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By A. Shukor Rahman.
From popular restaurants with their delicacies to sandy beaches, A. SHUKOR RAHMAN misses the simple pleasures of one of Penang's corners. THERE was a time not so long ago when Penang’s famed north coast, stretching from Tanjung Tokong to Teluk Bahang, was more natural and undeveloped. In fact, many old-timers today yearn for its once unspoilt beauty, quiet life and simple leisurely ways. Since the 1940s, Teluk Bahang was renowned for ikan terubok, ikan bilis, ikan gelama, sembilang and ikan duri. Old-timers here often claimed that one could catch fish with one’s bare hands during the Japanese Occupation! In the 1950s, there were only two small hotels in Batu Ferringhi, namely the Lone Pine and the Golden Sands (nothing to do with the Resort standing today). Most locals would usually head for Tanjung Bungah for their Sunday picnics, and tend to give Batu Ferringhi and Teluk Bahang a miss due to a lack of public transport.
The beach off the New Springtide Hotel and Restaurant (now defunct) was especially popular. At high tide, those taking a dip often had to share the water with ikan sembilang (catfish) fingerlings. There would be some co-existence if you leave them truly well alone. Three other well-known hotels in those days were the Park Hotel and the Garden Hotel in Tanjung Bungah, and the Mount Pleasure Hotel in Batu Ferringhi. I remember the Garden Hotel having several musang (civet cats) in cages as attractions in their garden, while The Mount Pleasure was popular with honeymooners. Sadly, all three no longer exist. There were also popular Hailam beach restaurants such as Sin Hai Kheng (New Seaview), Hollywood and Cameron which used to serve lip-smacking delicious prawn fritters and beef steaks. After some years, Cameron changed hands and the new name was Southern Cliff. I recalled an old friend, the late Ng Weng Chee, remarking that this name was bad feng shui. Sure enough, it failed to reach the heights once attained by its predecessor. Sin Hai Kheng had a larger area than Cameron and had a more laid-back atmosphere as you could enjoy your food and drinks on the beach under the shade of the ketapang (sea almond) trees. Hollywood, however, was more popular as a wedding reception venue. In those days, some Kelantan fishermen usually seek refuge in Penang during the monsoon season, and Tanjung Bungah was one of the beaches which became their temporary home. On days when they did not put out to sea, it was almost like a beach pesta as they busied themselves repairing their boats, nets and bubu traps to the blaring of music from transistor radios. Retired management executive Khoo Soo Hay,whooccasionally writes poetry and short stories, knows the old north coast well as he lived in Tanjung Tokong in the early 1950s. “I used to cycle to the Penang Free School (PFS) in Green Lane (now renamed Jalan Masjid Negeri) with my classmate, Elyas Omar, who was to become amayor of Kuala Lumpur. There was little traffic on the roads unlike today, ” said Khoo. (Another PFS contemporary was the late Tan Sri Azizan Zainal Abidin.) He recalled that there was a small Malay fishing village called Bagan Jermal between Kelawai and Pantai Molek until the 1970s. Today, development has wiped out the kampung and only the fire station remains. Khoo also remembered the nearby vegetable farms on both sides of the road which utilised humanwaste as fertiliser. Those passing by at critical momentswas sure to get a whiff of the overpowering odour. From a traditional fishing village, Tanjung Tokong, due to its proximity to George Town, soon grew to be much bigger than Tanjung Bungah, Batu Ferringhi and Teluk Bahang. Today, the traditional kampung is fighting desperately for heritage status as develop - ment under the Tanjung Pinang project will uproot and relocate the villagers to new homes. Clearly, the good old kampung ways are going for good. “In Batu Ferringhi, I used to see sea otters frolicking in the water or sunbathing on the rocks. But the advent of trawlers in the mid-1960s meant a depletion in fish stocks, and otters are no longer seen here,” said Khoo. A part of Batu Ferringhi was called Tanjung Huma and padi used to be planted here before World War Two. During the Occupation, the Japanese would seize most of the rice, leaving only a small amount for the farmers. Due to this, they refused to grow rice, even when the war ended. He also remembered camping at Jubilee Camp in Teluk Bahang during his scouting days. Tents, he said, were pitched among the many coconut trees while the former army guardhouse served as the scout master’s office. “On moonlit nights, you could see crabs scurrying on the beach, while near the water’s edge, there would be numerous horseshoe crabs which were busy mating. The eggs of the female were truly delicious when baked over an open fire.” Khoo said one could also see drag net (pukat tarik) fishermen in action in Teluk Bahang as they pulled their huge nets ashore. The fishermen would be singing and humming while tourists with cameras clicked away. Some years back, I spoke to Yusoff Mat, then one of the few remaining pukat tarik fishermen. He had come toTeluk Bahang from Sungai Semambu, Taiping, in 1941, and chose to stay for good. I asked him what songs they usually sang when hauling in their nets. His lips, stained red with betelnut juice, parted in a grin and said: “Actually, there is no particular song. While singing in Tamil, we would ask the crowd what they were gawking at when we were hard at work. Then the expletives would come in. We sang in a low tone and we dare not look up in case someone understood the mischievous lyrics and gave us a beating!” Villager Shahabuddin Rashid recalled that the old Teluk Bahang road ended at the present roundabout and the junction was known as “Simpang Tiga”, with the other two roads leading to the police station and to Sungai Pinang respectively. He said the fourth road, Jalan Hassan Abbas, leading to the fishermen’s jetty and to the Pantai Aceh National Park, was built in the 1960s. “Back in the 1950s, most of the houses here were of attap and wood, and the main mode of transport was the bicycle. "For entertainment, there was a travelling joget Kelantan troupe known as joget Pak Weh, which often performed near the present petrol station. Sometimes, there would also be a Siamese ramvong troupe.” In June 1985, villagers of Kampung Keling left their village for good as the site was taken over for a five-star hotel. Fortunately for the villagers, most of whom were fishermen, they were re-settled in nearby flats. The Mutiara Resort, Teluk Bahang’s first-ever hotel, opened for business in September 1987. Sometime in 2004, The Mutiara ceased operations. **Reproduced with permission. This article first appeared in the December 20, 2009 issue of the New Straits Times.
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