Even in the late 1970s, there were still cow herds along Boundary Road, which I had to cycle past to reach Rifle Range.

News reports of residents jumping to their death, or more precisely, committing suicide, were regular and when I finally joined The Star as a reporter in the 1980s, the suicides still did not stop, with residents often bringing up stories of those who were buried underneath!

The suicides there were the subject of a book by anthropologist Jean Elizabeth De Bernardi The Way That Lives in the Hearts: Chinese Popular Spirits and Mediums where a medium purportedly claimed that the spirits had to take away 16 lives although at the time of research, there were already 20 victims.

Her cynical research assistant concluded that it was more likely that the victims had taken their lives because they had no work or money.

But less talked about is actually the large number of hawkers and coffeeshops, located at the ground floors of the flats.

There is also a wet market nearby.

As a child, my brother Wong Chun Fong, and I would to go the market every Saturday morning to buy the economy fried bee hoon and the Penang style pan cake, ban chang kuih, made from flour and sprinkled with sugar and groundnuts.

Nothing much has really changed in Rifle Range Flats today.

There would likely be new occupants, as those who have fared better in their lives moved out.

It has remained crowded with a host of social problems from drugs, thefts to gangsterism but the majority of the people are law-abiding, helpful and friendly people.

Despite the density of the area, Rifle Range has remained home to thousands and thousands of Penangites.

In remembrance: A residential neighbourhood, located just next to the school, has been rightly named Taman David Chen in his honour.

THE screaming headline on the front page of The Straits Times on Feb 5, 1952 was “Gunman Kills Principal of Chung Ling”.

It was no ordinary murder because the victim in question was David Chen Chong Ern, the principal of the country’s biggest and most famous Chinese school, the Chung Ling High School.

Chen, who hailed from Suzhou, China, and a graduate of the prestigious University of Nanking, was at that time also the president of the Federation of Chinese Teachers Association.

He was shot dead at Macalister Road in front of the Penang Chinese School Teachers Association, where he was about to chair a meeting.

The assailant shot Chen in the head before he could even alight from his car with his other colleagues.

Shocking: The  article on Chen’smurder published in The Straits Times on Feb 5, 1952. — News clipping image from The Straits Times/Asia News Network

Chen had travelled to Malaya in 1930 to join Chung Ling High School, founded by supporters of the Kuomintang party, but his anti-communist views irked members of the Communist Party of Malaya, especially his stand in education.

In his dissertation, “Chinese-ness in Malaysian Chinese Education Discourse: The Case of Chung Ling High School”, Jin Pei Goh wrote that the school was influenced by the Chinese nationalist movement in China.

The fate of the school, the academician wrote, was connected to the turbulent years of the Sino-Japanese war, the Chinese civil war in 1927-1945 and the formation of the People’s Republic of China.

During the troubled years of the Emergency, Chen was the third Chung Ling teacher to be killed.

In 1949, a teacher, Boey Eng Eng, was shot dead in front of his house at Kek Chuan Lane, off Chulia Street and in 1951, Chan Chong Yuk, who was the school’s acting principal, was killed on his way to his Kampong Kolam home.

Those were the years of living dangerously, where Chinese community leaders, teachers and police officers who were deemed to go against the CPM were high on the hit list.

In the case of Chen, there are those who believed in the conspiracy theory that the British intelligence service was responsible for his murder. Apparently, they were uncomfortable with his push for Chinese education while the British preferred the mission schools, where English was the medium of instruction.

A year after Chen’s killing, two persons were charged for his murder. They were Lee Khuan Koa and Chan Kwong Siew, both 22 years old, but ironically, the news was just a filler or a simple short news story on page 4.

In 1954, The Straits Times reported on a ceremony that was held to commemorate the assassination of Chen.

Tribute to teachers: The memorial is to commemorate the death of former teachers and students of CLHS who were killed during the Japanese Occupation in Malaya for sending monetary and other contributions to China during Japan’s all-out invasion against China in 1937

In the article, it reported that three men were involved in the shooting. One was said to have committed suicide when cornered, another “fatally wounded trying to avoid recapture after a gaol break” and the third man convicted in Malacca in 1953 and hanged.

According to an article written by Timothy Tye of Penang Travel Tips, Chung Ling School, as it was originally known, was founded by supporters of Chinese nationalist Dr Sun Yat Sen, among them Tan Sin Cheng, Khoo Beng Cheang, Chu Yeo Aik, Khaw Seng Lee and Lim Joo Teik.

The school, he wrote, was originally located at 18, Malay Street and in 1918, Chung Ling School moved to occupy 65, Macalister Road, which was the Penang Philomatic Union and is today the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall housing the Penang Sun Yat Sen Centre.

Chung Ling School, which has produced some of the best Malaysian personalities today, finally settled at its present location in Jalan Air Itam in 1923.

The school was once a hotbed of activism against the Japanese during the Occupation, where the idealistic teachers and students suffered harsh treatment from the Japanese forces for their refusal to switch from Chinese to Japanese studies.

During the difficult years, many were executed. They paid a heavy price for their patriotism, buoyed by the events in China.

In fact, Chen, who helmed the school for 20 years, escaped to Cameron Highlands where he posed as a vegetable farmer.

Today, the school has continued to be in the limelight for producing top scorers in public examinations.

Great contributor: A painting ofChen that is featured in Chung Ling High School’s magazine.

It has produced some of the best known alumni including former Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, former Senate president Tan Sri Michael Chen, former Nanyang University vice-chancellor Dr Wu Teh Yao, former Singapore minister Lee Khoon Choy and controversial financier Jho Low.

A residential neighbourhood, located just next to the school, has been rightly named Taman David Chen in his honour.

Chen is likely to be known by students of the school but he is non-existent in the history books on Penang. For the English-educated, he is also likely to be an unfamiliar name.

But Chen surely deserves a place in the history of Penang for his contributions of over two decades to one of the best schools in the region.

For all the complexities of the school’s history and its teachers, Taman David Chen is known among foodies for a simple dish – its popular “economy fried bee hoon” – which attracts large crowds to the stall every morning.

The stall is located just opposite the Kampung Baru wet market and is known to most residents in Air Itam.

Further down the road is my family home, in Jalan Kampung Melayu, off the main thoroughfare of Jalan Air Itam.

Readers Write

L.L. Loh-Lim and L. Loh write: Thank you for your article on Cheong Fatt Tze last week. It was much appreciated. In particular, we appreciate your comments that this legendary figure in the early development of Penang — and indeed of the region — has been entirely left out of our history books.

His stunning philantrophy and critical contributions and visions in the development of the state have had scant official acknowledgement. Except for Jalan Cheong Fatt Tze, removed in the development of Komtar and hastily replaced with Carnavon Street when the Teoh Kongsi pressured the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP), no one has ever highlighted the significance of the man, before the restoration of his home in Leith Street.

Besides building the first Chinese school in South-East Asia in Penang and helping Sun Yat Sen overthrow the Manchus, Cheong Fatt Tze aka Chang Pi-Shih aka Thio Tiaw Siat donated extensively to schools, hospitals, temples and all worthy charities of the day.

Among other things, he was:

●the main donor of the Kek Lok Si (where his larger-than-life statue sits in a room apart from the statues of the lesser donors);

● one of the main donors of the Penang Free School (the donors plaque is on the wall of the current State Museum);

● the main donor of the King Edward Memorial Hospital for destitute women, setting up a trust for the premises, to be used by non-profit
organisations (currently also being used by the State Museum in Macalister Road);

● the founder of the Teoh Kongsi; and

● Vice-Consul for China in Penang and Consul-General in Singapore

In 1916, British and Dutch authorities had ordered flags to be flown at half mast on the death of this exemplar of hard work and vision, and yet, like you, we students of St Xavier’s were given neither knowledge of the man nor the mansion in Leith Street.

It was reputed to be his favourite home because it was where his favourite wife No. 7 resided and where his last son was born when he
was aged 74.

In 1989, the mansion came on the market upon the death of this son.

Tourist attraction: Cheong was the main donor to the Kek Lok Si Temple

 

Potential buyers were all developers, and conservation consciousness as well as regulations were non-existent. The Mansion was certainly in danger of demolition followed by some minor fine and slap on the wrist for the perpetrator.

Perhaps the spirit of Cheong Fatt Tze sought out protectors? It was certainly against public opinion of the day to conserve on such valuable land and to undertake a restoration of international best practice standards.

We are very gratified that today, the Blue Mansion (testifying to its original indigo colour) is acknowledged as among the 10 greatest mansions in the world (Lonely Planet 2011).

It has set benchmark standards of conservation, having won Unesco’s Most Excellent Project Award in 2000 and most importantly, it has bought time for George Town at its most critical point at the turn of the century.

Today, museums and interpretation tours for visitors and site visits for school children ensure that oral history is given life and the early contributions of our forefathers are forever remembered. Indeed, as you called him, “Penang’s Greatest Mogul”, offers us continuing lessons in hard work, vision and globalthinking.