Light Street & Pitt Street Walking Tour - Part 2

This is the second part of the Light Street and Pitt Street Walking Tour, in the Unesco World Heritage Site of George Town, Penang, Malaysia. In the previous part, we have completed walking through Light Street. Now we will walk down Pitt Street. We have arrived at the corner of Light Street and Pitt Street. Today known as Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, Pitt Street was named after William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), who was Prime Minister at the time the settlement was established. Francis Light named it after Pitt as an afterthought, realizing he may have offended the prime minister for naming Light Street after himself, and wanted to build amends.

Pitt Street penetrates into early George Town as a knife cuts into flesh, revealing many layers of its cosmopolitan flavor. At the outermost, nearest the sea, are the civic and religious buildings of the British administration, in the form of the Penang Supreme Court building and the St George's Church housing the Church of England. From there, practically every community in early Penang has a representation: the Eurasians, the Chinese, the Hindus, the Indian Muslims, the Armenians and the Malays.

Opposite the junction to Pitt Street is the grounds of Dewan Sri Pinang. Another mansion once stood here, Edinburgh Lodge, belonging to Koh Seang Tat, a Chinese tycoon who was the grandson of Kapitan China Koh Lay Huan, the first Chinese Kapitan for George Town. In conjunction with the building of Town Hall, he built the Municipal Fountain in 1883 as a gift to the British government. Edinburgh Lodge was named after the Duke of Edinburgh, who visited Penang in 1869 and stayed there.

As we walk down Pitt Street, we pass first the Penang Supreme Court building. It stands on a site that has been continuously used for court purposes since 1809. The present building was inaugurated in September 1903. In 2007, the latest extension was completed on the building, with an annex across the road along Light Street.

Between the supreme court and St George's church is Farquhar Street (Lebuh Farquhar), named after Robert Townsend Farquhar, the Lieutenant Governor of Penang in 1804. R.T. Farquhar is the person responsible for ordering the demolition of the Malacca Fort. He wanted to develop Penang at Malacca's expense. The order was carried out by William Farquhar, the Resident of Malacca. Stamford Raffles, on a visit to Malacca, tried to stop the demolition, but only managed to save the Porta de Santiago.

Next is the St George's Anglican Church, built in 1816. The first wedding to be held there was that of W.E. Philips, who married the daughter of J.A. Bannerman, the Governor of Penang at that time. W.E. Philips was the man who took over the pepper estate belonging to Francis Light on which he built Suffolk House.

On the left side of Pitt Street are Straits Eclectic shophouses. During the early days of George Town, this area, bordered by Pitt Street, Bishop Street, Beach Street and Church Street was settled by Eurasians, invited by Francis Light, who was sympathetic to their plight. The Eurasians were descendents of the Portuguese who were ousted from Malacca when the Dutch took over it in 1641. Some settled in Phuket (at that time called Ujong Salang, which the English pronounced as Junk Ceylon). Facing religious persecution there, they fled to Kuala Kedah, and from Kuala Kedah, they came to Penang (then called Prince of Wales Island).

We past the junctions of Bishop Street and Church Street. Next comes China Street. As the name suggests, we are at the heart of the early Chinese settlement in Penang. This road was established by Koh Lay Huan, the first Kapitan China of Penang. He was already with Francis Light when the latter established Penang. Opposite the junction of China Street is the Kong Hock Keong, literally "Temple of the Cantonese and Hokkien Community", but better known as Kuan Yin Teng, or "Temple of the Goddess of Mercy". The temple was built on a knoll overlooking the sea at the end of China Street. Unfortunately, when the British reclaimed Beach Street at the later half of the 19th century, they built China Street Ghaut. And then, they put up the Malayan Railway Building with a clock tower. This not only blocks the auspicious sea view from the temple, but also added a big clock which in Chinese geomancy means, "your time is up".

Past the Kuan Yin Teng, the area widens. There are stalls selling joss sticks and other religious paraphernalia, catering to the Goddess of Mercy Temple, and flower vendors catering to the Mahamariamman Temple. There used to be a police station here that has since been relocated. The Hokkiens called this place Tua Ba Lai, meaning Big Police Station.

When Penang was established, a lot of Indians came over, either as laborers or merchants. The Mahamariamman Temple (9), with its back facing Pitt Street, was one of the first Hindu temples in Penang, established as a shrine in 1801, and grew in size from then on.

Chulia Street cuts across Pitt Street. It was named after the Cholas, South Indians who came to Penang as merchants. The sections of Pitt Street, on both sides of Chulia Street, are still occupied by people of South Indian descent, either as Hindus or Muslims. The biggest place of worship for the Indian Muslims along Pitt Street is the Kapitan Keling Mosque. It has entrances along Pitt Street and Buckingham Street, although originally its main entrance was on Chulia Street. As with the Kong Hock Keong and the Mahamariamman Temple, the Kapitan Keling Mosque was also established at the turn of the 19th century, in 1801 to be precise.

The section of Pitt Street in front of the Kapitan Keling Mosque, now shaded with neem trees, was where public auctions were carried out. As a result, the Pitt-Chulia road junction was called Simpang Lelong. Today the shophouses here thrive on money changing and the jewelery trade, businesses held by the Indian Muslims.

Kampong Kolam, nothing more than a busy road today, was a settlement of Tamil Muslims in the 19th century. It was named after water tanks that were placed from which the poor got their water supply. The Kampong Kolam road was built at the turn of the 20th century.

Our walking tour ends at the junction of Pitt Street with Kampong Kolam. Over this short distance, we have gone through a multitude of cultures. We saw the earliest buildings in Penang, such as Fort Cornwallis, we also see the gradual change in street character, from British to Chinese to Hindus and Indian Muslims. On our other walking tours, we will retrace the other streets in George Town.

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