GEORGE TOWN: This Chinese New Year may be the last time residents of the Pengkalan Weld coastal settlement celebrate together before relocating to make way for redevelopment.
For Tan Lynna, 46, a third-generation resident, the tradition has always been simple, walking around the neighbourhood to exchange greetings, share drinks and snacks and play the occasional card game.
“We exchange cookies and delights. A few days ago we had a big celebration. Everyone chipped in for a kampung dinner.
“It was special and sad too, as we will not be living here next year,” she said.
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Despite the impending move, daily life is still what it has been for decades.
Tan, who sells rougan (barbecued dried meat), recalled growing up here in the 1980s, meeting friends at a small sundry shop run by a neighbour known as Ah Teck.
“We used to gather there to buy sweets and play hide-and-seek nearby,” she said.
The shop’s owner, Phuah Eng Teck, 74, said his father started the business about 50 years ago.
He now runs it with his wife, living upstairs.
“With relocation coming, we reduced our stock and only keep essentials like eggs and sardines.”
Phuah said he would miss the close ties among residents.
“I’ve seen many of them grow up, including Lynna,” he added.
Housewife Lee Siew Im, 65, who moved there as a child, remembered a time without electricity or tap water.
“We collected water in buckets from a tap. My father was a fisherman and built us a hut here, which we later improved,” she said.
Lee now lives with her husband and her niece’s family.
“It’s a simple life. I ride my motorcycle around and chat with neighbours I’ve known since young,” she said, adding that she would miss the daily interactions.
About 200 families here are preparing to relocate from the settlement, known in Penang Hokkien as Ang Theng Kak (Red Lamp Corner).
Originally a community in makeshift, haphazardly built homes, residents were later granted temporary occupancy licences and paid annual fees of about RM100 to RM150.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the families are slated to move to the nearly completed Cecil Residensi affordable housing project at Gat Lebuh Cecil in June or July.
“After the relocation, PDC plans to redevelop the state-owned land in accordance with heritage guidelines,” he said, referring to the Penang Development Corporation.
He said the residents would get replacement units under a one-to-one arrangement.
