'Carcasses' of the Penang Port

Thursday, May 17 2012

THE stark reality of a once-thriving port diminished in importance can be seen at low-tide at the clan jetties along Weld Quay (Pengkalan Weld) on the eastern coast of George Town. In the mudflats are "carcasses" of boats and other rotting structures that offer but “a glimpse of the old waterways and the various communities associated with historic George Town". (George Town World Heritage Site, pg 20). View gallery below.

The clan jetties, however, still lie at the heart of this quay where once a vibrant community flourished. “It is not possible to talk about the historic significance of the clan jetties without mentioning the historical and economic importance of Weld Quay, even though the Chinese multi-clan settlement is the historic landmark of Weld Quay.

"In fact their existence was symbiotic – the clan jetties could not have been established without the entreport trade of Weld Quay and Weld Quay’s entrepot trade would not have thrived without the coolie labour from the clan jetties who supplied almost all the labour of the quay as cargo handlers, boatman, sampan (small boat) rowers and related casual odd job workers. Together with their counterparts from India, the Chinese clan coolies were the lifebelt of the port’s entrepot trade in Weld Quay”. (Chan Lean Heng, 2002)

When the Penang Port was formally incorporated in the Malayan Customs Union, it officially closed all cargo handling by the clan communities. Meanwhile, the loss of Penang’s free port status in 1969 also affected the sampan ferry service as shipping vessels no longer found it attractive to stop by Penang.

These set off the gradual breakdown of the communal organisations and while there have been many attempts to revive them, at least in the form of socio-cultural activities, only the Chew Jetty continues to have any significant clan-related activities.

References

George Town World Heritage Site, Sympologic Sdn Bhd, 2008
Rediscovering Historic Communal Sites and Commemorating their Histories – The Case of the Clan Jetties (Chan Lean Heng, Paper presented at the Penang Story - International Conference 2002, April 18 to 21, 2002)

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