Kampung tales revisited

(From second left) Chris, Tang and Kuah showing a few illustrations from the book during the launch. With them is the Pantai Molek Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) chairman Sean Lee (left).

THE new book, Mount Erskine and Bagan Jermal Kampung Stories, highlights what life was like in the olden days, in these parts of Penang.

Published by the service centre of Pulau Tikus assemblyman Chris Lee, it contains the fond recollections of local residents and some lesser known facts.

Also spread across its 48 pages are illustrations depicting the many villages and plantations that previously existed within the two areas.

Lee described the book as a meaningful community project, and credited his predecessor Yap Soo Huey for initiating it several years back.

“The world is constantly changing. As new generations come up, we were concerned that these old stories might disappear.

“Some of us don’t even know about things that happened just a generation or two ago. Thus, when I took over, I saw the need to preserve these stories.

“It is important to know where we came from and appreciate the hardships that our forefathers went through to build a better place for us to live in today.

“Pulau Tikus today may be an affluent place with shopping malls and more, but it wasn’t always like that,” Lee said during the recent launch.

Content was produced by research leader Kuah Li Feng.

She and her team went around to document the memories of elderly folk over several months.

Based on this, artist Tang Yeok Khang drew the illustrations, trying to re-imagine the life, sights and sounds the long-time inhabitants reminisced about.

Kuah pointed out, “There is very little written records on these. We hope the book gives modern generations a better idea of how their forefathers lived, in an area between the hills and sea.”

In the book, one Hong Seng Estate resident recalled how they used to fetch water from wells as there was no piped water, while kerosene lamps lighted the homes.

Largely forgotten now is the swimming pool on Blueberry Hill in Mount Erskine, which was actually an old grave that would fill with rainwater and large enough for children to swim in.

The hill was so named because of the sweet wild berries that used to grow there.

During school holidays or weekends, many would climb the area to have picnics, fly kites or watch the British ships come into port in the distance.

Kampung Bagan Jermal, near the shore of Gurney Drive, used to be a base for trawlers to unload fish and take on supplies with the help of villagers who went out to meet the large boats in their sampans.

One resident also recalls the area being full of fruit trees like rambutan prior to the construction of Sunrise Tower, the Gurney Drive food court and later Gurney Plaza.

There were also many vegetable farms that sprouted up on either side of the Tanjung Tokong main road, up till Kampung Masjid and Hailam Chun further inland.

For more on these, get a copy of the Mount Erskine and Bagan Jermal Kampung Stories book for free from Lee’s service centre, or the Penang Institute.

Lee said 2,000 copies had been printed and some would be distributed to local schools and tourism offices.