Background of the study area Introduction

Penang clan jetty () is a community village which has created over a century ago by Chinese immigrants. The Clan Jetties are located along the Weld Quay, close to Chulia Street (beside the Kapitan Kling Mosque). Everyone who lived on the same jetty had the same surname as they all came from the same fishing village in China. The reason why they have their own village is because in the past when they arrive, they did not have money to buy land and so decided to build their own villages on the sea; jetties. Currently there are eight surviving clusters of residential jetties andeven clans which are the Seh Lim Keo, Seh Chew Keo, Seh Tan Keo, Seh Lee Keo, Chap Seh Keo, Seh Yeoh Keo and Seh Koay Keo. Except for the Chap Seh Keo as it is a mixed surname jetty. Seh means family name which is so called surname in Hokkien. As for Keo, it means Jetty in Hokkien. Hokkien is one of the major chinesee dialects in Penang. These jetties have a total of about 3,000 residents whose homes are built on stilts over the sea and wooden platforms. The clan jetties have very unique architecture. The houses were built on hoc basis and close to each other, with some seperated by a small alley. This is allow sea breeze to pass through for the cooling effect. The village has been designated as heritages site by government and can be catogorize as major attraction places in Penang due to its attraction and culturals. Among all the clan jetties, Chew Jetty which is also the largest clan jetty is the main attraction places as it is located in the heritage area. It has set up interpretation and exhibition centres for tourist. Some residents have set up small business using their on ways at home such as souviner shops, a hairdresser (Shereens saloon), and some of the house offering home-stays and the boat which are now in use as water taxis. Besides that, Penang which well known as a heritage place , UNESCO World Heritage Listing, has encouraged Penang State Government to save the heritage buildings from being destroy for other purposes. NGOs also help jetties in conservation and marketing. In the past, most of the residence at clan jetties work as fishermen and they were a largely poor and marginalised urban population in Penang. However in recent decades, many clan members have been retrained and taken on jobs on other areas or sector like factories. The clan communities are largely Chinese who are day

labourers, stevedores factory workers, fishermen and work on boat (survey by Lewis 2005b). Morover, some of them have set up some business as mention earlier. As for younger generation, they no longer depend of the sea for living. They moved out of the settlement. Other than that, we still can see the residents fishing at the clan jetties using net. They catch the fishes for themselves for cooking. The land price near clan jetties is high even though the building are being made of wood with each house built wall-towall with other houses. This is due to its location as it locate on prime land right in the centre of Georgetown and near to the port and one of the major transportation, ferry terminal. However, some of the clans jetty have been affeced due to the coastal highway along the eastern and northern coasts. 4 jetty villages have since been demolished which two were demolished after fire fire hazard and the rest were demolished for new housing developments and partly for Jelutong Expressways. For more information, to this day none of the families pay any tax as they are not living on land.

Picture ?: The Weld Quay Clan Jetties Waterfront Settlemen Cited from: http://www.tourismpenang.net.my

Picture?: Walk way at Chew Jetty Cited from http://qiito.com

Picture: A woman gets her hair colored and trimmed at the jetty salon at Shereen's hair saloon. Cited from http://myloismylife.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-clan-jetties-in-penang-weldquay.html

Picture? Homestay at clan jetty Cited from http://qiito.com

History of the Clan Jetties

The origin and settlement history of these clan jetties is different from other jetty communities like the Noordin Ghaut Jetty, Peng Arn Jetty and Ban Liew Jetty which are located futher south, along the Jelutong seafront. In the past, there were more jetties along the Weld Quay waterfront like the Poh Lan/Lallang Jetty, the Hup Choon Jetty, old Lee Jetty and the old Ong Jetty. The clan jetties is a very interesting diversity places because we can see the differences and conflict amongst and within the clan jetties. Historicaly, it was built by chinese immigrants in mid-19th century. From outside of the jetties, we can see the jetties are a maze of ruined planks and resembling an old fading neighbourhood. The area was once reputed as dangerous and unsafe place because in the past, government has officially declared it as the center or hothouse of secret society gangsters, smuggling and drug addiction.

The residents of the clan jetties are descendants from Fukien Province in China. For example, they originated from the sou-eastern coast of China from Heng Nar Sia of Tung Arn, in the Perfecture of Chuanchou. When they emigrated, they literally situate themselves at the waterfront when establishing their overseas economic settlements and The Weld Quay provided a lot of work opportunities for them. Subsequently, the waterfront clan communities became very independent on the port activities, and were directly affected by the changes in the entreport trade and the changing port

policies. Up to the 1930s the roadside of the quay, in front of the jetties was used a s storage ground for firewood and charcoal. Some of the jetty clansmen like the Koays, Tans and Yeohs were also involved in the charcoal and firewood business. In the past, many of them are also work as a firsherman.

During the early time, British colonial masters actively encouraged Chinese to migrate to Malaya to fill the labour force (mostly in tin mines). This result in they emigrated as bachelors with their hia lee (clansmen). They tended to band together so when they reached here, they will help each other to find employment and accommodation. They also utilized clan ties for mutual help and protection. Most of them only intended to work hard for few years and use their accumulated saving money to go back to their hometown, China. However due to job opportunities in the flourishing port, many of them settled down there and began to arrange their families and kinsmen to immigrate back to China. This has encourage the immigration increased in the 19th and early 20th century and increased the demand for port labourers, especially for the coastal barter trade from 1933 onwards.

The clan jetties could not have been established without the entreport trade of Weld Quay and Weld Quays entreport trade would not have thrived without the coolie labour from the clan jetties. During that time, most of the residences in clan jetties work as cargo handlers, boatman, sampan (small boat) rowers and related casual odd job.

A community of sorts had existed among the clan labourers much earlier even though the jetty settlements became a place of residence only in the late 19th century. Before 1882, there were references that waterfront coolies lived in attap roofed, stilt houses immediately behind the original seafront. The seafront was much further inland, where currently is called Beach Street. This is well supported by some elderly jetty residents who remember their fathers accounts of their earlier residences in places like Tok Aka Lane, Acheen Street and Armenian Street. The earliest available account of the jetty resident was by Mohammed Naurgh (Weld Quay committee, 1927) who noted that he had known the place since 1917:

.. At the end of a great many of these piers are a lot of people living in houses there .. The people living there are Chinese. They have

temporary licences renewed annually .. Cited from The Jetty Dwellers of Penang

According to some of the residents, .. these jetties were built during the lau eng chiu (old British administration). We used them to berth our twakows and sampans. After a while, some gangs began monopolizing certain jetties. As each gang usually comprised of people of the same clan, soon certain clan laid claim to their sole use. Only sampans belonging to that clan and coolies of that surname used that particular jetty. Cited from The Jetty Dwellers of Penang

These jetties were first used for by the clan members to load and unload of goods and for the mooring of their sampans. Later a shed was built to provide shelter and rest for those waiting the arraival of the cargo sampans. Soon the shed was converted into a communal house for residence and from then, the number of houses increased.

The following is a personal account of this development by an elderly first generation immigrant who is no longer alive: .. My father told me that when he first landed here, there were no houses along the foreshore. The place was a char hionh (wood yard) littered with planks and firewood. The foreshore was always filled with sacks of cargo, interspersed with bullock carts and firewood dumps. There were only short stone jetties which were constantly surrounded by sampans and which were a hive of activity. According to my grandfather, at first there was only a kongsi choo (communal house) occupied by the bachelor labourer who had traveled here with their clansmen to seek their fortune, like my grandfather. If they earned enough, they would arrange for their families to emigrate and would then move out to a separate room. These rooms were erected as the need arouse. Soon the kongsi house looked like a long house with numerous adjoining rooms. After accumulating sufficient money, they would build their own house and move out. Cited from The Jetty Dwellers of Penang

The jetty settlements expanded in the early 20th century at the peak of the Nanyang immigration in the 1910s and later in the 1920s, with the immigration and settlement of the womenfolk. However, the jetties have no access for basic amenities like water and electricity. Ah Lee Poh remembered that: .. We only got our water and electricity after the Penang municipal election in 1957i. Khoo Yat See asked us to vote for him, promising us these two favours in return. We, the Chews, got the water and electricity first. Then other jetties also benefited .. Before the water came we had to carry the water in kerosene tins from the main road. For those who were lazy to go and bathe there, they used the seawater during high tide and washed themselves later with some clear tap water. There were also some who tried to earn something out of this by transporting the tap water to the respective houses and selling it at 15 cents for two kerosene tins or 25 cents for four. Cited from The Jetty Dwellers of Penang

Lim, Chew, Tan and Yeoh were the first jetties residential, however, before that Ongs and Lees already had their work jetties at the northern section of Weld Quay before them. Each clan have remained at their orginal location, but each of them have undergone changes as some of the clan jetty were destroyed due to war. The 42 houses of Lim Jetty were burnt during the Japanese bombing of Penang in December 1941. However, 26 of the houses were rebuild after the war. As for Yoeh Jetty, they once has the longest bridge, though it has not been rebuilt after collide by a ship.

The Koay Jetty was built in the 1950s, followed by the Lee and Mixed Surname Jetty, Chap Seh Keo in the 1960s. (the Mixed Surname Jetty was an extension of their jetty). Due to over-population at the jetties, and also there were squatters from other clans, a new jetties had been coming out which is the Mixed Surname Jetty. The Koay jetty does not extend out to the sea, as it is located on the mudflats. Due to its location; mangrove, the place now has become victims of redevelopment. The Lee Jetty was a replacement of the old Lee Jetty which was demolished to make way for the new ferry terminal. Accoring to journal of Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences, most of the Chinese Muslim from China stayed on Koay clan. Huat (2002)

states: The notice stated that since early times, the Koays have been Muslims. They have been steadfast in their prayer, and have not changed for generations... after China became a republic, many of their clan came to Southeast Asia and were scattered all over Singapore and Malaysia. However, due to the great differences in human relations and environment, they gradually departed from the Islamic teachings. However in the practice of remembering their ancestors, they will strictly observe halal food (no pork). This shows that they are following the fatwa of the past, and that they have not forgotten their origin Cited from Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences, 6(3): 408-416, 2012