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Friday Nov 15, 2024
Saturday, 18 October 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Penang and asked the receptionist to tell us a few places to see. Among the places she mentioned was Clan Jetties. She briefly told us they were houses built on stilts. She gave us direction s to get there. We were intrigued to see them. We jumped the bus and were soon at the waterfront.
As the name suggests, they are a row of jetties occupied by different clans who had migrated from the mainland of China sometime in the 19th century. As they came they had been in crammed surroundings in land close to the jetties.
They were different community groups and took up residence in crowded houses. Soon the government reclaimed land from the shallow seafront extending the shore outward. Earlier, boats used to land in this area with their cargo and passengers. As the business expanded and more vessels started coming in, more jetties were built.
People from different clans started working at the jetties. The Lims, Chews and Lees, for example, were directly involved in harbour activities, offering their services as boatmen in transporting cargo from the bigger steamships to the shore. The jetties thus came to be identified and dominated by particular clan members for the loading and unloading of goods and the mooring of their boats.
Meanwhile, the Tans, Yeohs and Koays were more involved in the firewood trade and the making of charcoal. The raw material for charcoal making came from the mangrove that lined the shore which co-existed with the jetties.
Simple sheds were built to provide shelter and rest for those awaiting the arrival of the bigger cargo. These were soon converted to communal houses for people to reside. With the increasing numbers of immigrants the number of houses increased. The occupants of the clan jetties were descendants from the coastal villages of Fujan Province in China.
It was typical of early Chinese immigrants to band together with clansmen from a particular clan living in a particular area. To this day the Jetties are identified by the names of different clans. The six in existence are the Ong Jetty, Lim Jetty, Chew Jetty, Tan Jetty, Lee Jetty and Yeoh Jetty.
Of these the Chew Jetty is the biggest and most visited. It offer a boat shuttle service for visitors to visit ships parked in the middle of sea lanes
The Clan jetties have somehow survived in spite of efforts by the authorities to demolish them on the ground that they are squalid urban slums, In fact, several have been destroyed but the resilient spirit of the clans pulled them through the hard times and some were revived and reconstructed.
Though the British authorities assured them, the clans did not get permanent residency. Following the independence of Malaya they were given Temporary Occupation Licenses. These have to be renewed annually.
The Clan Jetties are like fingers that jut into the sea and line the waterfront of George Town. They have lived as a closely-knit community for over a hundred years fighting hard to preserve a traditional lifestyle in an urban setting. The temples are a common feature in the vicinity of the Clan Jetties.
The unique waterborne community has been accepted as a part of George Town’s cultural heritage legacy.
