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Impacts of British on Penang

 1) ECONOMIC

    Penang is a state where it consists of two parts which are Penang Island with Georgetown as its capital city and Seberang Perai or previously known as Province Wellesley. In terms of economic, Georgetown became a trading centre and people can get a lot of goods such as tea from China, black pepper and textiles from India. Georgetown also became a port for merchants to get source of food, water, as a place to repair their ships and as a shelter while waiting for the climate change for monsoon season.

            



    Other than that, in order to encourage more people to live there as settlers, British did not impose any taxes at all. Due to that, the population in Penang Island grew to 10 000 people during those times. Gradually, Penang became a transportation route to export other resources such as tin and rubber to other country such as Europe. Today, Penang Port is still operating and it even becomes the oldest and longest established port in Malaysia. Hence, Penang Port is crucial for the purpose of supporting economy in Malaysia because it connects between sea and land transport. 





2) EDUCATION + SOCIAL

    The old education system in Malaya has went through significant changes after the arrival of British. Previously, education system in Malaya was more to non-formal because the religious school or sometimes, Malay people called it as sekolah pondok did not teach the students to read, to write nor any kind of job skills unlike schools that exist nowadays. British administration has brought different views because there are four types of school systems which are Malay Vernacular School, Chinese Vernacular School, Tamil Vernacular School and English School. Among the three vernacular schools, British only focused on Malay Vernacular School compared to the other two. However, the reason why British tried to please the Malays was just for the sake of colonial politics. 

    Apart from that, the establishment of English schools in Malaya began earlier than vernacular schools. In fact, in 1816, Penang Free School was the first English school that established in Penang and even in entire Malaya. During that era, the school curriculum was based on Britain curriculum because the British wanted to meet the needs of British policies. In addition, the use of English language in schools give better opportunities for the students to secure their future in terms of education as well as careers. On the other hand, since the four school systems were separated from one another, it was hard for the Malay, Chinese and Indian children to intermix with each other. So, it is clearly a downside for Malaya as there was less spirit of patriotism towards the country as a whole. 



    As for the social, the reason why British introduced or implemented western education system in English schools because they wanted to let people fill in the non-high positions such as clerks, accountants, technicians and others in the modern bureaucracy system. 


3) CULTURE

   It can be said that Penang is considered as multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious settlements in Malaysia. Since Georgetown became a port of East India Company (also known as EIC) in 1786, Penang has attracted traders and merchants from northern Europe, North America as well as from South, Southeast and East Asia. Subsequently, Penang Island has evolved into cosmopolitan port-city. As a newly established settlement, Francis Light wanted to maintain law and order as there was impermanent population there. If there were no policy and law courts regarding any crimes or wrongdoing, the culprit would be escaped unnoticed. So, Francis Light initiated this action to ensure the peacefulness within the multi-ethnic population. 






Nowadays, other than Malay, Chinese and Indian, there are also other population such as Siamese, Eurasian and other expatriate communities. Expatriate refers to someone who lives in other country with the purpose of working or just temporarily. Since there are a lot of races live in Penang, hence the cultures are also diverse. The racial diversity in Penang is indeed one of its robustness because it offers a colorful and rich sociocultural traits and heritages. Although the various ethnic groups living close from one to another but the people live in harmonious and peaceful environment.


 

 

References:

British in Malaysia. Retrived from http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Malaysia/sub5_4a/entry-3619.html

Dasar Pendidikan. Retrived from https://sites.google.com/site/dasarpendidikan456/3-0-sejarah-awal-pendidikan-kebangsaan-di-malaysia

Ooi, K.G (2015). Disparate Identities: Penang From A Hitorical Perspective, 1780-1941. Kajian Malaysia, Vol. 33, Supp. 2, 2015, 27–52. School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia. 


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