Tourist Heritage Trails 4 | Discover Georgetown, Penang
Tourist Heritage Trails 4 | Discover Georgetown, Penang | ||||
Benggali Mosque (Lebuh Leith)The Indians from Bengal first came to Penang in the late 18th century as 'sepoys' and convicts with the East India Company. Francis Light also brought out some 'Bengal farmers'from Calcutta to encourage agricultural enterprise on the island. While the early Bengalis hailed from Bengal, the term 'Benggali' soon came to apply to other northern Indians who travelled overland to Calcutta in West Bengal and then sailed to Penang. The mosque is believed to have been founded in 1803, on a site granted by the East India Company during George Leith's term as Lieutenant-Governor of Penang. Urdu was probably the principal language used in this mosque, although in certain periods the dwindling Urdu-speaking population was overshadowed by an increase in Tamil worshippers. Today, the Masjid Benggaii has become a base for the Tablighi movement, and the main languages used here are Malay and Tamil. Turn back along Lebuh Leith, and walk post the junction of Lebuh Leith and Lebuh Muntri. You will pass several lovely mansions and bungalows, including the Cathay Hotel on your right, a heritage hotel offering mid-budget accommodation. Leith Street has been dubbed the Hokka Millionaire's Row, because several prominent Hokkas had their homes here. You will come to a palatial Chinese residence on your left commonly known as 'The Blue Mansion'. Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (Lebuh Leith)Cheong Fatt Tze was the Hakka name of the powerful Nanyang industrialist who was also known as Chang Pi Shih (in the Mandarin language) alias Thio Tiauw Siat (Fujian dialect). He became a Mandarin of the Highest Order in the government of China. Regarded as one of the most prominent historic personalities of the East, Cheong was the Qing Government's Consul-General in Singapore, a director of China's first modern bank and first railway, and Special Trade Commissioner for Southeast Asia. His importance was acknowledged by flags flown at half-mast by Dutch and British Governments when he died. The China-born Hakka came as a penniless immigrant to the island of Java. Prospering from Dutch contracts in Sumatra, he ran steamships plying between Medan in North Sumatra and Penang. He moved his base to Penang in the early 1890s, where he served as the Qing government's Vice-Consul (the highest post in Penang), representing the Chinese of Malaya and the Dutch Indies, before being promoted to Consul-General in Singapore. In Penang, he built his family home and donated generously to Chung Hwa Confucian School, the Kek Lok Si Temple, and many other causes. He continued to expand his empire of trading, shipping, opium, agriculture and mining in Southeast Asia. In China, he was director of China's railway works and its first modern banking institution and at one point even became economic advisor to the Empress Dowager. Just before his death in 1916, he undertook a mission to America on behalf of Yuan Shi-Kai's Republican government, for which the New York Times dubbed him 'China's Rockefeller'. The new owners of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion have carried out a Grade I restoration over the last few years, and the monument is now ready for viewing. Tours of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion are offered at I I am on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Across the road are five blue shophouses which were formerly the servants' quarters attached to the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion. They have undergone renovation and adaptive reuse to become food and beverage outlets. Click here for full story Next to this, at the junction of Lebuh Leith and Lebub Farquhar is Leong Fee's Mansion. Leong Fee's Mansion (Lebuh Leith)Leong Fee (I 857-1911) is the Hakka name of the tycoon also known as Liang P'i joo (in the Mandarin language). A friend of Cheong Fatt Tze, he was the Qing Government's fourth Vice-Consul in Penang from 1902 to 1908 and a member of the Perak State Council till his death in 191 1. He was a wealthy miner and an educational philanthropist The tin wines he owned in Tambun, Perak, employed European engineers in the 19t century and were among the first to introduce open cast mining with modern machinery. This mansion at 7 Lebuh Leith was built around the turn of the century. Although it was described as 'built in the latest European style', the mansion is a westernised form of a courtyard house with a pair of enclosed courtyards on either side of a central aisle. It is decorated with Victorian elements such as cast iron balconies, and is distinguished by its imported slate roof. After the war, Leong Fee's Mansion served as the St Xavier's Institution for a number of years. The mansion now belongs to the Christian Brothers and has been leased to an art school in recent years. From Lebuh Leith, turn onto Lebuh Farquhar and proceed west until you come to the junction ofjalan Penang. On your left next to the petrol station, is a gray bungalow with an old garden setting. Residence of Ku Din Ku Meh (20 Jalan Penang)Ku Din Ku Meh was born in Anak Bukit, Kedah around 1848. He started his career at 14 as Head of Kedah Prisons. Ku Din was a literary man, fluent in Malay and Thai. He was known to have transcribed a book of laws in 1894. His diary and some jawi records pertaining to his administration in Setul (Satun) are now kept in the Thai National Archives in Bangkok. In 1897, Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah of Kedah appointed him the High Commissioner of Setul. At the time, Setul, Kayang and Phuket were provinces of Kedah under the domination of Siam. Setul later became a part of southern Thailand under the Treaty of Bangkok in 1909. Ku Din was highly regarded as an administrator, judging by the various advances which he introduced to Setul in the areas of administration, agriculture, trade and commerce, and education. In 1902, Ku Din assumed the title 'Raja of Setul' and used the name Tengku Baharuddin bin Tunku Meh. During his time, the local ports of Setul traded actively with Rangoon and Penang. Ku Din himself owned several shipping vessels exporting goods such as birds' nests, timber and coconuts from south Thailand to Penang. Ku Din married a woman from Penang, and had his trading office in this town house on jalan Penang. The Siamese government retained Ku Din Ku Meh in his position until he retired in 1916. He passed away in 1932 and was entombed in Setul. Click here for full story Return to the junction oflaton Penang and Lebuh Farquhar and take a left turn. Walk around the petrot station until you reach an open gate of the Christian Cemetery. Christian Cemetery (Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah)The Christian Cemetery along jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah (formerly Northam Road) deserves to be explored at leisure. Shaded by frangipani trees, it is the final resting place of Penang's European pioneers such as Francis Light, several early governors, Stamford Raffles' brother-in-law Quintin Dick Thomas, James Scott, David grown of Glugor Estate, Reverend Hutchings, the Reverend Thomas Beighton of the London Missionary Society, George Earl, author of Eastern Seas, and James Richardson Logan, editor of the journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia (also called Logan's joumals). Many of them died of some mysterious tropical fever, probably malaria, brought about by the widespread clearing of forests. Another personality buried here is a young officer named Thomas Leonowens whose widow Anna Leonowens became a schoolmistress in Siam in the I9th century. Her romanticised account of her life in the East inspired the play and film 'The King and I' and more recently 'Anna and the King' which was partially filmed in Penang. Over 30 Chinese graves dating from the 1860s to the 1880s may have belonged to Christian Hakkas who came to Penang after the Taiping Rebellion in China. In 1994 the Penang Heritage Trust, as part of an effort to spruce up the Christian Cemetery, whitewashed and re-inked the tombs. Today, a signboard near the entrance shows the location of the tombs of Light and other notables. Taking a little detour, you can come out of the Christian Cemetery through the western front gate onto Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah. Here you will get a glimpse of two fine examples of Penang's early suburban villas. The first is the peach-coloured villa of Leong Yin Kean, the son of Leong Fee. The ltalianate villa by the sea, with decorative mosaic panels, was designed by Charles Miller of the architectural firm of Stark & McNeill in 1926. Leong Yin Kean seems to have inherited his aesthetic sense from his father Leong Fee, whose mansion is found on Lebuh Leith. The second is the Shih Chung School, a unique Anglo-Chinese mansion. This was Cheah Tek Soon's residence, built in the 1880s, and at various times used as the Chinese Residency, a hotel and a school. In its original five-storey form, it had a striking multi-tier pagoda shape. Getting back into the Christian Cemetery, you can enter a small doorway in the southern wall of the cemetery. This takes you post the small Roman Catholic cemetery on the other side of the wall where the early Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus were buried. Saint Francis Xavier Church (Jalan Penang)Bishop Boucho, who was responsible tor encouraging the founding of education missions in Penang, also started an Indian parish in 1857. The Tamil-speaking Catholics used the cemetery chapel for the first I0 years. The Saint Francis Xavier Church was then built in 1867 on land donated by the Godfrey family to the Church of the Assumption. The church is named after Saint Francis Xavier, the famous 'Apostle of the Indies' who brought Christianity to the non-European peoples of Portuguese Malacca in the 16th century. Walk back through the church grounds to Jalan Penang. You might see a fleet of trishaws parked outside the Catholic Information Service. Since this is the lost stop of this trail, you have some options for your next steps, depending on the time of day. | ||||
