The forgotten Captain

Probably many do not realise about the existence of a piece of colonial history connected with Penang. This is reference to the Protestant Cemetery located at Farquhar Street that remained obscure from most local as well as tourist alike. This is understandable as  who the hell likes to visit a cemetery anyway?

 I  visited this location  a few days ago and  this probably  was my third visit here throughout my entire life.Each time I stepped into this melancholy site my feelings rolled into a horror  movie like site. There was practically no one else except me and the 'permanent residents' of this plot.An air of relative peace is what you can experience here. No wonder  'Rest In Peace' (RIP) is universally reserved for  the dead.



Here lies Capt Francis Light

 My thoughts did run a little wild on each visit here wondering  what will happen if those  'residents' were to come and greet this lone visitor? A reminiscent of a scene in P. Ramlee's classic comedy movie "Pendekar Bujang Lapok" usually came to mind in a situation like this. This piece of relic is located towards  the end of Penang Road  just outside the hustle and bustle of the many entertainment outlets and watering holes of Upper Penang Road.


Forgotten



A visit here  will give us a peep into the past of the situation on Penang island centuries ago.Sadly many went to meet  Almighty God at a  young age and why was this so? Some inscriptions  on the tombstones clearly revealed the answer to this.A dreadful disease was the cause. Our understanding these days will list Malaria as the main cause apart from  cholera  as the next .

About 1760 the directors of the East India Company (EIC) had a vision to establish a naval base and a trading post near the Straits of Malacca to counter the paramount Dutch trading  influence in the Malay Peninsular.The Dutch had their headquarters in Malacca and was the oldest European settlement here. Dutch influence subsequently ended in 1824 with the Anglo-Dutch treaty.

In 1771  Capt.Francis Light, the employee of a Madras firm and the captain of a trading vessel endeavoured to find a suitable site as a trading post. Between 1771 and 1776 Light had used the harbour of Ujung Salang or "Junk Ceylon" now known as Phuket.This harbour was dominated by the Sultan of Kedah upon the defeat of the Siamese by the Burmese and Junk Ceylon was used as a trading post. Then Warren Hastings decided to establish a trading base in this region and this induced Capt Francis Light, acting on behalf of the British EIC, to buy the island of Penang from Kedah. Penang became the oldest original British settlement in the Malay Peninsular. Annual payment  for the lease of this island and   Province Wellesley were made to the Sultan of Kedah and is still the practise to this very day.

The opening of this settlement attracted Indian traders from Madras and Chinese immigrants from China and Junk Ceylon where they were already mining tin there. From  1786 - 1805 Penang, which was a dependency of the Bengal administration,  was under scrutiny of the EIC as a trading post . By 1800 Province Wellesley was purchased by Light from the Sultan of Kedah and added to Penang. In 1867 the administration of the Straits Settlement was transferred from the government of India to the Colonial Office in London. By 1799 with the opening of the "Prince of Wales" island and the influx of Chinese immigrants  several Chinese secret societies were  established here. (read more....)

Many do not realise that  Capt Francis Light and  his countrymen together with some Chinese were laid to rest in this little plot of land.This relic has been left in the present condition for a long long time. Generally a man like Capt Francis Light, who had experienced considerable difficulties to procure Penang for the British on the whole, should have been accorded some respect rather than to be left here without any form of recognition by  his own countryman.

In such a case what do you expect from the local authorities when even the Brits don't bother? Have the Brits totally forgotten the man that planted the Union Jack on this island centuries ago? A restoration work was apparently carried out in 1894 about 117 years ago.Since then it was left  untouched.

Maybe the Brits should not be blamed  because no one bothered to bring this to their attention. Or there could  be some other factors  to make the British react in this manner.What more to say, actually we too face a similar trend here. As an example, like R.Arumugam our national goalkeeper and the legendary P.Ramlee suffered similar fate and it was only sometime after their demises did the government took recognition of their sacrifices and contribution to the entertainment world and national soccer scene. I guess this came a little to late.

Capt Francis Light in his quest to extend  the influence of the British Empire to this part of the world, died and was laid to rest in Penang a land far away from home. Also ever since that very time,  only an insignificant number of visitors came here to visit.  Maybe this is the norm that the dead should be left in peace.

I tend to wonder if ever there were any adventurous local Malay, in the olden days, like Light who  dare venture beyond our waters. Even though if there were to be one probably no one will ever know this as the maintenance of annal was definitely a weak point among us. Of course Dato' Azhar Mansor is one in the present era but then, his adventure was totally different as he did not annexe any territory for Malaysia.

Penang or Pulau Pinang was actually under the sovereignty of the Sultan of Kedah and no doubt that local inhabitants who were subjects of the Sultan of Kedah already existed on this island  long before Light even set foot here.Surely there  must have been some kind of history about Penang. Or can it be that the written records about Penang were hidden somewhere. But we can picture fishing villages dotting the whole coastline of this beautiful unpolluted island. So to take Capt Francis Light as the 'founder' is rather  incorrect. He was in fact instrumental in opening up Penang island as a trading post.

Strange though, we've got traces of old colonial graves in our country.Now, what about  the old graves of the locals residents of this island that died long before Light even came here? In this respect too where were those dead Muslim Sepoy garrisoned at Fort Cornwallis buried? In this case I must  assume the role of either 'Indiana Jones' or the Egyptian archaeologist Dr Hawas and go on a mission to uncover this mystery and truth and put our history in the right perspective.



The Governor of Penang

 Is it possible that our colonial masters intentionally eradicated traces of our own history for reasons best known to them? Only Almighty God knows, I don't know. Does someone out there know about this?

Oh yes!. It's 11 Aug 2011 today and on the same day in 1786 Capt.Francis Light raised the Union Jack in Georgetown. Penang was established as a EIC trading post by Capt Francis Light  over two centuries ago.


Nothing is known about the history of Penang prior to the opening by Capt Francis Light.I wish some genius can invent a time machine so we can go back into time and be present to witness the flag raising ceremony by Capt Light. At the same time rewrite the history of Penang.

Finally to all the 'residents' of this Protestant Cemetery and their 'taikoh' Capt Francis Light,you can all  completely "RIP" and fear not as your home was declared a heritage site and no sinister hands can ever take it away.You shall forever remain an integral part of the history of Georgetown, Penang.