Publikasi yang akan datang (awal 2023) December 1, 2022 – Posted in: Excerpts

Suami Isteri Naik Haji 1939–1940: Kembara Raja Shahabuddin dan Rahmah Rihlah atau kisah naik haji ini merakamkan petualangan Raja Shahabuddin dan isterinya Rahmah yang menaiki kapal terakhir ke Jeddah sebelum pecahnya ‘Peperangan Besar Eropah’ (Perang Dunia Kedua) sembari ‘U-boats’ (kapal selam Jerman) menjadi jerung yang bermaharajalela di lautan lepas. Karya Raja Shahabuddin yang ditinta dalam aksara Jawi dan dicetak pada 1940 mengisi lompang (lacuna) periwayatan perjalanan haji dari Tanah Semenanjung ke sekujur tanah gurun merupakan…

Memories of Dr Wu Lien-Teh Plague Fighter -Excerpt July 14, 2016 – Posted in: Excerpts

Dr Wu Lien-Teh was a Penang-born Cambridge-trained physician and scientist. In 1910, he was sent to Manchuria on a harsh winter’s day to combat the pneumonic plague that claimed over 60,000 lives. Dr Wu’s role in eradicating the disease was undoubtedly a phenomenal feat in Chinese medical history. In 1912, Dr Wu established the Manchurian Plague Prevention Service. He began to modernise China’s hospitals and came to be regarded as the founding father of modern medical services, medical education…

Review of ‘The Chulia in Penang:Patronage and Place-Making around the Kapitan Kling Mosque 1786–1957’ by Barbara W. Andaya August 25, 2015 – Posted in: Excerpts, Reviews

The Chulia in Penang: Patronage and Place-Making around the Kapitan Kling Mosque 1786–1957. Khoo Salma Nasution Penang: Areca Books, 2014, 560 pages, 200+ maps, photographs and illustrations, ISBN 978-967-5719-15-8. RM$135.00 It is very hard in this short review to do justice to the years of meticulous research and the personal commitment that will make The Chulia in Penang required reading not only for Penang specialists but for those working on Malaysia, British imperialism, and Indian…

Review of ‘Heritage Tree of Penang’ by S.K. Ganesan – Posted in: Excerpts, Reviews

The Gardens’ Bulletin, Singapore Vol. 64(1 ) 2012 ISSN 0374-7859 Centenary Issue, Singapore Botanic Gardens pp. 271—272 BOOK REVIEW. Heritage Trees of Penang. Simon Gardner, Pindar Sidisunthorn & Lai Ee May. 2011. Penang, Malaysia: Areca Books. 27.3cm x 21.7cm, hardcover. 397pp. ISBN 978-967-5719-06-6. Price RM 100 This is a superb piece of work. The book weaves strands of history, botany, culture and the visual arts into a rich tapestry on the subject of the…

Index for Living Pathways: Meditations on sustainable cultures and cosmologies in Asia January 16, 2014 – Posted in: Excerpts

Index A academicself 25, 113 Ainu 25, 67 American Dream: 35, 41 the underside of 37, 41–43, 59, 132 Americanisation: 41 of the world 37, 41 the harms of 43–45 Americanism: 35 unsustainability of 36 in relation to Asia 41–45 (Also see ‘Asia’) animism 8 Anwar Fazal 67 Asia: author’s study of xvii, 1, 29–31, 107, 113 Asian scholarship 53–55, 109 cosmologies within 73–75, 87, 99 (Also see ‘cosmology’) cultures of 11, 17 development in…

Introduction to Book Four of “Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India” February 15, 2013 – Posted in: Excerpts

(please click here to find more excerpts from the book) Book Four is entitled: “Suffolk House” Perhaps more than any other early building in Penang, Suffolk House represents the high expectations that were held for the island as the fourth presidency of India. Indeed it seems to have mirrored the changing fortunes of the island: planned at a time when the promise of Penang becoming the principal British naval hub on the eastern side of India…

Introduction to Book Three of “Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India” – Posted in: Excerpts

Book Three is entitled: “Government House” (To read the entire introduction to Book Three, please click here) Francis Light’s many years of experience as a trader in the eastern seas, together with his repeated personal recommendations for the utilization of Penang as an East India Company port, led to his being charged with settlement and superintendence of the island in 1786. The position carrie far more responsibility than he had known before. Although an arduous and…

Introduction to Book Two of “Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India” – Posted in: Excerpts

Book Two is entitled: “The Administrators” (To read the entire introduction to Book Two, please click here) In the previous book, the interplay between the East India Company’s administration and the British government was briefly touched upon, as was the prevailing politics at the turn of the nineteenth century. It is helpful here to offer an overview of how the East India Company administration operated both at home and in its territories. The word ‘government’ is…

Introduction to Book One of “Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India” – Posted in: Excerpts

Book one is entitled: “Ships for a Presidency” (To read the entire introduction to Book One, as well as the book’s general Introduction, please click here) It may appear unusual to begin a history of early Penang with a study of shipbuilding. However, in the days when slow, timber sailing vessels were the mainstays of international trade, a primary requirement was for regular and safe stopover points: sea ports with an ability to provide a facility…

“Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India” Geoff Wade’s Foreword – Posted in: Excerpts

(please click here to find more excerpts from the book) Geoff Wade is from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore The island of Penang has long attracted – through its fascinating streetscapes and scenery, its diverse populace, cultural heterogeneity and its vibrant history – quite an amount of attention from writers, popular and academic. Historians have been no exception to this and a wide selection of studies has been published examining diverse aspects of the Penang past.…