George Town, Penang

George Town Panorama (27 September 2009)
© Timothy Tye using this photo

Tools

George Town is the capital of Penang. It was established by Captain Francis Light in 1786, and named after the king of Great Britain, George III. During Francis Light's time, George Town occupied only up to Pitt Street and Chulia Street, beyond which were the hinterlands. In fact, the Protestant Cemetery which was the burial ground of the early British colonials, was located outside of town. People were already living outside of George Town, with pockets of settlements in Kuala Awal (now Kelawei) and Pulau Tikus, but these were not regarded as part of George Town proper until later on. To the south, there were settlements along the Sungai Pinang River and Batu Uban, some pre-dating the establishment of George Town itself.

View of George Town from Komtar (7 May 2010)
© Timothy Tye using this photo

Malaysians today often forget how old George Town is. It is older than all the major towns and cities of Malaysia including Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Ipoh, Taiping and Singapore. If you stand on some of the oldest parts of George Town, you are standing on a piece of land that has undergone different usage over the past 200 years. The same plot where your feet were planted may have been a wetland, farmland, countryside, workshop, warehouse, office and residential unit, depending on which part of history. This ever changing use of land is the result of the city continuing to expand outward. Beach Street, for example, is one of the oldest continuously commercial street in Malaysia, being older than those aforementioned cities.

Old and new architecture side-by-side in George Town

Old and new architecture side-by-side in George Town

The Prangin Canal, where old and new architecture stand side-by-side (19 March 2010)
© Timothy Tye using this photo

Tools

By the 1870's, it has reached the Prangin Canal, where Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong is located. today. Beyond that lies the countryside, filled with vegetable plots and cattle ranches. By the turn of the 20th century, most of the houses within the inner core of George Town, where the core zone of the World Heritage Site is located, have been rebuilt in bricks. The city limits have reached Perak Road.

Radiating out of the city like the fingers of an outstretched hand, are the five main arteries of George Town, from north to south they are Kelawei Road, Burmah Road, Macalister Road, Dato Kramat Road and Jelutong Main Road. These artery road provided a connection between the town and the rural hinterland, where most of its food was grown and raised.

"Countryside" at the start of the 20th century refers to places such as Green Lane and Jalan Air Itam beginning at the Green Lane junction. Until the mid 20th century, the junction of Green Lane is where Jalan Han Chiang is today. Its junction and that of Scotland Road were realigned in the 1960's to meet.

When Malaya achieved independence, George Town has reached the limit that remains until today, and the limits of George Town is determined by Green Lane, Scotland Road, Western Road, Gottlieb Road and Bagan Jermal. That's the limit of George Town, by definition, covering an area of 58 sq miles or 150 sq km, and holding a population of around 300,000 people.

George Town was granted city status - on par with the City of London and the City of Westminster, taking effect on 1 January, 1957, by royal decree from Queen Elizabeth II. A section of George Town was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 7 July 2008. The George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site does not cover the whole city: the core zone of the heritage site covers merely 109.38 hectares, surrounded by a 150.04 hectare buffer zone, a mere fraction of the City of George Town when it was declared in 1957.

A forgotten waterway of George Town (31 July 2010)
© Timothy Tye using this photo

Naturally the urban area continues to grow, spilling out beyond the boundary of George Town, but even in the early 1970's, places south of Gelugor is still considered hinterland. It was about then that the paddy fields in Sungai Nibong Kecil were filled up, making way from the new township of Bayan Baru. But this is not George Town. Rather, it is part of the Penang municipality. Even the City Council of George Town was replaced by the Municipal Council of Penang Island, so that the authority spills beyond the city limits to embrace the entire island.

Even as the urban area pushes south and west (nor much land left in the north for the city to grow that way), the coast also expanded outward. Land reclamation is not something new to George Town. It has been going on since the 1870's, when the coast of George Town was reclaimed, extending the shore beyond Beach Street. Subsequent reclamation created Victoria Street, Bridge Street (nowadays called Jalan CY Choy), and beyond. As Penang enters the 21st century, land reclamation is still ongoing, with much of the coastal areas of Penang created out of sea or wetlands.

As has been experienced in many cities, as it expands outwards, the inner core becomes a void. In the mid 1970's, the most vibrant part of Penang were along Penang Road. But by the late 1980's, the most happening places have moved out of the city centre. It takes much foresight from the city leaders to ensure that life is brought back into the city, without which it will certainly become very much a dead town at night.

Public Transport

George Town is served by Rapid Penang which has its terminus at Weld Quay Bus Terminal and at Komtar

Conveniences

There are a number of schools within George Town, including major ones such as St Xavier's Institution and Convent Light Street. The nearest market in George Town is at . Being the urban centre, it also has a number of mall and department stores including Prangin Mall, Komtar, Penang Times Square, Penang Plaza

Traffic

The routing of one-way streets in George Town has helped tremendously in improving traffic flow in George Town. Among the bottlenecks in the city includes Magazine Road, as traffic from the expressway enters the city; Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah upon entering Farquhar Street.