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.

Undefeated: Choy celebrating after being the only Independent candidate to retain his seat (Pengkalan Kota) in the 1978 election

JALAN C.Y.CHOY

IF THERE is one thing that Penangites are noted for, it has to be their independent streak. Penang remains the only state that has voted out every single one of its chief ministers.

It started with its first chief minister, the late Wong Pow Nee of MCA, then the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu and his successor Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, both of Gerakan.

The state has produced numerous outspoken opposition leaders activists and journalists.

But one person stands out above the rest — the late Choy Chee Yew, or popularly known as C.Y. Choy.

He was part of the Socialist Front and had the distinction of being the third and last mayor of George Town. It became a city by a royal charter granted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957.

True to his route: Jalan C.Y.Choy remains a place with a working class community and home to various traders who have been doing business here for generations.

The Socialist Front was a coalition of the Labour Party of Malaya and the Parti Rakyat Malaya, which was formed to contest against the Alliance comprising Umno, MCA and MIC.

Historian Tan Kim Hong wrote in his research paper that in 1953, 16 intellectuals including D.S. Ramanathan, Tan Phock Kin, N. Patkunam, Lee Kok Liang, C.Y. Choy, Tan Chong Bee and V. Veerapan of the Fabian Society of Penang joined the Pan-Malayan Labour Party (PMLP).

“These professionals and teachers, all social democrats, moved to immerse themselves in politics, offering analyses, recommendations and political participation vastly different from those of the moderate trade unionists favoured by colonial officials.

“By early 1954, PMLP had come to resemble the British Labour Party, advocating gradual economic nationalisation and a welfare state.”

Choy won a city election in 1964 as a candidate of the then Socialist Front but ceased as mayor when the Federal Government suspended local elections two years later as a result of the Indonesian Confrontation.

Populist: During the campaign season in 1978, Choy’s symbolic set of keys were seen in Noordin Street.

Today, a road has been rightly named after him but ironically by the Barisan Nasional state government under Dr Lim, who had faced Choy in many political battles.

According to a newspaper report, Choy, who worked as an office assistant, was such a populist figure that when he walked into the streets, the people came out to shake his hand.

The Socialist Front later disbanded after its partners, the Labour Party and Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaya, went separate ways due to the political upheavals of that time.

Refusing to join any other party but still wanting to serve the city folk, he took part in the 1969 general election as a candidate contesting the Pengkalan Kota state seat and won easily.

He remained an assemblyman until his death in 1980 at the age of 73 and Bridge Street, the main thoroughfare of the constituency, was re-named Jalan C.Y. Choy.

Choy’s symbol during his campaign was a set of keys. It was symbolic with independence as he won the seats under that banner.

The Pengkalan Kota constituency has always been a working class area.

Glum faces:Independent candidate Lim Ewe Chin (centre) and his most staunch supporter Mrs C.Y. Choy after the election results were announced in November 1980.

His humble and down-to-earth approach reportedly endeared him to the voters.

Local historian and publisher historian Khoo Salma Nasution described Jalan C.Y. Choy as a former working-class quarter of the Hokkien community which once supported a triad society.

“The shophouses along the whole length of Bridge Street are strikingly regular – most were rebuilt in the late 19th century, replacing houses of wood and attap which had been repeatedly set on fire by the rival society.”

Despite having no official position after the Socialist Front deregistered, he still commanded the support of his constituents.

Enjoying the morning: Just like other streets in Penang. Jalan C.Y.Choy has some popular coffeeshops.

He often went around the constituency, stopping at five-foot-ways with a typewriter to write petitions and letters to the authorities.

His mostly-illiterate voters called him ‘the father of hawkers’ and by 1974, Choy retained his seat with a 5,000 vote majority. By then, he was nearly 70 years old.

Jalan C.Y. Choy still remains very much a working class area, with its hawkers, traders and blue-collar community.

Every state assemblymen for Pengkalan Kota; from Teoh Teik Huat (DAP), Lim Kean Siew (MCA) and Lee Hack Teik (MCA) has all tried to emulate Choy’s populist image.

They have all come and gone but none will be able to match Choy’s legendary ways and legacy as the fighter of the downtrodden.

Hop On: The tram was a way for locals to get around George Town.

IT IS a fact that public transport is crying out for attention in Penang, as the roads get more jammed with cars, especially during weekends and long holiday breaks when just about everyone visits the island.

No one would recommend any tourist to wait for the public bus and taking a cab is not so easy either. Unlike in Kuala Lumpur where metered cabs are easily available, if you were to flag down a cab in Penang, chances are the driver will not use the meter.

Most Penangites prefer to use their own transport, which is probably one reason why vehicular traffic is high.

In name only: Jalan Trem is a nod to the existence of the Tramway Office in Penang.

And many still use motorcycles, which are suited for short-distance travelling. To the surprise of many outsiders, most women in the state are able to ride the two-wheelers.

Yet, unknown to many young Penangites, the island used to have the best transport system in the country.

Public transport in George Town, especially at the turn of the century, was second to none. The state was the earliest to have tarred roads, electric trams, double-decker buses and cars.

There were also the man-pulled jinrikishas — which are not like the trishaws which are pedalled — and horses!

In fact, George Town was accorded city status on Jan 1, 1957 — the first in the country to be granted such a status. According to the book Old Glimpses of Penang, the first motorcar to make its appearance in Penang was recorded in the state’s annual report of 1903.

It was reported that by the end of that year, there were 80km of roads used by 791 carrriages, 73 gharries, 3,185 public and 323 private jinkrishas, 679 bullock carts and 803 handcarts. Horses and bicycles made their appearances between 1896 and 1900.

The book described that Penangites owned four cars in 1904, but 10 years later, 174 were licensed by the municipal council.

Tram cars were first introduced in Penang in the 1880s when a businessman, one Mr Gardner, set up a steam-run tram service in the Air Itam and Waterfall roads.

“There were 11 cars on those routes in 1890 and the Penang Steam Tramways Co had its headquarters in Western Road,” the book said.

By 1904, when electricity supply came, the trams were run on electricity and more routes were added. Two years later, a 4km route was introduced between George Town and Air Itam.

The tram lines can still be found in Penang Road in front of the Odeon Cinema while the Tramway Office was located in Jalan Tramway (renamed Jalan Trem), off Datuk Kramat Road.

There were many reports of accidents and the trams were described as unreliable with operators losing money from the business.

“Difficulties were encountered by the enterprise with declining receipts due to the economic slump in 1907-1908, and the destruction of a bridge in 1909. But by 1913, the trams were making a profit and continued to do so until the trade depression of 1922,” wrote Ric Francis and Colin Rayney in Penang Trams, Trolley Buses and Railways.

Another means of transportation in town was the first regular private bus service which started as early as 1919. Unknown to most Malaysians, it has been recorded that the world’s smallest trolley bus was founded in Penang.

The electric-run nine-seater buses were used as shuttle buses between the Lower Station on the Hill Railway to the Air Itam market.

In the 1970s to 1980s, most Penangites depended on the bus services operated by the municipal council. It had to compete against private operators such as Penang Yellow Bus, Lim Seng Seng, Sri Negara and the Hin Company.

They were easily identified by their colours. You would take the yellow bus to places such as Balik Pulau and Bayan Lepas, the green bus to Air Itam, the blue bus to the beaches and the plain-coloured municipal ones around town.

My colleague reminded me that when he was growing up in Jelutong, his aunt in Balik Pulau would regularly send vegetables and even live chickens via a friendly bus driver to their house at no cost.

Colourful: Some of the old Tramway and bus tickets.

Ridiculous as it may sound to many youngsters now, many of us then used to collect the colourful bus tickets as a hobby, as one would collect stamps.

There was always a conductor on board who would give you the ticket based on where you are going and occasionally an inspector will join the bus halfway to check that you had a ticket.

The bus was probably the most popular form of transport among students although we had to literally fight our way to get onto the buses daily.

Today, there are air-conditioned buses in Penang but it does not have the colour, nor the efficiency of the network back then. The times are a-changing and Penangites yearn for a proper mass rapid transit system to connect various parts of the island to the city centre.

But it is still a dream, even as development continues to increase the population density, and by extension, the number of cars on the roads.

Fun times: (Clockwise from left) The writer at two with his mother Yeoh Poh Choo and father Wong Soon Cheong at Batu Maung.

IT IS hard to explain to someone outside Penang, especially those staying in the Klang Valley, how wonderful life can be on the island.

Even those of us who have left the island to pursue our careers and set up new lives elsewhere will sing the same tune, as if our time on the island is permanently captured in a time capsule.

The so-called Penang diaspora is a living testimony to the saying that “you can take a Penangite out of Penang, but never the Penang out of a Penangite”.

Apart from those who venture out in search of greener pastures, there are, of course, many who will never leave the island.

They will never give up their lifestyle for the fast-paced life of Kuala Lumpur, for example, even if the career options are more plentiful.

For me, having migrated to the Klang Valley such a long time ago, I can only reminisce about my early days, my growing-up years where memories seem to be strongly embedded.

Where else but in Penang — except maybe in some East Coast states — where the beaches are just a short distance from your school, office or home.

For those of us who studied in St Xavier’s Institution at Farquhar Street, we had a seafront at the end of our football field.

After a game of football, we would sit near the seafront, where we would enjoy the strong crushing sounds of the waves hitting the wall, as we closed our eyes to let the wind blow against our faces.

Fishing was not allowed but on occasion, we would be able to throw our lines into the sea and take home a fish or two for dinner.

Our neighbour — Convent Light Street (CLS) — was luckier. Many of their classrooms faced the sea directly!

No wonder Captain Francis Light and Sir Stamford Raffles, who later went on to discover Singapore, chose to work and live at the site where CLS is now located.

For most families, a Sunday outing meant going to Gurney Drive, Tanjung Bungah, Batu Ferringhi or Teluk Bahang for a swim.

It also meant digging bucketfuls of siput remis or shellfish in the sand.

Working at the Pitt Street — now renamed Jalan Mesjid Kapitan Keling — office of this newspaper, we would sometimes take a slow walk to the nearby Esplanade for our meals.

In the evening, when work was completed, my colleagues and I would drive to Gurney Drive to have some hawker snacks before heading home.

During the 1970s until the 1980s, the annual dragon boat races were held off Gurney Drive and at night, the road would be turned into an illegal racing track.

The races would only begin after midnight and dragged on until 2am, with cheering at strategic spots, particularly at the roundabout.

Where the condominiums of 1 Gurney Drive (or PG1 as it is commonly known) now stand, there used to be an old hotel and restaurant called The Shanghai, which was THE place for important functions like weddings during the 1960s.

But that is known only to people in their 60s and 70s.

For us young journalists, Gurney Drive was where we would meet to have endless rounds of beer at the restaurants facing the promenade.

And the conversations would often be about the interesting interviews we have done with tourists at Batu Ferringhi.

There was such a thing as the “beach beat” then but during the 1970s, this tabloid was rather racy in nature.

While it could not deliver the Page 3 topless girls similar to The Sun in the United Kingdom, there were regular pictures of tourists in bikinis. The Home Ministry then was obviously less strict!

By the time I joined The Star, for the first time in 1980, there were already fewer such interviews as the newspaper had moved on to be more serious in its reporting.

Still, the beaches continued to be a source of news stories which included foreigners swimming in the nude at the freshwater pools at Chin Farm in Batu Feringghi.

There were the occasional raids by the authorities and the newsmen would be happy to tag along.

Batu Ferringhi or Foreigners Rock has many personal memories for me as I used to camp along the long stretch of beach as a teenager with my school friends.

My parents did not even bother to ask where I would be camping.

All I did was tell them that I would be camping for three days or nights.

Unique feature: Large boulders are a common feature on beaches in Batu Ferringhi.

On one occasion, all our canned food was stolen while we were sleeping. Needless to say, the camping trip had to be cut short.

As we grew up to be young adults, many nights were spent at the then famous disco, Cinta, at the Rasa Sayang Hotel.

It was only natural that I chose the Rasa Sayang Hotel to propose to my wife at an expensive Western restaurant.

But as a true reporter, there’s always a story behind every event.

The salad, for example, came with a big wriggling worm which certainly took away much of the romance of the evening.

Midway, a colleague of my wife approached us from another table because her boyfriend did not have enough cash to pay for their meal.

Today, the hotel has been renamed Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa, and it is surely one of the best beach hotels in Penang.

A landmark: The Shanghai Hotel used to be a popular venue for important functions in the 1960s.

The beach culture was so ingrained in me that on my first visit to The Star office in Petaling Jaya, I strolled into the newsroom in my shorts and shocked many!

But it was so natural in Penang island, where most of the time, we would be in our shorts and sneakers!

It would be a lesson from then on that my life in Kuala Lumpur will no longer be a stroll on the beach.

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