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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Jalan Yahudi to Jalan Zainal Abidin the real Zainal

A colourfu l life: The late S.M. Zainul Abidin was a judo champion when he was still teaching and his grandchildren always gathered around to celebrate his birthday. The photos are reproduced from the book, Pengkisahan Riwayat Hidup Haji S.M. Zainul Abidin, published by Dimensi Eksklusif (M) Sdn Bhd.

I WOULD like to thank readers for pointing out the error in the history behind Jalan Yahudi, subsequently renamed Jalan Zainal Abidin, published in this column on July 6.

I had wrongly identified Zainal Abidin with the noted Malay writer who was better known as Za’aba. The road is actually named after S.M. Zainul Abidin, one of Penang’s pioneer educationists, whose name is also spelt as Zainal Abidin.

The letter below from his youngest son Zainul Arshad is reproduced in full to put the matter in context. There is also another letter from another reader who also pointed out the same error. I am given to understand that many readers had called Zainul Arshad about this matter and he has taken the initiative to write us the letter.

I record my deepest appreciation to readers of this column who have constantly given me feedback, and pointed me to the right direction when needed.

It reminds me that much of local history is passed down orally, from generation to generation. We should all strive to know our own history. In writing this column, I have found that it is difficult to find the definitive records of many of the personalities that have roads named after them.

I believe all local authorities should make it a requirement to document the history of all the roads under their jurisdiction, old or new, for public record. Even new developments named after people or events must be documented so that those who come after us will have a proper record. The little stories that surround our neighbourhoods are a rich legacy that should be preserved.

The road is named after my father

I read your article Penang’s History, My Story titled “Leaving only tombs behind”. Since I was born and bred in Penang I always look forward to reading this weekly column.

I had wanted to send you a book about my father in the hope that you may write something about him being the pioneer educationist and politician in Penang. But before I could do that your article on the Jewish cemetery appeared.

I have to point out an error in your article. Zainal Abidin Ahmad has nothing to do with Jalan Zainal Abidin. He was not a Penangite. Jalan Zainal Abidin (although wrongly spelt) was named after my late father S.M. Zainul Abidin. I am his youngest son.

S.M. Zainul Abidin was one of Penang’s pioneer educationists. Among his former students were Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail (Raja of Perlis), Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu and Tuan Yusoff Rawa.

He taught at the Penang Free School for 20 years before becoming headmaster of the Francis Light School in 1938. He retired as Inspector of Schools in Penang. Zainul Abidin was the first Malay to obtain a B.A. degree (externally) from London University in 1933.

He was also a founder member of Penang Umno and was responsible for getting a piece of land from his good friend, the late Hamid Khan, to build the Umno building in Penang.

S.M. Zainul Abidin was selected by Tunku to stand as a candidate in Malaya’s first Parliamentary election in 1955. He won handsomely as an Umno candidate in the north-west constituency whilst Chee Swee Ee of MCA won in the north-east constituency.

One of S.M. Zainul Abidin’s sons is the wellknown broadcaster, the late Datuk Zainul Alam. Interestingly enough, my late father stayed at No 35, Jalan Zainal Abidin (Jalan Yahudi), two doors from the Jewish cemetery, from 1929 until his death in 1969. — Zainul Arshad S.M. Zainul Abidin

The wrong Zainal

I am a fan of history and naturally an avid reader of your Saturday articles. You wrote that Jalan Yahudi was re-named Jalan Zainal Abidin in memory of Za’aba.

However, I think it is not so. I think it was attributed to S.M. Zainal Abidin, who was a member of the 1955 Federation Legislative Assembly.

I am told by old-timers that Zainal Abidin’s home was situated just behind the present Umno building at the junction of Macalister Road and Jalan Zainal Abidin.

Hence, lending credence that it was named after a local personality rather than Za’aba who originated from Negri Sembilan and had no real links to Penang. – Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor

Honouring Za’aba: Jalan Zainal Abidin used to be known as Jalan Yahudi

IT used to be called Jalan Yahudi but it has been renamed Jalan Zainal Abidin, after the prolific Malay writer who is more popularly known as Za’aba.

By renaming the road, the Jewish legacy in Penang, and for that matter, in Malaysia, has been erased.

But the country’s only Jewish cemetery which was set up in 1805, is still in existence there.

It is well-maintained but most of the time, the gates are locked, perhaps mindful that it could be the target of anti-Semitic elements.

Located between Burmah Road and Macalister Road, the small cemetery escapes the attention of Penangites who use this link road, as it is tucked behind high walls.

According to a report titled A Penang Kaddish: The Jewish Cemetery in Georgetown — A case study of the Jewish Diaspora in Penang (1830s-1970s), the oldest Jewish tombstone in the cemetery is dated July 9, 1835.

Penang’s only synagogue used to be in Nagore Road.

It is dedicated to a Mrs Shoshan Levi, believed to be the benefactor who donated the land where the cemetery stands.

Many of the Jews buried there were British subjects, including one Louis Victor Cohen, a former army officer, who died on Oct 9, 1941 at the age of 23, according to an article by Hismanshu Bhatt.

There are about 107 graves located in the cemetery, with the most recent tombstone dated 2011, of David Mordecai, a former E&O hotel manager. He died just short of his 90th birthday and was believed to be the last ethnic Jew on the island.

According to a report online, “55 friends and neighbours attended the burial, among them a handful of Jews. With his passing, the only Jew to hold a Malaysian passport is Mordecai’s niece Tefa Ephraim, who now lives in Sydney, Australia.”

Mordecai was the son of David and Mozelle Mordecai, who came from Baghdad to Penang in 1895.

David Mordecai Sr was active in the tin and rubber industries under British rule and a colonial turf racing enthusiast in Penang and Singapore.

A good number of Jews used to live openly in Penang until the end of the 1970s, when many emigrated.

The local Jewish community reportedly comprised Jews of Sephardic origin who live among the Kristangs (people of mixed Portuguese and Asian ancestry), including those who came from Iraq and India.

The first known Jew to make Malaya his home was Ezekiel Aaron Menasseh in 1895.

Menasseh claimed to be the only practising Jew in Malaya for three decades but the general census of Jewish settlers in Penang (1881-1941) showed that 172 Jews already lived there in 1899, according to a news portal.

It is said that during the Japanese occupation, the Penang Jewish community was evacuated to Singapore.

After the war, a majority of Jews had stayed on in Singapore or emigrated to Australia, Israel and the United States.

One report has it that by 1963, only 20 Penang Jewish families remained in the country.

Penang’s only synagogue, located on 28, Nagore Road, closed down in 1976 as the community could no longer fulfill a quorum of 10 or more adult Jews assembled for purposes of fulfilling a public religious obligation.

An article in the portal Free Malaysia Today, dated March 18, 2011, entitled “The Last Jew to leave Penang,” featured an interview with one Joseph Hayeem Abraham Jacobs, whose grandfather Hayoo Jacobs moved from Singapore to Penang, where he stayed at the island’s synagogue in 1929.

“Jacob’s father Abraham grew up juggling a myriad of professions including that of a fighter pilot and professional boxer. At one point, he even enjoyed a French dairy board consular status with the French government. He eventually met and married Tan Kok Choo who would go on to become a popular RTM broadcaster,” the portal reported.

“It was a normal childhood, we went to school, we played with the neighbourhood kids. Everyone knew we were Jews but no one cared. That’s the beauty of Penangites,” said Jacobs.

The Penang synagogue is today the office of a print, design and digital business.

While most of the early Jews were of Caucasian origin, there were also many of Indian stock from India.

Closer to home, the most famous Jew was David Marshall, the first Chief Minister of Singapore.

He also accompanied the first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman to meet Chin Peng, the Communist Party of Malaya head, in the Baling Talks.

In Penang, Gottlieb Road is named after Felix Henri Gottlieb, a German lawyer of probably Jewish descent, who worked for the British government in Penang between 1846 and 1882.

But it would not be fair to leave out the legacy of Za’aba, of which the road is now named after.

Zainal Abidin Ahmad (Sept 16, 1895 to Oct 23, 1973) remains one of the most respected Malaysian writers and Malay language experts.

The Jewish cemetery in Jalan Zainal Abidin with neat rows of Hebrew-inscribed headstones, testifies to the existence of a sizeable Jewish community then. – filepic

Every student of Malay literature is expected to know his name — that is how much respect has been accorded on to him.

In Kuala Lumpur, there is a road named after him at Taman Tun Dr Ismail and many colleges or residential hostels in Malaysia are named after him as well.

Zainal Abidin was born in Negri Sembilan and had his early education in a Malay school but went on to study at the premier St Paul’s Institution in Seremban. He became the first Malay to pass the Senior Cambridge in 1915.

Although he began teaching the following year, soon he enrolled in the Malay College in Kuala Kangsar and in 1924 he studied at the Sultan Idris Teachers’ College, now a university.

He also studied and lectured at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, where he completed his Masters at the age of 59, and finally taught at University of Malaya in Singapore.

According to the National Archives of Malaysia official portal, Za’aba was considered the pioneer of Malay language grammatical rules, which were vague at that time.

He was given the responsibility to draft the school curriculum, was a translator, lecturer and during the Japanese era was handed the responsibility to write books that could be used in Malaya and Sumatra.

The portal said in 1946, he was appointed a committee member of the Legislator Committee of Umno Charter Bill.

Za’aba, who was later conferred the Tan Sri title, died on Oct 23, 1973 at the age of 78.

Za’aba’s legacy will remain as he is one of the biggest names in Malay literature, whose works have been translated into many languages.

Readers write

I WAS a boarder at the St Xavier’s Boarding School in Burmah Road, opposite the Pulau Tikus Convent secondary school from 1949 to 1954, before continuing my secondary school years at the new SXI building in Farquhar Street. We were the new occupants of the newly-completed school building.

The boarding school was set up by the La Salle Brothers for poor boys and orphans. And it also took in paying students from all over Malaya. 

The lower classes studied at Noah’s Ark (so called because the wooden and attap building looked like a boat). There were eight to 10 classes conducted there. 

All those who passed their annual school examination could be promoted to higher classes at St Xavier Branch School at Kelawei Road.

It faces the St Joseph’s Novitiate which trained Catholic novices to be Christian Brothers of the La Salle Order. The school being situated in a Eurasian enclave had many Eurasian teachers and many Eurasian pupils and students.

One of my teachers was Dudley Rozells, younger brother to Colin. Colin never taught me but he was a hero to the school population as he was a Penang state sprinter and the school’s athletics coach.

Jimmy Boyle, who lived just across the road from the school was also the school’s sports coach and was famous as a musician. He coached me on the 80-yard hurdles.

One must say of the Eurasian community that they made a big contribution in sports, music, education and in community service.

In addition to the teachers, I remember some names of families living next door to the Church of The Immaculate Conception such as Sheila Labrooy, Marie de Souza and Carmen Coombs, who were good friends to the boisterous boys of the St Xavier’s Boarding School. 

The Church of The Immaculate Conception, Pulau Tikus is a heritage building. It had its bicentennial celebration two years ago.

The church records are intact for those who wish to research the early history of Penang.

There are some early writings dated from the 1800s and the names of all parish priests who served the church consecutively corresponding to the 200 years of its establishment.

– Anthony Lim, Penang

If you have any feedback to share, email mystory@thestar.com.my

The correct Zainal Abidin

It has been pointed out to me that Jalan Jahudi was renamed Jalan Zainal Abidin in honour of a renowned educationist in Penang. Please read this story for context and clarification.

A GERMAN Jewish lawyer who founded the Free-masons lodge, a colonial lawyer and activist fighting for the rights of the locals and a British magistrate who arrived in Penang only to find that he had lost his job, were among those whose legacies live on.

There are at least five roads in Penang that honour colonial lawyers. The most famous has to be the busy Gottlieb Road.

The road is named after Felix Henri Gottlieb, a lawyer in the Straits Settlement between 1846 and 1882.

But his name would probably remain unknown and even inconsequential to most Penangites, who ply the road daily.

Gottlieb Road is the site for Penang Chinese Girls’ High School, the biggest girls’ school in Penang.

The road used to be congested at all times of the day especially during after school hours, when it is packed with school buses.

But Henri is more important than we think. He was one of the most colourful characters of the Straits Settlement.

He was also a true Penangite as he was born on the island. His father was the island’s first harbour master George Felix Gottlieb in the 1830s.

Both father and son were active Freemasons in Penang.

According to local historian and publisher Khoo Salma Nasution in her book, More Than Merchants: A History of German Speaking Community in Penang, Henri set up Freemason lodges in Penang and Taiping, Perak.

The Freemason movement has regarded itself as a global secular fraternity that carries out social and charity work where its members are taught these precepts in ancient forms.

Frowned upon by Muslim and Christian groups, the Freemasons including those in Malaysia, have openly conducted their activities by setting up websites with pictures of their members.

It is to show that the Freemasons are not a shadow group, as portrayed in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.

In fact, those interested in their activities can apply to be members while the press has been invited to observe their work.

In Penang, the Penang Masonic Temple is a historic building that stands out at the Brown Road and Jalan Utama (formerly Western Road) junction.

According to a report, the land to build the Temple was acquired in 1926 and the foundation was laid on Dec 17, 1927.

Designed by architect Howard Leicester, the building was built by contractor Lee Ghee Sok.

Another well-known lawyer of old Penang was James Richardson Logan, who was honoured with the Logan Memorial at the Supreme Court Building in Leith Street.

Logan Road, which runs from Perak Road to Anson Road, is also named after him.

Logan was regarded as a champion of the rights of the non-Europeans in Penang, as he dared to represent the natives.

He came to Penang with his elder brother Abraham and began a law practice.

In an age where the rights of the natives were often suppressed, he skilfully fought in a case of an Indian sireh planter against the East India Company, according to a posting.

Today, the famous landmarks are the Loh Clan Association, the LohGuanLye Specialists Centre, the Penang Specialist Maternity Centre and the Methodists Girls’ School.

Edward William Presgrave was another big name of the legal fraternity during the colonial days of Penang.

Presgrave Street is known in Hokkein as sah tiau lor or third street, and is today part of the city area known as the Seven Streets Precinct.

Presgrave Street is regarded as a working class neighbourhood.

Presgrave & Matthews is one of the oldest legal firms in the Straits Settlement. It was founded on Jan 1, 1879.

The original partners being Arthur Edward Clark, barrister-at-law, and Presgrave, who was a member of the Legislative Council.

Then, there is Dickens Street, which a short one-way street linking Penang Road with Transfer Road.

A plaque in the road has wrongly attributed the name of the street to novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870) whose works included Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations.

In reality, Dickens Street was named after John Dickens, a British magistrate who arrived in George Town in 1801.

According to a report, upon arrival, he found that his services were no longer required as the Straits Settlement had set up a Recorder’s Court instead.

RAD Hogan was another lawyer who has a road named after him.

Hogan Road is a small road off Vermont Road, a minor road off Jalan Residensi.

Vermont Road is named after one of the military officers during the late 19th century.

Both Vermont and Hogan roads house quiet, leafy neighbourhoods.

The legal fraternity in Penang has a long history and its colonial style court complex is surely one of the most beautiful heritage buildings in this country.

Scenic: A filepic of the Guillemard Reservoir near the Vale of Tempe.

CALL it an urban legend but I have heard enough spooky tales about the many unexplained incidents along the Vale of Tempe.

The name of this winding stretch of road is Greek to many Penangites but to the older folks, this is certainly a famous, or more precisely, an infamous road.

Even the origin of the name remains speculative. It must be the only road in Malaysia that is named after a place in Greece.

Located between Olympus to the north and Ossa to the south, the Vale of Tempe is a beautiful gorge nestled in northern Thessaly, Greece.

Quite appropriately, its current Malay name, Jalan Lembah Permai, means peaceful valley.

What is more interesting is that in Greek mythology, the Vale of Tempe was the favourite hunting ground of the god Apollo and the Muses.

The winding 1.7km road cuts across a hill joining two suburbs, Tanjung Bungah and Fettes Park.

A reservoir is built on a hillside in Vale of Tempe, and is named after Sir Laurence Guillemard, who was the Governor of the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements from 1920 to 1927.

As one report rightly described it, Guillemard Reservoir comprises two equal size ponds with two cupolas. Due to it being shaped like a pair of spectacles, the Guillemard Reservoir became known in Hokkein as bak knia tee meaning spectacle pond.

If there is any similarity between Vale of Tempe in Greece and the one in the northern part of Penang island, it must be the ravine.

Residential: Fettes Park is named after JD Fettes, an engineer with the then municipal council.

In this hilly part of Penang, many mysterious accidents have happened. Some were fatal while other victims escaped with injuries after their vehicles skidded off the road and went down the ravine.

As a crime reporter in 1980, I remember getting a call from the police that an accident had taken place at the Vale of Tempe. It was just 7am and was still too early to start work.

I remember asking my police source if it was a serious accident to warrant such an early call but he merely chuckled and say I should head towards the scene if I wanted an interesting story.

When I arrived at the scene of the accident, I could see the damaged car in the ravine but someone had also lighted some candles and burned some offerings, presumably to appease some powerful forces.

There was no one else at the accident scene who could tell me what had taken place. I then decided to head towards the Penang General Hospital, where most accident victims would be sent to.

Remember these were the days before the mobile telephones and there were just one or two other private hospitals.

I finally located the victim after checking with the nurses at the emergency section. Not wanting to put the victim and his relatives at the ward on guard, I did not introduce myself as a reporter but merely a nosy visitor at the hospital.

The victim, a middle-aged man, was narrating to his relatives that he was driving along the Vale of Tempe around 1am when he saw a woman in white in the middle of the road.

He swore in Hokkien that he wasn’t drunk but the sight of the woman frightened him so much that he lost control of his car.

He was sure it was no ordinary human being but a ghost.

It would be the first time that I have heard stories of unexplained “dirty” encounters at the Vale of Tempe but it was the first involving a victim, if that is a right word to use. There are many variations but they all involved a young woman!

One tale guaranteed to give one the goose pimples was about a young factory male worker. He was driving along the road, when a young woman ended up sitting next to him in the car. As in all the tales, the shocked driver swayed his car and ended up in the ravine!

Old school: The entrance to Pepper Estate.

Many Penangites are reluctant to use the road at night and they would probably advise their family members not to do so either. There are practical reasons too, as the road is not well-lit and the curves are tricky to negotiate.

Last week, on a trip to Penang, I decided to re-visit the Vale of Tempe, to update myself on its condition.

My brother’s daughter, Wong Lai Pheng, uses the road as an access route to reach her apartment at Tanjung Bungah from Mount Erskine. She said the main Tanjung Tokong road is often congested and using the Vale of Tempe was so much easier.

My driver, Praba, from the Penang office has been using the road to send colleagues, who had completed the graveyard shift, pardon the pun, to their homes each night. The young man from Seberang Prai does not even know the name of the road he has been using and stories of a woman in white were news to him!

Ignorance is bliss but after sharing my tales of this urban legend, perhaps more known to other Penangites, I am sure Lai Pheng and Praba will not want to look behind when they are driving alone along that road at night!

Tales from the Vale of Tempe have even made it to www.hungzai.com, a Singapore website of horror stories.

But apart from the horror stories, there were also real events that put the area into the spotlight.

One of the most famous real-life events relate to a murder case in November 1980. Joggers came across a badly decomposed body that had been dumped into the ravine along the road.

The body turned out to be that of factory worker Salbiah Yeop Abdul Rahman and police inspector Saderi Abdul Samat was subsequently sent to the gallows for her murder.

Salbiah was Saderi’s lover and pregnant at the time but the inspector never admitted to killing her, but insisted she had committed suicide. He claimed that he had found Salbiah hanging in the bathroom of the officers’ mess where he lived.

He drove around various parts of Penang to get rid of the body until he came to the Vale of Tempe.

Another story from our library archives related to an incident in 2001 when a skull of young girl was found in the undergrowth off the Vale of Tempe main road.

The skull was discovered by a man picking fruits in the area at about 4.30pm.

He called the police who in turn contacted forensic pathologist Dr Bhupinder Singh. The skull, which had been there for about five months, was wrapped in a pillow case and a piece of cloth which was badly torn. Bits of ribs and pelvic bone plus strands of black hair were also found at the scene.

Cottage industry: One source of employment in the Hong Seng Estate is a sauce manufacturer.

According to then George Town OCPD Senior Asst Comm (II) Mustafa Abdullah, the police had yet to determine why the skull, which was that of a girl aged between five and six, had been placed there.

“Somebody could have been trying to bury the skull after using it for ceremonial purposes — perhaps to obtain lottery numbers.

“We have classified the find as sudden death pending a postmortem by Dr Bhupinder. Foul play has also not been ruled out,” he said.

Back to the roads, if you think Vale of Tempe is an unusual name for a road, so too are the nearby Fettes Park and Mount Erskine. Fettes Park is a residential neighbourhood in Tanjung Tokong and is named after the municipal engineer of George Town JD Fettes, who was instrumental in the building of the Guillemard Reservoir.

Mount Erskine or pek hoon sua in Hokkien, or White Cloud Mountain, is a residential area not far from Pulau Tikus and Gurney Drive.

It is named after John James Erskine, a judge and member of the George Town council around 1810, who was known as the “second king of Penang” because of his influence and clout.

The area is known for the large Chinese cemeteries, some dating back from the early 19th century, and during the All Souls Day or Qing Ming Festival, this place is packed.

Not many Penangites are superstitious of the presence of the graves as human beings jostled for space with the dead in Penang. The top of Mount Erskine has now been flattened to make way for apartments.

Even during the 1970s, many homes have been built at the nearby Pepper Estate and Hong Seng Estate, where one has to drive through tombs to reach these houses. Many of these houses are located next to graveyards and no one has any ghostly stories to tell.

There used to be a pepper estate and the settlement built as a living quarters of the estate workers. A former school mate and close friend, Loy Boon Peow, grew up in Hong Seng Estate.

Certainly, these tales have made the area more interesting but as Penang becomes more crowded, the roads will become busier and congested.

The isolation is gone and so would the mysterious atmosphere.

Readers write

REFERRING to your article on June 15 about Anson Road, specifically on Tai Hin coffeeshop.

It was November 1967, when I was in Form 4, that I went camping with a brother scout in the Methodist Boys’ School grounds for one of our Scout achievement badges towards the award of King Scout certification.

The campsite was behind the dilapidated Suffolk House and by the Ayer Itam riverbank.

We had camped one night when the next day my parents came looking for me to take me home as the Hartal (the general strike in protest against the proposed Federation of Malaya) troubles had started in George Town and were racial in nature.

So we decided to quickly pack up and leave and send my friend back to his house in Anson Road on our way back to our house in Leith Street Ghaut.

We had to get my Chinese friend to lie down on the floor of our car as we had to pass through the kampung area by the bridge, in Ayer Itam Road.

There were already groups of villagers from Langkawi Road gathered on the bridge. Luckily we were not stopped and proceeded very quickly to Anson Road to send my friend to the Tai Hin coffee shop where he lived.

We also did not encounter any trouble in the Anson Road area, which was a Chinese area.

Thank God we arrived safely in our house before the curfew came into force.

— Syed Kamarulzaman Syed Kabeer