IN THE FIRST hundred years of Penang’s history as a British trading settlement, Muslim pilgrims in the region were transported by Arab and Indian Muslim sailing ships. These called at Aceh, Penang, Malacca and Singapore. Others involved in carrying aspiring pilgrims to Jeddah at this time included the Marraikayars, who regularly traded between Tamilnadu and the Straits of Malacca.

Around 1821, a wealthy Singaporean Arab merchant named Sayyid Ahmad bin Abd ar-Rahman al-Sagoff, better known as Nongchik, purchased two steamers named Sri Mekah and Sri Juddah to transport merchandise between Sumatra and the surrounding islands. The same steamers were also used for the Jeddah–Singapore pilgrim run, stopping in Penang to pick up passengers. Sayyid Ahmad al-Sagoff also chartered ships and his shipping line carried most of the South-East Asian pilgrim traffic.

This large-scale introduction of steamships reduced the duration of travel to Jeddah drama-tically from two or three months to only two weeks, and naturally enough, pilgrim traffic from the Malay–Indonesian archipelago increased consi-derably. However, pilgrims were often transported on cargo ships together with husbandry, and the over-crowding and poor conditions sometimes led to epidemic outbreaks on the ships.

The Blue Funnel ships that were managed by Mansfield commenced pilgrim runs from around 1875 on the Straits–Jeddah route; by 1888, Sayyid Omar Al-Sagoff of Singapore, who was described as the chief pilgrim sheikh of the Malays and closely linked with Blue Funnel, had a virtual monopoly over the pilgrim route. Every pilgrim from “Java or the Malay States of whatever nationality, British, Dutch, or Independent” deposited his return passage money with Sayyid Omar Al-Sagoff, who was also the Netherlands Vice-Consul in Singapore.

Concurrently, the Blue Funnel line carried most of the pilgrims to and from the Straits. This was interrupted during the First World War (1914–1918), and before they resumed service, the Blue Funnel faced stiff rivalry from Japanese and Indian shipping companies, the latter owned by a tycoon name Namazi. This resulted in drastic reductions in the return fare.

Pilgrims from Kedah also went to haj via Penang. A halfway house was established for these pilgrims at Limbong Kapal in 1916 to accommodate them before their departure to Penang. Until the Great Depression of 1930, many pilgrims from the peninsula and Singapore made the voyage to the Holy Land. But even after that, the numbers were not negligible. In 1937, Jaafar bin Jusoh Al-Haj and some of his friends travelled with the Cyclops (estimated weight of 12,000 tonnes), a Blue Funnel ship which left Singapore to call on Port Swettenham in Selangor and Penang harbour before departing for Colombo in Ceylon. It had on board 1,240 pilgrims of which 790 were from Singapore and 450 from Penang.

The pilgrim runs were again interrupted in 1939 when the Second World War broke out. Blue Funnel withdrew from the pilgrim trade in 1962 with the sale of the Gunung Djati to Indonesia.

In Penang, a haj ticketing agency was established to sell Mansfield tickets for the Blue Funnel voyages to Jeddah. The first to run it was a tycoon, Haji Pa’wan Abdul Kadir Marican (Pawan Abdul Cader) whose nickname was Pa’wan Keling. He was the eldest grandson of Captain Kling and the nadzir (superin-tendent) of the Kapitan Kling Mosque in George Town. Pa’wan Kling was acknowledged as the founder and main donor of two mosques in Penang: the Masjid Kampung Jawa off Dato’ Keramat Road and the Masjid Kampong Bharu at Air Itam Road, both dating back to the 1860s. When Haji Pa’wan Abdul Kadir passed away just before the First World War, the ticketing agency passed into the hands of a jeweller by the name of Haji Abdul Wahab bin Othman.

Haji Abdul Wahab died soon after the war and Haji Hamzah bin Haji Abdul Rahman was given the haj 

ticketing agency. When Haji Hamzah stopped working with it, another haj ticketing agency was established with Muhammad Ma’som bin Shaikh Abdul Manan as manager and Syed Ahmad bin Omar Almashoor as assistant manager with S. Zakaria Basheer & Sons acting as guarantor.

Before the Second World War, the government office issuing passports in the city of George Town and the Northeast district of the island was also in charge of collecting taxes and other exactions from pilgrims departing from Penang. This service was eventually taken over by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Penang.

After the Second World War, Sayyid Ahmad Almashoor took over the haj ticketing agency from Pak Ma’som, the Mandailing Pilgrim Sheikh, as manager, with Haji Omar bin Zakaria Basheer as his assistant. Haji Omar was replaced in the same year by Haji Fadzil Basheer because of the former’s ill health. Haji Fadzil in turn did not hold office for long and gave way to Sayyid Ahmad, who stayed on until his death in 1961. Sayyid Ahmad’s son Sayyid Omar then took over until 1972.

The Kapal Haji or pilgrim ships apparently resumed service in 1947. In that year, the Tyndareus stopped at Penang on its way to Jeddah with about 600 pilgrims including those who boarded the ship from Singapore. On board was Ahmad Fuad bin Hassan, an Islamic cleric (ulama) who held important religious positions in Penang. He was also a well-known politician of the time.

The following year, the number of pilgrims increased to 3,148 of which 1,965 were from Singapore. The first ship that called at Penang was the Ajax, followed by the Agamemnon. That year, a total of five pilgrim ships left Penang. Of the 1,025 spots on the Ajax allocated for the northern states, only 308 boarded from Penang and the remaining 800 took the ship from Singapore. During the same year, a total of 1,100 pil-grims left on the Agamemnon.  

As Singapore was given first preference to seats on the pilgrim ships, many pilgrims from the northern states of the Peninsula would book their departure from Singapore so as to be sure of a seat; this of course affected the business of the Sheikh Hajis in Penang. In order to check this leakage, pilgrim agents (wakil Kapal Haji) were instructed to issue tickets on a “first come, first served” basis.

That same year saw the launch of Blue Funnel’s Clytoneus, which was the first of the Mark II “A” class ships specially-built with accommodations for pil-grims. These were probably the first ships built with extra facilities specifically for the pilgrim run. The Tyndareus was converted for commercial service for use on the pilgrim service in 1949. At that time it took 13 days to travel from Penang to Jeddah.

 

The height of the haj business was in the 1950s. By that time, the majority of the pilgrims were from Kelantan. Their relatives came along by the busloads to send them off and shop in Penang. Due to the increase in the Straits pilgrim trade in the early 1950s, Blue Funnel’s partner, China Navigation Co., entered the service with the Anking and Anshun sailing alongside the Tyndareus.

 

In 1953, the Anking and Anshun (Kapal Haji Malaya) only sailed with blue funnels in order to allow the conservative Malay Pilgrim authorities to grow comfortable to the sudden change from their regular transport; Blue Funnel ships had, after all, been transporting their pilgrims for 75 years by then. Later on, they used China Navigation’s black funnels instead. From 1960, their Kuala Lumpur sailed alongside the Gunung Djati of Blue Funnel. China Navigation withdrew from the pilgrim trade in 1970, selling the Kuala Lumpur in the process.

 

Sayyid ‘Alwi al-Hadee, a proponent of the Kaum Muda reformist movement, performed the haj in 1954. He described the scene at the Penang harbour:

 

“On Monday morning 14 June 1954, one could see at the Penang wharf area, Malay people, men and women, young and old, big and small, gathered to send off and to bid bon voyage to more than 1,184 aspiring Hajis, who are departing for the holy lands in order to fulfil the haj on that day with the ship, M.Y. Angkeng, that is the third haj ship to leave from here. Those who gathered in numbers included relatives, family and friends of those departing.

 

As has become the norm with the Malay people, those who came to send off those leaving for the holy lands outnumbered those departing. Hence we find the crowd at the time was as many as 10,000 people. This situation, in the author’s view, is absolutely marvellous, and gives great meaning to the spirit of comradeship and religion to us, the Malay nation, as that situation reflects, amongst our people the Malays, the feeling of compassion, affection and the desire to respect and honour this sacred and noble practice.”

 

Sayyid ‘Alwi observed that “Aside from the third class or deck, there is also first class and second class or what is called ‘Steerage Class’ with the condition of its space well organised and clean.” Steerage referred to the part of the ship allotted to passengers travelling at the cheapest rate. Going by Sayyid ‘Alwi’s description, the pilgrim ships in the 1950s were far more comfortable compared to previous pilgrim ships, where passengers and cargoes shared places.

 

“Formerly the ships that were used to bring aspiring pilgrims were merely ships for carrying cargo, as such the ship was merely good and spacious for cargo only, such as baggage or animals such as cows, goats and others like it. However, the ships carrying the aspiring pilgrims today (1955) are no longer like that.”

 

 

Acheen Street which had been the centre for spice traders since the late 18th century lost this position when the Dutch siege on Aceh kept the Achenese out of the lucrative spice trade. However, it did not spell the end for Acheen Street, which was the site of the Qadi’s office, bookstores, printing presses, and an Arab school in the early 20th century. The printing industry in Penang spearheaded by the Jawi Peranakan, Arabs and Rawa catered to the Jawi-reading population of the northern states of the peninsula, southern Thailand and Sumatra.

 

Acheen Street was given a second lease of life when the haj business flourished in Penang and haj-related businesses expanded to Lumut Lane, Kampong Kolam and neighbouring areas.

 

As the industry boomed in the 1950s, a large part of the Acheen Street community benefited from the influx of local tourists. The Acheen Street area became known as “The Second Jeddah”. It was normal for the travellers to stop over for three days while their passports were processed on their behalf. In the meantime, they went shopping in town, had their currency changed, and spiritually prepared themselves with prayers and recitation of the Quran at the Mesjid Melayu.

 

Syed Ali Almufathil, the son-in-law of Syed Ahmad Al-Mashoor, said in an interview that, “During each haj season, we would charter three to six ships from Mansfield and each ship would carry about a thousand passengers.”

 

In order to secure the numbers (jama’ah Haji), a few Sheikh Hajis from Makkah would come to Penang on steam ships and make friends with the local Sheikh Hajis. Many of these Sheikh Hajis from Makkah were originally from the Dutch East Indies and Malaya.

 

These Sheikh Hajis would take the local jama’ah Haji to the holy lands and manage their affairs there. The local Sheikh Hajis received commi-ssion from the Sheikh Hajis from Makkah. (In fact), the management of haj is a business.

 

Haji Yusof Rawa gave a somewhat different perspective, that some of the Sheikh Hajis regarded their work as lillah (for the sake of Allah) or as charity and received buah tangan (gifts) from the pilgrims. Many local Sheikh Hajis were Jawi Peranakan 

 

“The ‘pilgrim brokers’ provided travel-related services for Muslims from other parts of Malaya, Indonesia, and even Thailand, who found Penang a convenient port of departure.”

 

Some pilgrims stayed four to five days, or up to two weeks depending on their shipping schedule. Pilgrims would also buy textiles, books in Jawi and Arabic, and Quran printed by Persama Press.

 

According to Haji Yusuf Rawa, pilgrims would rent rooms in the lodges at Acheen Street, or in Chinese-operated hotels in George Town. Sheikh Hajis from various ethnic groups throughout the Malay-Indonesian archipelago could be found in Acheen Street, just like in Singapore. Haji Yusof Rawa noted that there was a Kerinchi Sheikh Haji in Penang.

 

During the haj season practically every house on Acheen Street was rented out to pilgrims and the street was transformed into a haj village (perkampungan). A worker with a travel agency said that when they “ran out of space, the men would have to sleep in the (Acheen Street) mosque”. Indeed during the haj seasons, the Acheen Street Mosque was full of hundreds if not thousands of people.

 

The most famous of the Arab-run pil-grim agencies was Jeddah Pilgrim Ticket Agency at 87 Acheen Street belonging to Syed Ahmad Al-Mashoor. His father-in-law, Sheikh Zachariah Basheer, acted as guarantor for ships which were chartered from the Mansfield company.

 

Syed Ahmad Al-Mashoor was known to some as “ketua, kepala atau Haji Besar di Acheen Street (chief, head or Big Haji on Acheen Street).” He had about 10 people working under him as temporary Sheikh Haji during the haj seasons. These Sheikh Hajis arranged pilgrim accommodation along Acheen Street and in Chinese-owned hotels. 

 

“Whoever wants to perform haj has to see a Sheikh Haji, and whoever wants to buy a ticket, has to see Syed Ahmad Mashoor. Once the pilgrims have boarded the ships, the business of the Sheikh Haji in managing the affairs of the pilgrim is done.” 

 

Two factors contributed to the demise of the haj industry in Acheen Street—the setting up of Lembaga Urusan Tabung Haji (Pilgrim Management Fund) in 1969 and the phasing out of “haj ships” with “flying ships”. At the end of the 1960s, the number of pilgrims travelling by sea started to fall due to the competitiveness of air travel, with low-cost flights and new facilities such as the airport at Jeddah (KAIA) which boasted a purpose-built haj terminal.

 

Great Malaysia Lines belatedly entered the pilgrim service in 1970 with the Malaysia Kita, followed by the Malaysia Raya. This operation, however, seemed ill-fated; its two ships were either burned up or broken up within a relatively short time – the Malaysia Kita in 1974 and the Malaysia Raya in 1976.

 

Be that as it may, it was the 1975 closure of the dominant Jeddah Pilgrim Ticket Agency that sealed the fate of the haj business in Acheen Street. The end of the haj business also brought to an end Penang’s place as a centre for Muslim networks in South-East Asia.  

** Republished with permission. This article first appeared in the October 2010 issue of the Penang Economic Monthly. Abdur-Razzaq Lubis is a writer and the Malaysia and Singapore representative to the Mandailing All Clans Assembly.

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