Tan Malaka was in Penang

Tan Malaka (1897-1949)

Tan Malaka (June 2, 1897 – February 21, 1949) was an Indonesian nationalist activist and communist leader. A staunch critic of both the colonial Dutch East Indies government and the republican Sukarno administration that governed the country after the Indonesian National Revolution, he was also frequently in conflict with the leadership of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), Indonesia's primary radical political party in the 1920s and again in the 1940s.

A political outsider for most of his life, Tan Malaka spent a large part of his life in exile from Indonesia, and was constantly threatened with arrest by the Dutch authorities and their allies. Despite this apparent marginalization, however, he played a key intellectual role in linking the international communist movement to Southeast Asia's anti-colonial movements. He was declared a National Hero of Indonesia by the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) in 1963

Tan Melaka was in Penang from 1925 to 1942

Early life and education

A member of the Minangkabau ethnic group, Tan Malaka was born in Suliki, West Sumatra in 1894 to Rasad Chaniago and Sinah Simabur. His given name was Datuk Ibrahim gelar Sutan Malaka, but he was known both as a child and as an adult as Tan Malaka, an honorary name inherited from his mother's aristocratic background.

From 1908 to 1913 he attended a teacher training school established by the Dutch colonial government in Bukittinggi, the intellectual center of Minangkabau culture. Here he began to learn the Dutch language, which he was to teach to Indonesian students. In 1913 he received a loan from the elders of his home village to pursue further education in the Netherlands, and from then until 1919 he studied at the Government Teachers Training School (Rijkskweekschool) in Haarlem.

It was during this stay in Europe that he began to study communist and socialist theory, and through interaction with both Dutch and Indonesian students became convinced that Indonesia must be freed from Dutch rule through revolution. In his autobiography Tan Malaka cited the Russian Revolution of 1917 as a political awakening, increasing his understanding of links between capitalism, imperialism, and class oppression.

He became seriously ill with tuberculosis in the Netherlands, which he attributed to the cold climate and unfamiliar diet. This was the beginning of lifelong health problems that frequently interfered with his work.

Rise in the communist party

His studies in the Netherlands completed, Tan Malaka returned to Indonesia in November 1919. He took a job teaching the children of contract coolies on a Swiss- and German-owned tobacco plantation on the northern east coast of Sumatra, near Medan. During his stay in Sumatra, he first started working with the Indies Social Democratic Association (ISDV), which later became the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), and published his first articles in the ISDV newspaper. Tan Malaka came into frequent conflict with the European management of the plantation over the content of his lessons for the students, the liberal political columns he wrote for local newspapers, and his work as a labor union activist, especially in a 1920 strike of railroad workers.

Frustrated by his position in Sumatra, he left for Java in late February 1920. He stayed initially in Yogyakarta but soon moved to Semarang after being asked to set up a "People's School" for the nationalist organization Sarekat Islam (SI). This school, which was later duplicated in many other cities on Java, was intended by SI to provide a useful education while instilling nationalist pride in its students.

Semarang during Tan Malaka's stay there was a major center of nationalist and communist politics, and he quickly became deeply engaged in political work there. He held leadership roles in several trade unions, and wrote extensively for several trade union and PKI publications. His most prominent leadership role came in December 1921, when he was elected chairman of the PKI, replacing Semaun, the party's first chairman. During his brief term of leadership, the PKI worked to create links with trade unions by supporting workers during several strikes.

Tan Malaka's prominent role in the PKI was viewed by the colonial government as subversive activity. He was arrested in Bandung by the colonial government in February 1922, and on March 24 he was exiled to the Netherlands

One of Tan Malaka's first actions upon his arrival in the Netherlands was to run as the third candidate on the Communist Party of Holland's (CPH) slate for the 1922 elections for the Estates-General of the Netherlands. He was the first subject of the Dutch East Indies ever to run for office in the Netherlands. He did not expect to actually be elected because, under the system of proportional representation in use, his third position on the ticket made his election highly unlikely. His stated goal in running instead was to gain a platform to speak about Dutch actions in Indonesia, and to work to persuade the CPH to support Indonesian independence. Although he did not win a seat, he received unexpectedly strong support.

Before the election results were even announced, Tan Malaka moved to Berlin, Germany for several months, then on to Moscow by October 1922. Here, he became deeply involved with the politics of the Communist International (Comintern), arguing vigorously that the communist parties of Europe should support the nationalist struggles of colonial Asia. He was named Comintern's agent for Southeast Asia, probably at the Comintern Executive Committee's June 1923 meeting. One of his first tasks was to write a book about Indonesia, describing the country's politics and economy for the Comintern; this book was published in Russian in 1924.

With his Comintern assignment in hand, he moved in December 1923 to Canton, China. Tan Malaka's job included publishing a newspaper in English, a task which proved difficult because he knew little of the language, and printing presses for the Latin script were difficult to find.

In July 1925 Tan Malaka moved to Manila, Philippines, where he found work at a newspaper. At the time the PKI was taking steps toward an outright rebellion in Indonesia intended to bring it to power, but that would instead lead to its temporary defeat by the colonial government. Tan Malaka was strongly opposed to this action, which he felt was a poor strategy for a weak party unprepared for revolution. He described in his autobiography his frustration with an inability to find information about events in Indonesia from his place in the Philippines, and his lack of influence with the PKI's leadership. As Comintern representative for Southeast Asia, Tan Malaka argued that he had authority to reject the PKI's plan, an assertion which was denied by some former PKI members in retrospect. At the time, he did persuade some PKI leaders in the country that an armed rebellion was not in the party's best interest, but PKI groups in West Java and West Sumatra did go ahead with an armed insurrection, which the Dutch government used as a pretense for vigorous suppression of the party, including the execution of several leaders.

In the Philippines, he befriend members of the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas, specially Crisanto Evangelista. as well as some government officials like President Manuel Quezon and former President and General Emilio Aguinaldo, unaware that he was a leader of a communist party then illegal.

When Japan invaded and occupied Shanghai in September 1932, Tan Malaka fled south to Hong Kong, disguised as a Chinese-Filipino and using an alias. Almost immediately upon his arrival, however, he was arrested by British authorities, and imprisoned for several months. He hoped to have a chance to argue his case under British law, and possibly seek asylum in the United Kingdom, but after several months of interrogation and being moved between the "European" and the "Chinese" sections of the jail, it was decided that he would simply be exiled from Hong Kong without charges.

After considering several options for a place of exile where he would be out of reach of the Dutch, Tan Malaka elected to return to Amoy, where he reconnected with an old friend and was able to reach the friend's village of Iwe without detection. Here, his health, weak for several years, declined greatly, and he was ill for several years before Chinese medicine treatments eventually restored him to health. In 1936 he returned to Amoy, and started a school where he taught English, German, and Marxist theory; by 1937 it was the largest language school in Amoy.

In August 1937 he again fled the Japanese military advance to the south, traveling first to Rangoon, Burma via Singapore for a month, then, his savings nearly depleted, returning south to Singapore via Penang. In Singapore, he found work as a teacher. When Japan occupied the Malay peninsula and drove the Dutch out of Indonesia in 1942, Tan Malaka decided to finally return to Indonesia after an absence of nearly twenty years.

Return to Indonesia

Tan Malaka's return to Indonesia began with a lengthy trip of several months, staying for a time in Penang before crossing to Sumatra, then visiting Medan, Padang, and several other Sumatran cities before settling on the outskirts of Japanese-occupied Jakarta in July 1942. Most of his time here was occupied by writing and research in Jakarta's libraries, working on his books Madilog and ASLIA.

When his savings from Singapore were nearly depleted, he took a job as a clerk at a coal mine in Bayah, southern West Java, where production was being greatly increased under Japanese management to support the war effort. At Bayah, he maintained records on the romusha, forced laborers who were sent from all over Java to work the mine and build railways. In addition to his official job, he worked to improve conditions for the laborers, among whom the death toll from sickness and starvation was very high.

Role in the war

In August 1945, after the Japanese surrender which ended World War II, and the Indonesian Declaration of Independence, Tan Malaka left Bayah, and resumed using his real name for the first time in twenty years. He travelled first to Jakarta, then widely around Java. During this trip he became convinced that Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, who had made the declaration of independence and were considered the leaders of Indonesia by the departing Japanese, were being too conciliatory toward Dutch attempts to regain control over the archipelago. In his autobiography, he expresses confidence that most Indonesian people were willing to fight for immediate complete independence, a position not supported by Sukarno, especially during the early years of the Indonesian National Revolution.

Tan Malaka's solution to this perceived disconnect was to found the Persatuan Perjuangan (Struggle Front, or United Action), a coalition of about 140 smaller groups, but notably not including the PKI. After a few months of discussion, the coalition was formally founded at a congress in Surakarta (Solo) in mid-January, 1946. It adopted a "Minimum Program", which declared that only complete independence was acceptable, that government must obey the wishes of the people, and that foreign-owned plantations and industry should be nationalised. Tan Malaka argued that the government should not negotiate with the Dutch until after all foreign military forces were removed from Indonesia, because until then the two parties could not negotiate as equals.

The Persatuan Perjuangan had widespread popular support, as well as support in the republican army, where General Sudirman was a strong supporter of the coalition Tan Malaka was organizing. In February 1946 the organization forced the temporary resignation of Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir, a proponent of negotiation with the Dutch, and Sukarno consulted with Tan Malaka to seek his support. However, Tan Malaka was apparently unable to bridge political divisions within his coalition to transform it into actual political control, and Syahrir returned to lead Sukarno's cabinet. In response to this defeat, the Persatuan Perjuangan clearly stated their lack of support for the republican government as it was composed, and the group's intent to oppose any negotiation.

Imprisonment, release, and death

In response to the Persatuan Perjuangan's continued opposition, the Sukarno government arrested most of the coalition's leadership, including Tan Malaka, in March 1946. He remained in jail until September 1948.

During his detention, the PKI emerged as the strongest critic of the government's diplomatic stance. The translator of his autobiography, Helen Jarvis, has argued that Tan Malaka and the rest of the Persatuan Perjuangan leaders were released to provide a less threatening opposition than the PKI. By now, Tan Malaka and the PKI were thoroughly estranged; he was hated within the party for his harsh criticisms of the 1920s, and he distrusted the strategic judgement of the current PKI leaders.

Upon his release, he spent late 1948 in Yogyakarta, working to form a new political party, called the Partai Murba (Proletarian Party), but was unable to repeat his previous success at attracting a popular following. When the Dutch captured the national government in December 1948, he fled the city for rural East Java, where he hoped he would be protected by anti-republican guerrilla forces. He established his head quarter in Blimbing, a village surrounded by rice fields. He connected himself to major Sabarudin, leader of the Bataljon 38. In Malaka's opinion Sabarudin's was the only armed group that was really fighting the Dutch. Sabarudin however was in conflict with all other armed groups. On February 17, the TNI leaders in East Java decided that Sabarudin and his companions were to be captured and convicted following military law. On the 19th they captured Tan Malaka in Blimbing. On February 20 the infamous Dutch Korps Speciale Troepen (KST) happened to start the so called 'operation Tiger' from the East Javanese town of Nganjuk. They advanced quickly and brutally. Poeze (2007) describes in detail how the TNI soldiers fled into the mountains and how Tan Malaka, already injured, walked into a TNI-post and was promptly executed on February 21, 1949. No report was made and Malaka was buried in the woods.
(source: wikipedia)

Tan Malaka in Penang(1925-1942)

The following month, Penang was visited by another sort of visitor – the mysterious and legendary Minang revolutionary, Tan Malaka. Tan Malaka has been described variously in Indonesian history as ‘communist, nationalist, national commnist, Trostskyist, Japanese agent, idealist, Muslim leader, and Minangkabau chauvinist’.

In 1947, in the various jails of the newly independent republic of Indonesia, Tan Malaka a ‘hero of independence’ wrote his three-volume memoir which he called ‘Dari Pendjara ke Pendjara’. These memoir included accounts of his visits to Penang.

Tan Malaka must have found Penang a condusive place as he transferred the party executive (partijbestuur) to the island in 1926. The Penang leadership was composed of Tan Malaka, Magas Madjid, Abdul Karim with representatives from Singapore and Johor. The Partijbestuur is said to have been located at 126, Anson Road. (Poeze 1999: 67)

When Tan Malaka was in China between 1924-25, he met Sun Yat-sen several times in Canton to explore the possibility of cooperation between the Chinese Communist Party and the Indonesian Chinese Party. (Poeze 1988: 345, 357) Sun Yat-sen who spoke of his times in exiles in Penang, Singapore and elsewhere could have inadvertently suggested to Tan Malaka to move his base to Penang. (Poeze 1998: 346)

Tan Malaka's efforts to recruit communist party members from Penang and Singapore was unsuccessful as he found them ‘still very conservative in their way of living and thinking and are small bourgeois…’. (Poeze 1999: 24)

Tan Malaka viewed Penang as an imperialist base from which the British engineered their intervention into the peninsula. (Poeze 1999: 24)

On his way to Singapore from Bangkok in 1937, Tan Malaka broke his journey in Penang. (Tan Malaka 2000: 187-193) At the Penang harbour, he was detained by customs (duane). Tan Malaka was travelling in the name of Tan Min Siong, a suspect Chinese intellectual sought by the British authorities. On top of that he did not look very Chinese at all. (Poeze 1999: 253)

After some hackling, Tan Malaka resorted to “Ciak-teh”. Only then was he released. (Tan Malaka 2000: 194)

‘With the plague of Ciak-teh in the habours of Singapore and Penang, the English “immigration law” meant to “restrict” the entry of the Tionghoa race into Malaya (on the pressures from Indonesians in Malaya) It is only a farce, theater (sandiwara). Chinese from wherever, from whatever class and at any time can enter Malaya, so long as they pay small or big Ciak-teh. A Chinese tawkey can obtain a pass by paying Ciak-the, guaranteed from his pocket (literally kantong, Javanese for big pouch). An employer can pay for a Chinese Singkek coolie or by his own relatives who has been living in Malaya. The prostitution of the English’s “Immigration Law” is followed by the prostitution of its “Mining Law”. English laws meant to protect bangsa Indonesia (Melayu) by preventing alien or big capital from renting land or paddy lands belonging to putera bumi bangsa Indonesia, containing tin ore. However, Ciak-teh can easily penetrate the English laws to obtain the paddy lands wherever and whenever foreign capital wants it’.

Tan Malaka came to Penang again in April 1942 from Singapore, this time with the intention of crossing over into the Dutch East Indies. (Tan Malaka 2000: 242)

In Penang, he witnessed the destruction caused by Japanese bombers on the city of Penang, and the flight and cowardice of the British regime.

‘The Penang regime (pemerintah) have fled, just now a Japanese plane came to spy from up high. Because they have fled, the formal surrender to the Japanese military was not carried out. For days the Japanese bombed the city of Penang, which in fact has been abandoned by the English regime who fled helter skelter to Singapore, leaving hundreds and thousands of citizens who were supposed to be under British protection. Thousands of people died from the bombing and dozens of houses were burnt. According to a story a Japanese who got out of the English prison, wrote in Japanese characters in an open field, informing his countrymen that the English regime have long gone. Only then, the bombings stopped. Not long after, the Japanese army entered Penang and took over its administration’. (Tan Malaka 2000: 231-2)

In the middle of May 1942, Tan Malaka and his commrades left Penang in a tongkang. Tan Malaka commented that the Straits Steamship Co. liner, ‘Kapal Kedah’ would have taken 10 days to cross the Straits of Malacca, but 10 days after they left Penang, the coastline of Malaya can still be seen! (Tan Malaka 2000: 259) They eventually arrive in Belawan in the middle of June. (Tan Malaka 2000: 261)

(extract from article, Perceptions of Penang: Views From Across The Straits, by
Abdur-Razzaq Lubis)

November 11th, Memorial Day for Nanyang Transport Volunteers and the Martyrs of the World War II

The memorial was familiar to me since my childhood days, whenever you go to Air Itam,or Penang Hill,you will never miss the monument. But not many know the purpose of building up the monument there. Some said it was a war memorial, a monument to remember the death of the civilian who died during the war. Some said it was for the resistance soldiers. The story of the monument had been forgotten, and everyone treated as a normal war memorial. But the people who come to pay respect on 11th November each year, was not from the uniform, but the normal civilian. The purpose of the memorial was for world peace, it is a peace memorial, and also to remember the people who died during the 2nd World War. It is also specially mentioned about the voluntary transport workers who died at the Burma Road in Yunnan who come from Penang, and Malaysia. That is why it is called Penang Chinese War Memorial for the Nanyang Transport Volunteers and the Martyrs of the World War II(槟榔屿华侨抗战殉职机工和罹难同胞纪念碑).

My son have been witnessing the ceremony each year, being a member of Chong Hwa Confucius School band until he completed his secondary school. My uncle was also there each year, witnessing the event. There are many descendants of the Transport volunteers, who are there in the crowd, without noticed by any others. But sad to say I have not witness the event personally until today.

It was on 11-11-2011 at 11a.m., our chief minister Lim Guan Eng officiated the 60th anniversary ceremony. The year 2011 was different; the people of Penang and Penang state government have donated to facelift the memorial park. Three additional features are added. Among the new features are a memorial model of the transport workers pushing a military truck up a hill slope along the Burma – Yunnan Road, a memorial wall with carvings displaying the transport volunteers and trucks being bombed by the plane of Japanese Imperial Army, the third feature was the memorial column featuring pigeons circulating around the column, which resemble the world peace.

It was great event when we can come together to remember the people who died during the war. As I have just come back from Japan and visited the Nagasaki Peace Park and Hiroshima Peace Park. By attending the ceremony it gave me a very meaningful day. It also bring awareness to the people who may have forgotten the monument. The family of transport volunteers from Yunnan was also there. But is was pity that the organization committee did not give them a public introduction. The grandson of Mr.Tan Kah Kee(陈嘉庚), the man involved personally with the Transport Volunteers project. A public introduction will be more significant.

In the afternoon, I attended the dialogue by the family of the transport volunteers from Yunnan, and the grandson of Mr.Tan Kah Kee(陈嘉庚). The timing was not right, as it was in collision with the night event at the war memorial at Air Itam. It seems that there are not many people aware of the event. Other than our family, some retired teachers, and one Chinese cultural expert, Chang Yong Mee. The attendance was sadly low. If this type of event were held at other place, especially east coast, it will normally be full house. Sadly not Penang. The stories given by the family are very touching, each have their own unique story. Some of them still searching for the long lost family in Malaysia.

In 1939, 3,200 young men from South-East Asia, historically was called Nanyang(南洋) by Chinese, most were from Malaya, left their families and homes voluntarily to travel to China to work as drivers and mechanics during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. They left in 15 batches with 9 of 15 batches leaving from Singapore. The volunteers are called Nangiao ji gong(南侨机工)or “overseas Chinese mechanics”. One third of them lost their life in Yunan, one third returned to Malaya, the remaining one third left in Yunan, China. These 3200 volunteers included Indian, Malay men and four Chinese women. There were 300 volunteers from North Malaya of Penang, Kedah and Perlis, of which 233 were from Penang. I really hope their names will be listed at the memorial wall at the War monument at Air Itam. The list included Li Yue Mei (李月美) who was known as modern Hua Mu Lan(当代花木兰), as she also disguised as a man to serve in the Nanyang Transport Volunteers as a driver, just like the ancient Chinese woman heroine. Sadly she died during the cultural revolution in China.

Two of the family members, Xu Hongji(徐宏基) and Zhang Yunpeng(张云鹏), they are searching for their family in Muar, Johor. The other VIPs presented were Honorary Chairman(名誉会长)Chen Liren(陈立人)，Chairman(会长), Lin Xiaochang(林晓昌)，Tang Xiaomei(汤晓梅), historian（机工史学者），Vice chairman(副会长), Wang Shuilin (王水林), photographer（著名纪录片摄影师）与Lin Suwei(林素玮), artist（名画家）.

Thank you state government, the state assemblyman Wong Hun Wei, and the Kong Ming Main Chinese Primary School(公民国民型华文小学总校), the trustee of the monument, that make the event a memorial one. Also the faithful Chong Hwa Confucius School band(孔圣庙中华中学军铜乐队), which has been playing music for the event for many years without fail.

Calling for the families of the volunteers

萧瑞兴（大山脚）、王海南（槟城）、刘桂华（槟）、谢允和（槟）、吴家香（大山脚）、吴明（双溪大年）、杨境南（吉打）、邝广源（吉打莪仑）、余德峇（吉打莪仑）及杨大胜（吉打）, 柯天和、王天德、林猷川、王宁鸭、纪兰花及林树容等。

If you know any family of transport volunteers, please contact Low Toh nam(刘道南), 012-521 7412. He was a volunteer in Ipoh, who gathered information for his historical project.

Expert: Sadness that we cannot protect our heritage

张少宽：夷平盖房建楼 槟60%古墓让路发展

2011-03-07 13:12

（槟城6日讯）根据民间学者所作的田野调查显示，槟岛原有的20多座百年大家族墓群，已经有超过60%被摧毁殆尽，余下的不到40%预料也将随时遭发展巨轮碾过。

届时，珍贵的槟岛华人史第一手资料将全数成为浮尘碎瓦，价值连建筑在墓地遗址上高楼大厦的一片砖瓦都不如，成为华人社会无法挽回的损失。

谢氏家族冢保存完好

目前，槟岛尚保存完好的墓群仅剩下位于白云山福建公冢后山，葬有闽帮代表人物谢昭盼及其子谢德顺（时钟分校原址“五层楼”故主）等人的谢氏家族冢，以及坐落在天德园的邱氏家族冢等区区数处，而最具代表性的辜氏家族冢（葬有甲必单辜礼欢、祥德路因其得名的辜尚达等）也于不久前因屋业发展被摧毁。

将毕生精力从事在华人史田野研究，并曾经出版《槟榔屿华人史话》等多本著作的民间学者张少宽告诉《南洋商报》，葬在槟岛各家族冢的人物大多在19世纪末、20世纪初赫赫有名，包括大商贾、华社代表、英政府机构的高职公务员、帮派领袖等等，他们参与的历史事件可远溯至槟岛开埠、槟城大暴动、孙中山的革命运动至马来亚独立前后，在槟岛的华人史甚至槟城历史上留有珍贵的印迹。

墓群是时代缩影

张少宽说，每座坟墓都是一个时代的缩影，尤其是槟岛大宗族或家族的墓群，因此，无论是墓碑或者坟墓里的陪葬品，对支离破碎的华人史研究而言，都是非常珍贵的文物。

“墓碑上的文字，可说是记载了比起一些史料更为详细的年份、家族关系、人名，过去由于口述历史所出现的失误，可以靠着墓碑上的资料对比纠正。”

陪葬品还原历史原貌

他透露，不同墓碑的造型，也显示出不同帮群的风格，而且随着不同的时代变化；同时，凭着对墓中陪葬品的考证，能够更加忠实还原历史人物的面貌和社会地位，具有考古价值。

“我们可以说，这些坟墓实际上都是一个时代和文化的缩影，是独一无二的史料。”

珍贵史料化为尘埃 学者疾呼难引共鸣

张少宽说，在寸土如金的槟岛，墓群被夷平建筑住宅一事其实可以理解，然而在此之前，这些墓群应该先被记录、考察，将相关的史料以影像或其他方式保存。

“可是放眼槟岛，从事此类型研究的人少之又少，官方也没有给予适当的重视，最终只能白白看着这些史料化为尘埃。”

他曾经多次呼吁华社乡团宗社重视此问题，但微弱呼声无法激发其华社的注意。

变高楼住宅区

槟岛接二连三发生古墓群被发展摧毁，或者即将摧毁的事件，其中，甲必丹辜礼欢家族墓群被草率拾金摧毁，以及甘嫲园甘氏姐妹家族墓群或也难逃发展劫数；然而实际上，类似事件早在1960年代已发生，首个被摧毁的即是孙中山的支持者、华侨革命分子吴世荣的家族墓群。

张少宽透露，陆续被夷为平地盖房的尚有家族墓群包括胡丰成（丰盛园）、邱四方（四方园）、邱石泉（怡和园）等人的墓群，现在都已经被发展为高楼住宅区。

梁超明：先进国立法保护 坟场变公园绿肺

槟州古迹信托基金会荣誉秘书梁超明指出， 在一个备有完善城市策划图的城市里，摧毁历史古坟是不被允许的。

“任何土地利用性质的改换，都会被法律的严格管控监督。”

他透露，在先进国，坟场和公园通常会被规划为城市绿肺，甚至转为休闲跑步公园，作为减少过度人口密度的一个方法；如有道路扩建工程需征用，文物古迹都会另地安置或蓄意弯道迁就。

“奈何，目前我们还无法摒弃落后国家的发展心态，以破旧换新为荣。”

民间团体势单力薄

他说，古迹信托会曾不久前提议州政府对州内的历史古坟和纪念碑进行纪录和保护工作，期望国内的重要文物遗产，能被城市策划局、国家档案、历史研究会、文化遗产部门、大学等官方机构来做有系统性的数码化纪录，甚至维修保护等工作。

“在欧美中日印等重视古迹的国度里，这些都是官方推动的文物保护工作，绝非业余性民间团体可代劳。”

(source: 南洋商报 李嘉雯独家报道(http://www.nanyang.com.my/node/339444)

Balik Pulau Old Silver Smith

Today went to Balik Pulau for Penang Assam Laksa; at the same time visited Mr Khong, the silver smith who is popular among the tourists, just have a talk with him. As usual mood, he show us the hand make silver ware and the visitor book, which is filled with comments from tourists from all over the world. he told me his face appeared in youtube, I said I am going to place it at my blog.

He told me , my blog is less popular, and cannot compare with wide coverage of youtube, youtube will make him famous worldwide. He is very confidence over his popularity, and he seems to enjoy it now...

He likes to tell you his stories, of the past, of Balik Pulau.....and even the 2nd world war...

He is Mr Khong(邝进盛), 69 yrs old, is the only silversmith in Balik Pulau, Penang.

Penang Chinese Anti War Memorial(槟榔屿华侨抗战殉职机工罹难同胞纪念碑)

Penang Chinese War Memorial(槟榔屿华侨抗战殉职机工罹难同胞纪念碑)


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Many people have seen the tall memorial while traveling to Penang Hill or Kek Lok Si, but not many people know the story of the memorial. It is located just opposite SJKC Kong Ming Pusat or Kong Ming Main Chinese Primary School(公民国民型华文小学总校)which is located at 39-A, Jalan Air Itam, 11500 Ayer Itam, The school is also the trustee for the annual memorial service for the war martyrs. It is beside the Air Itam Government Clinic(Klinik kesihatan Air Itam) and Anglican Christ Church, opposite the Lye Lye Coffee Shop. If you travel from the city it is along Jalan Air Itam, until you reach the junction at the foot of Penang Hill, just opposite the Kong Ming School, the memorial is located right at the corner.

It is popularly called Penang Chinese Anti War Memorial,an anti war memorial. But behind the monument there are many touching stories. The memorial to commemorate the Chinese people of Penang who died in World War II. The Chinese name of the monument is Penang Chinese War Memorial for the Nanyang Transport Volunteers and the Martyrs of the World War II(槟榔屿华侨抗战殉职机工和罹难同胞纪念碑).

The memorial was built in 1946, but only officially opened on 1-11-1951 @11 a.m. by the late Lim Lian Teng. Below the memorial was buried the ashes of the bones of many martyrs who died during World War Two, collected from all over Penang. It was not only built to remember the WW2 martyrs, who died for their resistance to the Japanese Imperial Army, and also to remember the Nanyang Transport Volunteers who died while volunteered their service as truck driver and mechanic during the Sino Japanese War(which was part of Pacific War or WW2)at Burma Road,in Yunan,China. The Chinese inscription on the monument was as below;

槟榔屿机工与殉难同胞纪念碑文如下：
慨自滔天涡水，起于芦沟；刮地腥风，播及槟屿。凡是侨居华族，莫不切恨倭奴，出力出钱，各尽救亡天职；无老无少，咸怀抗战之决心。是以募机工，大收驾辇车 之利，技参军运，竟树蜚邹挽粟之功。矢石临头，都无畏色，而疆场殉职，宜慰忠魂也。迨日敌偷渡重洋，首沦孤岛，先而肃清文令，更颁炮烙之刑。公治被诬，同 羁缧绁；赢秦旧虐，重演焚坑；暴骨露尸，神号鬼哭。虽汤州十日，无此奇冤；嘉定三屠，逊兹浩劫也。所幸两声原子，三岛为夷；八载深仇，一朝暂雪。茅飞扬 日旗，虽远竖于东瀛，而内烁青磷，尚游离于南廓。客过回首，空怀堕泪之碑；鹤化辽东，未见表忠之碣。言念及此，情何以堪！槟屿赈会，早经议决，极思掩盖， 藉安英灵。奈经处处搜寻，始得一丘之萃。兹者卜地旗山之麓，建立丰汗；招魂槟海之滨，来归华表。漫说泽枯有主，定教埋石无忧，庶几取义成仁，恒千秋而不 朽；英风浩气，厉万古而常昭。

Each year on 11th of November at 11.a.m., a memorial ceremony will be held at the memorial, representatives from the Chinese community will be there to pay their respect to the martyrs. Some time, some Japanese will also come to join in the memorial ceremony. Recently even the Chief Minister was there.

Most of us are familiar with the story of the Japanese occupation during the World War Two, from 1941 to 1945. The local Chinese also called san-nee-pei-go-quai(3 years and 8 months). But the story of Nanyang Transport Volunteers, not many are aware of it.

Nanyang Transport Volunteers((南侨机工)1939-1946

In 1939, 3,200 young men from South-East Asia, historically was called Nanyang(南洋) by Chinese, most were from Malaya, left their families and homes voluntarily to travel to China to work as drivers and mechanics during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. They left in 15 batches with 9 of 15 batches leaving from Singapore. The volunteers are called Nangiao ji gong(南侨机工)or “overseas Chinese mechanics”.

These 3200 volunteers included Indian, Malay men and four Chinese women. They were responding to China Relief Fund’s call to sustain China’s war materials supply chain during the Sino Japanese War. The China Relief Fund or Nanyang Federation of China Relief Fund(南洋华侨筹赈祖国难民总会) or Nangiao Chung Hui(南侨总会), an association founded on 10-10-1938 by 170 overseas Chinese representatives from the Nanyang region. Their objective was to coordinate regional relief work to support China against Japanese advancement. Mr.Tan Kah Kee(陈嘉庚)was elected as the chairman. The regional headquarter of China Relief Fund was located in Ee Hoe Hean Club, Singapore.

On 7-2-1939, an announcement no. 6 issued by The China Relief Fund, calling all able Chinese mechanic and drivers to volunteer for relief work in China. The responses to the call was tremendous, many Chinese responded to the call and went for interview. The first batch selected consisted of 80 pioneers. They left Singapore on 19-2-1939, 11 days after the announcement. They were known as Nanqiao ji gong(南侨机工) or “overseas Chinese mechanics”. The group however included both mechanic(修理工)and drivers(司机), Ji gong(机工) means workers on the machinery or vehicle, which included both mechanics and drivers. The volunteers, consisted mainly Chinese from Nanyang, but also included Indians, Malays,Indonesians and Burmese. The sent off ceremony attended by many was the hot news in Singapore. The initial 80 was called Eighty Pioneer(八十先锋),who left on 18-2-1939, just a day before Chinese New Year. They made history for Nanyang Chinese. (Note: You can see the photo of the first batch Ji Gong at the official website of Ee Hoe Hean Club(怡和轩俱乐部), http://www.eehoehean.org/?page_id=45)

There were 300 volunteers from North Malaya of Penang, Kedah and Perlis; of which 233 were from Penang. A list of the volunteers can be seen from the Sin Chew Daily dated 25-7-2011 North Malayan Edition page 20. In Penang, the sent off cemory were held at Choon-man-yuan or Wembley Park(春满园”游艺场), and there were long procession, by people of Penang to provide moral support to the volunteers, matching and walking all the way to clan jetty(Ong Jetty). Whenever batches of volunteers were going to China(via Singapore), there were big crowds sending them off, it was reported that there was an incident the wooden plank bridge of the jetty collapsed, and people fell off to the sea, due to overweight by large crowds standing on the plank bridge. They departed from Clan Jetty to Singapore. When they arrived at Singapore, their accommodation was at Nam Tien Hotel in Singapore prior to final departure by ship to Vietnam. A grand sent off was again at Singapore with big crowds sending them off at the Singapore old harbor(新加坡红灯码头). From the port at Haiphong, Vietnam, they went to Kunming,Yunnan, China. Sad to say ,Wembley Park has demolished recently for redevelopment, Nam Tien Hotel is still around.

According to Yunnan Province archives, records of the second brigade of Overseas Transportation Teams dated June 30, 1941, showed there were 97 non-Chinese mechanics – among them 55 Indians, 18 Malays, 11 Burmese and two Indonesians.

These volunteers’ task took them along the Burma Road, a more than 1,453km-long route that began at the rail head town of Lashio in north-east Burma (or Myanmar)(缅甸腊戌)and wound its way across mountainous terrain through the province of Yunnan in the south-west corner of China to end at the provincial capital, Kunming(中国云南省昆明市).

Of the 3,200 who went to Yunnan, about 1,028 died in Yunnan, out of 2,000 that still alive, half of them remained in China, and half come back to Nanyang. The one remained were those who had started a family in China, or who missed the last trip for home.

The first batch returned to Singapore with the help of United Nation in 1946, arrived at Singapore on 4-11-1946. After the war, China civil war started, the Nanyang volunteers and their families had to face another war period as civilian. Even after the establishment of People Republic of China in 1949,when communist took over China, the 1,000 who remained was treated as Chiang Kai Shek or KMT's soldiers experienced political discrimination. During the unfortunate incident of Cultural Revolution(1966-1976), they were prosecuted and discriminated due to their "polluted cultural background" as Nanyang ji gong, which was treated as link to KMT. They faced extreme hardship, and some committed suicide. Today, many of them had died of old age, and not many remained. Their contribution was forgotten as time passed, and no body remember their heroic act in China until 1985, when official recognition was given by the Chinese Government.

The Burma Road(滇缅公路)

By the middle of 1938, the Yunnan-Burma Road, laid along segments of that ancient trail, was completed and ready for heavy use. (The Yunnan-Burma Highway and Yunnan Economy During the Periods of Anti-Japanese War by Li Cheng, Journal of Asian Culture and History, Canadian Center of Science and Education, ccsenet.org.)The Burma Road(滇缅公路) is a road linking Burma (also called Myanmar) with the southwest of China. Its terminals are Kunming, Yunnan(中国云南省昆明市), and Lashio, Burma(缅甸腊戌). When it was built, Burma was still a British colony.

When the Japanese began blockading China’s seaboard in 1937 to cut off access to overseas war materials, the Chinese Government turned to this inland route that crossed its border to maintain a tenuous link with the outside world.

The Chinese government officials began the process of shipping military supplies from Irrawaddy River ports to Lashio for transportation into China via the road, they realised there were not enough skilled drivers and mechanics in China to service this overland route.

Malaya and Singapore had an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 skilled workers, according to research done for a documentary film made by a Chinese TV station and museum about the Nanqiao ji gong.

So in February 1939, a recruitment drive began in Singapore that called for drivers and mechanics aged between 20 to 40 years old to come to China’s aid. The drive was held under the aegis of the China Relief Fund that had initially been formed to raise funds from overseas Chinese to aid China during the Sino-Japanese War.

The response to the call was astonishing: within a matter of months more than 3,000 men, and not all of them Chinese either, from this part of the world volunteered, eventually joining tens of thousands of mainland Chinese in plying the 1,453km Yunnan-Burma Road(滇缅公路), China’s only link with the outside world after 1941. There were 3,192 from Nanyang.

According to the researchers, upon arriving in Kunming(昆明), the Nanqiao ji gong were sorted into Overseas Transportation Teams(华侨先锋运输队) and given additional training. Initial groups of drivers were under Team NO: 11, 12, 13 and 14, and then two Oversea Chinese Convoy Teams No. 1 & 2 were formed. The mechanics were assigned to the repair stations along the Kunming(昆明), Guiyang, Chongqing and other places of major Automobile Repair Factory. In the period, at the Burma Road, there were 17 transportation brigades of about 3,000 vehicles, while six of the teams were established by the Nanyang Chinese driving trucks, which accounted for one-third of more than 1,100 vehicles.

It was these men’s job to ferry fuel, weapons, ammunition and soldiers to various parts of China. In return, the Chinese Government provided food, accommodation and medical support and a monthly salary of between 69 and 74 yuan, which was quite low compared to wages for such jobs in Malaya and Singapore at that time.

The route traveled over two mountain ranges, crossing three rivers and countless gorges over more than 400 bridges; it ran along the edges of cliffs and slopes and there were long stretches with sharp and precarious bends, as the road rose from about 600m to over 2,000m above sea level along its length. And then there were mosquito-infested jungles where deadly malaria was rampant.

Burma Road drivers ferried SOE and Force 136 operatives on their missions. Tan said: “We had a saying that if a truck flipped over on the highway on the first day of the month, it would reach the bottom only on the 15th. It was a very dangerous road. It was not paved and not wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other. The drivers needed to have very good skills.

The reality was that by the time the war ended in 1945, about one-third of these volunteers had given their lives in the line of duty; some remained in China to find a living and got married and settled there. Only about 1,200 eventually returned to South-East Asia

走遍中国-再会吧,南洋--南洋华侨机工 Part 1 of 3


走遍中国-再会吧,南洋--南洋华侨机工 Part 2 of 3



走遍中国-再会吧,南洋--南洋华侨机工 Part 3 of 3


The Nanyang Transport Volunteers was assumed to be a Chinese man. But some non Chinese responded to the call. One of the non-Chinese volunteer, Col Dara Singh, from Taiping wrote on his experience as Malayan Mechanic Volunteer in the Singapore newspaper, The Strait Times, dated 26-7-1939.

MALAYAN VOLUNTEERS IN CHINA Taiping Man On Dangers And Thrills Of Supply Routes (Taiping, July 24, 1939). THRILLS and danger that go hand-in-hand in the daily life of Malayan mechanics who are now doing service in war torn China are described in a letter from Dara Singh(The Straits Times, 26 July 1939, Page 16)

Dara Singh was adopted by a Chinese family who educated him at King Edward VII School in the town. He used a Chinese name to register, a name of his Chinese brother, Wong Ah Leng. He was initially rejected during interview, but he appealed to Mr.Tan Kah Kee, who appealed to the Chinese authority to accept him. Dara was finally accepted and become the first non -Chinese volunteer. Darqa become close friend with General Stillwell, commander of the US Army in North Burma during his stay in Yunnan. Dara created a bodyguard for the general and became his interpreter. He rose to the rank of Colonel.

There were 5 females,Pai Sek Keow(白雪樵,白雪娇)，Li Yue Mei(李月美)、Tan Keow Chin(陈侨珍)、Wu Siew Fen(吴秀芬) and Choo Sek Chin(朱雪珍)(Please take note the names were merely translation from Chinese name, it may not be the same in actual register). Pai, Li and Tan were from Penang. Li Yue Mei was know as modern Hua Mu Lan(当代花木兰), as she also disguised as a man to serve in the Nanyang Transport Volunteers as a driver, just like the ancient Chinese woman heroine. She was discovered only after an accident, but she was saved by a fellow driver, Hainanese Yang Wei Quan(杨维铨), who was surprised that he was a woman. Li later married Yang. The life of this brave Penang girl can be a touching story like Hua Mu Lan. But sad to say she committed suicide and died during Cultural Revolution, unlike ancient Hua Mu Lan who retired with honors. Pai Sek Keow(白雪樵，白雪娇) is another brave girl who joined the volunteers, she was a teacher from Union School, now Union Primary School or Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan (C) Union at Burma Road, Penang. She may be one of the pioneer school teacher of the Union School in 1938. She wrote a touching letter to the parent before the departure. She came back to Penang after the war in 1946, working as teacher in Hock Kien Girl School(福建女校), now Penang Chinese Girls High School or PCGHS(槟华国民型女子中学). She was sacked due to political involvement in school. She later joined a private school. On 1-10-1949, the day Chinese communist formed the People Republic of China or PRC, she raised the first PRC flag in the school, and was captured by the British and sent to Ipoh prison, accused her as communist. In those day under colonial rule, it was a norm for Chinese school to raise ROC flag in school each morning, it is also normal to change flag when China was taken over by PRC. Due to the incident, she was treated as hard core communist, and banished to China by British colonial government. She later become a secondary school teacher, lecturer in Guangzhou Teacher's College(广州师范学院), and retired as Asst Professor at age of 70. She is now retired , still living and staying in Guangzhou.

The Monuments

In 1946, after the end of the world war 2, the local Chinese in Penang built a monument in memory of civilians and Nanyang Transport Volunteers who lost their lives during WW2, it is commonly known as Penang Chinese Anti-War Memorial. The actual full name of the memorial is Penang Chinese War Memorial for the Nanyang Transport Volunteers and the victims of the world war(槟榔屿华侨抗战殉职机工罹难同胞纪念碑). The monument is located at the foot of Penang Hill, Penang, Malaysia(槟城升旗山). It was reported that there is another at Kuala Lumpur Kwang Tung Cemetery(吉隆坡的广东义山亭).

In China, only on 7 July 1989, the Yunan government constructed a monument,"赤子功勋", in memory of Nanyang Transport Volunteers at Kunming, the capital of Yunan Province.(昆明市的西山森林公园建有“南洋华侨机工抗日纪念碑).

There is another memorial monument at Wanding(畹町), Ruili(瑞丽市),opened on 12-12-2005.(云南瑞丽市畹町经济开发区南洋华侨机工抗战纪念碑).Ruili is a border town with Burma, Wanding Border Economic Cooperation Zone (WTBECZ) is a Chinese State Council-approved Industrial Park based in Wanding Town, Ruili City, Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan, China, founded in 1992. Wanding Bridge(畹町桥)is the bridge at the border between Burma and China, where the Nanyang Transport Volunteers crew had pass through.

The Journey to Burma Road in remembrance of the Nanyang Volunteers

Initiated by the KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall and organized by Malayan Second World War History Society(滇缅公路马来亚二战历史研究会), and Persatuan Hope Negeri Johor, (柔佛河婆同乡会青年团), a group of history enthusiasts commemorated Nanyang Volunteers with a journey from Singapore to Kunming.

Their starting point was the Ee Hoe Hean Club,(怡和轩)in Singapore Chinatown,since Ee Hoe Hean was the headquarters of China Relief Fund and the send-off location for many batches of Nanyang Volunteers.

Nanyang Federation of China Relief Fund(南洋华侨筹赈祖国难民总会) was formed in 1938, when 170 overseas Chinese representatives from the region met to establish a regional body to co ordinate regional relief work to support China against Japanese advancement. These delegates founded the Nanyang Federation of China Relief Fund(南洋华侨筹赈祖国难民总会)and elected Mr. Tan Kah Kee(陈嘉庚)as the chairman. The regional headquarter of China Relief Fund was located in Ee Hoe Hean Club, Singapore.

The motor crew rightly ended their trip at Penang Anti War Memorial at the foot of Penang Hill, Air itam on 30-7-2011. A memorial ceremony was also held to pay respect to the war martyrs. It make their trip ending more meaningful.



Suggested readings/websites:

1. MALAYAN VOLUNTEERS IN CHINA , The Straits Times, 26 July 1939, Page 16( This was the report of one of the non Chinese volunteer, Dara Singh from Taiping)
2. Flying Tigers, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers
3. Heroic contributions of the Nanqiao ji gong; The Star, dated August 8, 2010; http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/8/8/lifefocus/6746729&sec=lifefocus
4. 南侨机工, http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/4H0cbh8ncHM/, Part 1-3

Bo Lang Chai(Forgotten)

Bo Lang Chai is an effort by the Pusat Komas, a human right NGO to tell the story of a typical Chinese in the Penang Jetty areas. They used the puppets to tell the story. It is must see for all Penang langs and for all visitors to Penang to understand the way of life in the jetty areas in old Penang.

Bo Lang Chai in Hokkien dialect is with the meaning "no body know"; Bo means no, lang means people, and chai means know.

I like the technique of using the modern computer technique to use old photo as background; and the voice presentation was by the Chinese teochew puppet stage drama; a good try and should be follow by the state tourism authority whenever there are any street festival organized by them.

It is a pity the tactic is not used in the Heritage Day, when teochew puppet show was shown in Yen Ching Hotel, Chulia Street. Otherwise, the foreign visitors will understand the story and make a meaningful exploration of Penang heritage.

Penang lang chai..... we have talents but we have not use them....

Bo Lang Chai (Forgotten) from Pusat KOMAS on Vimeo.

Pusat Komas

KOMAS( Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat) is a human rights organisation that was set up in 1993 to support marginalised grassroot communities and NGOs.They advocate, conduct training and use creative and participatory forms of communication to advance Human Rights. Their current programs include media and facilitation training, resource material production, citizenship and voter education, the Freedom Film Fest and anti-racism workshops. In 2008, KOMAS won the European Grundtvig Award for its programme on Education for Non-discrimination.

Opium & Spirit Farm Office (鴉片及米酒的貨倉及發牌照所)

Penang Opium & Spirit Farm Office (鴉片及米酒的貨倉及發牌照所)


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It was reported in 1905, that at Penang in 1906 the Government will erect premises for the Opium and Spirit Farm Factory at a cost of $128000. A farm town office is also to be built. The Opium and Spirit Farm Office was built in 1906. At that time, the opium trade was still under the wholesale monopoly of the colonial government, and operated under a tender system, called Revenue Farming System. At the time the area around King St and Queen St was the opium trading hub, an active opium market.

The Revenue Farming System operated until 1910, where retail monopoly took over, when a new government department was formed. Now only the government can dispense cooked opium to ultimate consumers. The opium trading activities in the area(market) was gone, and only packed chandu sold from the opium & spirit farm office. It was over the counter business.

The opium retail monopoly was stopped and totally banned by the colonial government, after the World War 2, in 1946.

The Opium & Spirit Office was located with the frontage at Queen Street, George Town, Penang. This side of the building (now the front) faces Pitt Street. Pitt Street now is the frontage of the building. The heritage building is directly facing Penang Chinese Town Hall, 22 Pitt Street, 10200 Penang. Its official address was 15-19, Pitt Street, Penang, but Pitt Street was later changed to Jalan Masjid Kapitan Kling. It is measuring 22,640 sq ft, and leasehold title expiring in 2055.

Queen Street - The Opium Godown

The local Chinese called it Chap Jee keng Chu, literally means 12 houses. There were originally a row of 12 houses of the same height, original and primitive designed using rough logs as beams, instead of planed beams. There were the early example of Penang shophouses in Francis Light grid. The 12 houses are at the row close to Church Street. The Opium and Spirit Farm Offices however replaced 6 of the 12 houses in 1906. The continuous arcade is however retained.

The Malay however called it Gedung Rumput, literally means grass godown. This revealed that the Indian bullock carts parked along the street. The cart was the main goods carriage for the old days, may be mainly to transport the opium to their respective retailers.

The opium and Spirit farm offices, constructed in 1906 at the cost of 48,767 strait dollars, was rented out to the contractors for 900 strait dollars a month. It served as a godown and dispensary for Chandu or cooked opium, and samsoo, an alcohol distilled from rice and sugar. Opium was mainly consumed by the Chinese, and Samsoo by Indian.

King Street - the Opium Farm Street

(i) 廣東大伯公街 Kuíⁿ-tang-toā-pεh-kong-ke, literally means Cantonese Heavenly Emperor's street, after the Cantonese temple there.
(ii) 亞片公司街 À-phièn-kong-si-ke,Opium farm street, after the Opium & Spirit Farm Offices at the junction with China St.

I do not know why the local Chinese called King Street A-phien-kong-si-ke(Opium Farm Street) where the actual location was at Queen Street. I can only understand that before the construction of the Opium & Spirit Office in 1906, the original office was at King Street and China Street junction. That is the next block after the new Opium & Spirit Office build in 1906.

Revenue farming of Opium - the tender system

Opium was a lucrative business for the colonist, British Empire and its trading arm, East Indian Company. The China market was the main attraction for the EIC to the Far East where it can be trade with huge profit for them to use as capital to buy other goods, like spices, silk, tea, etc from the far east. Penang was found as trading port mainly for opium. In Strait Settlement, opium was the attractive consumer items for the Chinese coolies. Opium was the medium of political control of the coolies by the taukeh, who were also the opium farm monopoly holder. It was also the colonist’s tool of power control over the economy of Chinese communities, opium become a secure income source from coolies to the revenue farmer, ultimately to the state. It effectively shifted the power base from kongsi to the colonial government. The control of opium measn control of the Chinese community’s political and economical power.

For all of the Straits Settlements, opium was an important item of local excise revenue. From the time of its foundation until 1910, Penang had an opium farm. Penang and later, Singapore, were founded to service the British opium trade between India and China. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, it was a safe haven for British country traders carrying goods between India and the regions to the east. Indeed, during the decade between 1809 and 1819 (the years before the establishment of Singapore) opium imports and exports constituted about one-third of the annual trade of Penang. (Cowan, 1950, p.86) While opium did not hold this commanding position in Penang's trade throughout the century, its importance declined only gradually. Despite a decline in relative importance, it may be confidently said that it was always a major item of trade throughout the nineteenth century.

Opium is a government monopoly.The local opium market was monopolized by EIC,and later the Strait Settlement, it allow them to control and distribute using a type of tender system called revenue farming. This systems apply not only on opium, but also to gambling, tobacco, samsoo, and other enterprises. The tender with the highest bid will acquired the monopoly for the commodity or revenue farm. Most of the holder of the monopoly were the prominent member of Strait Chinese community, especially the famous 5 Hokkiens families.

The Revenue Farmers

Khaws of Penang and Ranong in southern Siam. (Cushman 1991)Others include the five clans associated with major kongsi foundations in Penang: the Khoo, the Cheah, the Lim, the Yeoh and the Tan, not to mention a number of other clans who are outside this group of five. Throughout the nineteenth century, a number of family groups were dominant in Singapore, including the Seah, the Tan Tock Seng family, the Tan Cheng Lock family and the Cheang family. Some of these had their origins in Melaka which remained the family base into the twentieth century.One of the primary sources of wealth and power among the rich families was the opium revenue farms.From the beginning of the British presence in the region to the end of the revenue farming system in 1910, members of these families tended to dominate the revenue farms of both Penang and Singapore.

The holder then farmed out licenses for the preparation and sale of opium to sub-contractors who retailed the products to the ultimate consumers, at a price two to three times higher than the cost of the raw opium import from India. The subcontractors are the revenue farmers. The monopoly holders are the farm owner.
The bidding is very competitive, initially there was individual bidders; but later syndicates were formed and bid for larger farms, like bid for a farm in the state.
The revenue from the revenue farming of opium was the main income for the colonial government , and later Strait Settlement. In 1906, more than 50% of revenue for Strait Settlement derived from opium farms.

By the middle of the 19th century, Penang had become a major player in the Chinese opium trade, which provided more than half of the colony's revenue. It was a dangerous, rough-edged place, notorious for its brothels and gambling dens, all run by Chinese secret societies.

The factory

There were two opium and spirit farms let in each of the Settlements of Singapore, Penang, and Malacca in 1906. In Penang, Opium & Spirit Farm Offices (鴉片及米酒的貨倉及發牌照所),was located at Queen Street, George Town, Penang. The factory was at Sungei Pinang. From Sungei Pinang, the cooked opium or chandu was transported to the godown at Queen Street where it was sold to the revenue farmers. The godown was then a market for revenue farmers to sell or dispense Chandu or cooked opium, and samsoo,to the retailers. The Indian bullock carts will helped to carry the chandu to the opium den or outlets all over Penang. Imagine there must be much activities at Queen Street for opium each day.

It was reported in 1907, the monopoly was contracted for 135,000 strait dollars a month, and sold through 145 licensed sub farms in Penang and Province Wellesley.
For a short time after this an opium factory was maintained in Penang, but this was soon closed and opium production for the whole of Malaya was carried out from the factory in Singapore. The government continued to manufacture and sell. The Penang factory closed down in April, 1910.

Anti Opium Movement by Dr Wu Lien-Teh

Due to the social awareness movement of the bad effect of opium, The Penang Anti-Opium Association was formed in October 1906 at 72, Love Lane amidst the campaign against opium-smoking in Malaya. Anti Opium Movement was started in Penang, was found by Dr. Wu Lien-the (伍连德). A Penang born doctor make famous as plague fighter in China. Dr Wu became the President and Physician in Chief of the association. He call for restriction and prohibition of the opium . The association organized the first ever Anti-Opium Conference of the Straits Settlements. But some source said when first founded, Foo Choo Choon (Hu Zicun,胡子春), (b. 30 July 1860; d. 27 Mar 1921), a Hakka tin miner, revenue farmer and businessman from Penang and Perak, was elected President.

The Opium Commission set up in 1907 later ruled that the prohibition of opium trade/farming was unnecessary as it would only reduce the revenue stream. Opium smoking continued to be allowed until after WW2 in 1946. However the report resulted in fomation of new department called Government Monopolies. Measures also introduced to gradually reduce the number of opium smokers.

1910-1935 Government Monopolies Office

In 1910, all customs activities were operated by a new government body called the Government Monopolies. This body was authorised to grant import license and process and sell certain goods such as opium, tobacco, arrack, cigarettes and matches. At that time, excise duty were imposed on such goods as rice-wine (samsu), toddy and locally made opium whilst customs tax was imposed on opium imported from China, tobacco, cigarettes, liquor and fire crackers. The Government Monopolies Department was the early Malayan Customs Department.

Opium had completely become a government monopoly, no more private retailers. The authorised sale of chandu by retail took place solely in prescribed government shops. This practice which had the desired effect of confining consumption to specified premises, also encouraged smuggling

The Penang factory closed down in April, 1910.

The first Manager of Government Monopolies, Penang, was Mr WS Gibson. In 1912, the official name for Manager, Penang had changed to The Asst Superintendant of Government Monopolies in Penang , and the post was still held by WS Gibson. The retail trading last until after the WW2, when it was banned by the colonial military government, British Military Administration Malaya or BMA/Malaya in 1946.

1935-1941 Excise Department(1935-1938);Department of Customs and Excise(CED)(1938-1946)

In Apr 1935, the name "Government Monopolies Department" was replaced by the "Excise Department". The change reflected the decreasing emphasis on revenue derived from the chandu monopoly and the increasing reliance of the government on its revenue from the duties imposed on tobacco, petroleum and intoxicating liquors. The emphasis of excise concept confirmed the importance of locally manufactured liquors as a source of revenue. The name of the Excise Department was later changed to that of Department of Customs and Excise(CED) in 1938 and the designation of its head was amended to be read as "Controller of Customs". (Note: It was later renamed as the 'Controller of Customs & Excise' in 1966 with the addition of the phrase "and excise" reflecting the importance of expanding its excise base).

JG O’Reilly,was the Deputy Commissioner for Penang in 1935.

In 1941, for Penang, the post was Asst Comptroller of Customs, Penang , however no names was listed in the report, Malayan Establishment Staff List 1941 as at 1-7-1941. The last reported as at 1-7-1940, Asst Comptroller of Customs, Penang was GJ Gilmour, may be the last Comptroller of Customs, Penang(pre war). GJ Gilmour was however Assistant Comptroller of Customs, Opium, Singapore in 1941, and the vacant position in Peanng was not filled in 1941. On 11th December 1941 Penang became the target of the Japanese bombers, and on 16-12-1941, Japanese occupied Penang.

1941- 1945 Japanese Occupation

Japanese landed and occupied Penang on 16th December 1941 without any fight, as British had evacuated. The military government of Imperial Japanese Army continue the opium trade during Japanese occupation for 3 years and 8 months until the British military retook Penang. During the Japanese occupation of Penang from 1941 to 1945, the register of opium users were ignored by Japanese military, and anyone who could pay for it was allowed to smoke. Opium addiction was openly encouraged, the number of smokers increased, which nullified the effort of colonial government to reduce opium smoking.

1945-1946 British Military Administration

On 15-8-1945, BMA was established by Proclamation in Malaya in Singapore. On 3-9-1945, a civil affairs detachment was landed in Penang.

By Sept 1945, 95% of the local staff at Customs and Excise Department was back at work. Few former expatriate staff played any part in BMA, most of them had been as detained as POW or civilian internee during the Japanese occupation.

British Military Administration Gazette of December 27, 1945, provided that the Customs duties fixed under Customs Enactment, 1936, of the Federated Malay States should apply throughout the Malayan.

Major LR Barnett –Smith(b 1905 – d?),was the Staff Officer,Customs and Excise, Penang and PW, BMA.

In February 1946, an Opium and Chandu Proclamation declared a total prohibition of the sale and use of opium except for medicinal purposes.

The Strait Settlement was dissolved with effect from 1 April 1946. with Singapore becoming a separate crown colony (and ultimately an independent republic), while Penang and Malacca joined the new Malayan Union (a predecessor of modern-day Malaysia). By forming Malayan Union on April 1 1946, the BMA was also dissolved on the same day, and was replaced with the newly formed civilian confederation, Malayan Union, which included Strait Settlement(except Singapore), Federated Malay States and Unfederated Malay States.

1946-1948 Customs and Excise of Malayan Union, Penang.

In January 1946 the British Military Administration decided to end Penang's duty-free status. That together with the plan to break up the Straits Settlements and impose the Malayan Union prompted the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce to lead a protest of Penang's chambers of commerce including the Penang Indian Chamber of Commerce and the Penang Muslim Chamber of Commerce. The protests aimed at the Colonial Office proved successful and Penang's free port status was restored in June 1946.

Customs Union for the Malay Peninsula could only be established in 1946, that is with the formation of the Malayan Union in April, 1946, and the department was given the name Customs and Excise of Malayan Union. Nevertheless, with the dissolution of the Malayan Union in 1948, Customs Department comprise not only those under the Federated Malay States(FMS) but also included those under the administration of the Non-Federated Malay States(UMS) and the Straits Settlements(SS).

By 10-10-1946, opium smoking was prohibited in Malaya and in British protected territories in the Far East. A decree issued by the British Government state that it has been decided not to reestablish the government opium monopoly in these territories on their reoccupation by Britain. The prohibition was enforced on 10-10-1946, however Toddy was still on sale from 1-11-1946 until even today.

The banning of opium smoking however increased the role of Preventive Branch in the department. The custom department Penang rented 2 offices at 2nd floor, old ‘ FMS Malayan Railway’ building(built in 1907) at China Street Ghaut in 1946(Today the building had been bought over by Customs in 1972, and renamed Wisma Kastam). Maybe the Opium & Spirit Farm Offices no longer able to cater for the space demanded by an expanded customs department in Penang.

Due to strong opposition from the Malay community, Malayan Union was abandoned in favor of the Federation of Malaya on 1 February 1948.

1948-1957 British Federation of Malaya

In 1948, with the formation of the Federation of Malaya, the Customs and Excise Department were established for the whole of the Malay Peninsula. Under the Customs Ordinance 1952, this department was put under the control of the High Commissioner for Malaya and headed by a Comptroller of Customs as can be found since 1938. This lasted until the country achieved its independence in 1957.

Section 138, Customs Ordinance, 1952 gave the Federation Council power to issue all rules and regulations on Customs affairs. The Customs main area at that time was the whole of the Peninsular of Malaya excluding Penang (to maintain its free port status). As free port, the preventive role become crucial task of Penang's customs department.

Note: The Colonial Government may have sold the building during this period and moved to Malayan Railway building under lease contract, which was finally boughtover in 1972 for $500,000. I was not able to confirm the date Loh Boon Siew bought the building. It can easily be done, by looking at the actual title or from the extract of title. Need confirmation, can anyone help?.

1958 Honda Showroom at Pitt Street

In 1958, Boon Siew noticed the popularity of the Honda Super Cub motorbike which had been just introduced in Japan. He believed that this low-cost, high-efficiency machine would find a similarly receptive market in the rapidly urbanizing areas of Malaysia. Boon Siew arranged to meet with Mr. Soichiro Honda, the bike's creator, and quickly convinced him to set up a Honda subsidiary in Malaysia.

Founded by the late Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew(骆文秀, b 1915 - d 1995), the motorcycle distributor started off as Boon Siew Ltd in 1958. The first Malaysian Honda showroom was set up on Pitt Street in Penang. This should be at former Opium & Spirit Farm Office building.

Boon Siew Sdn Bhd was involved in the production and distribution of Honda Motorcycle in Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore under a franchising agreement with Honda Motor Co.td in Japan. acquisition of the Honda motorcycle distributorship in 1958 and Honda car franchise in 1969

1971 The Star Office

The office is later used by The Star, a Penang based newspaper for its printing presses and office in 1971. The Star was first published on Sept 9, 1971, starting off as a regional newspaper with its plant at Opium & Spirit Office in George Town, Penang.

In 1974, Loh Boon Siew played a role in the brief merger between Kwong Wah Yit Poh and The Star (Malaysia). He was the owner of both Kwong Wah Jit Poh and The Star.

The Star went national on Jan 3, 1976, when it set up an office in Kuala Lumpur. Two years later in 1978, it relocated its headquarters from Penang to Kuala Lumpur. Their main office moved to Petaling Jaya in 1981, the premise of current UTAR.

The office at Pitt Street, become Star Northern Hub, Pitt Street Office. Now Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling. In 1983, it was bought over by The Star.

In 1997, Star bought over 12,085 sq metres of industrial land at Bayan Lepas, and later in 2002, additional 19472 sq metres was bought as regional office and printing plant. The printing office in Penang however was later relocated to new premises at Bayan Lepas, Penang, located at No. 202, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang. It is also Northern Hub Bayan Lepas office for The Star or Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd.

Koh Seang Tat had talk about burial ground in 1887

The century-old family cemetery of Penang’s first ‘Kapitan Cina’ Koh Lay Huan in Batu Lanchang has been dug up to make way for a property development project in a move that has alarmed heritage enthusiasts. The Kohs were famous among the local Chinese community and are a part of Penang’s history and heritage. Heritage enthusiasts learned that the MPPP had given approval to dig up the tombs without looking into the historical significance – and 78 tombs were said to have been removed on this site and neigbouring areas. The MPPP had reportedly received an application by a Koh Chong Poh to remove 33 graves from this site but only approved 23. (Koh later told the Sun that the tomb of Koh Lay Huan and his wife would not be disturbed and would instead be turned into a small memorial park.)

The plot is behind the Lintang Gangsa Apartment (next to the market) off Green Lane (lot number 1560, section 5, DTL. The housing project, reportedly undertaken by developer Kemuning Setia Sdn Bhd covers 11.5 acres of the 27-acre site, was approved by the MPPP in December 2009.

Koh family is not only early pioneer in Penang; the family is a significant family not only for Penang; but also Kedah, Singapore, Siam, Taiwan,and China. One of the family members, Gu Hong Ming (辜鴻銘, b 1857 – d 1928), was world famous scholars, not only in China but also the western world. If you included the relationship of Koh family with David Brown family, then the history also linked to Scotland, UK where Gu Hong Ming once live with Brown family. It will be of tourism value if properly developed....

Despite having attained the status of Heritage City, the heritage protection law in the state is still weak, and the state government is still concentrate their effort on the historical buildings and heritage in the city. The definition of heritage was not comprehensive to include all possibilities of heritage items. There was no list of heritage sites outside the city compiled by the state.

On approving of any building plan or removal of any tombstone/burial ground, I wonder did the approving official conduct a site visit and Heritage Impact Assessment Report produced; have the MPPP have an heritage assessment department who have knowledge of local culture and heritage law?. But even without the statutory law, did MPPP has the common sense to decide if the building or the burial ground is of heritage value?.... I was wondering something went wrong somewhere, as incidents similar to this had happen in Pykett Avenue sometime ago, did MPPP learn their lesson?.....

Did MPPP know Kapitan China Koh Lay Huan?

Koh Lay Huan, who was appointed by Francis Light as the the first Kapitan Cina of Penang in 1787. One of Koh’s sons even accompanied Stamford Raffles to Singapore in 1819. Please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koh_Lay_Huan.









Did MPPP know Koh Seang Tatt?

The tomb of a philanthropist tycoon from the 1800s, Koh Seang Tatt, had been broken into at the Batu Lanchang Hokkien cemetery in Penang. The bones of both Koh and his wife had been removed. This is a sad story, and approval was given by MPPP, it seems that MPPP did not know who is Koh Seang Tatt....

The grave of Seang Tatt’s brother Koh Seang Teik, which has a road in Penang named after him, was also exhumed...

The tombstones damaged included those of prominent businessmen Koh Seang Tatt, Tan Gim Leong, Tan Gim Kheng and philantropist Lim Ko Seng.

Others graves and tombstones belonging to Penang Chinese Town Hall founder Tan Hup Chui and Penang’s first Kapitan Cina Koh Lay Huan remain intact.

Koh Seng Tat & Balik Pulau

Prior to 1880, Balik Pulau was under the jurisdiction of an adviser to the British colonial government, Koh Seang Tatt, a local magnate who took up law studies in England.

Apart from being the district magistrate, he was also given the authority to bring in labourers from China to open up the forested hilly areas at Air Puteh. Most of the cleared areas became Koh's property.

There were already Malay villagers in the various kampung, most of whom had migrated from Kedah and Perlis after the Siamese attack on Kedah in 1821.

Koh had administrative authority not only of Balik Pulau but also Air Itam and Tanjung Tokong.

There was no proper road in Balik Pulau then. Neither was there any horse carriage. Koh stayed in Air Itam and only visited Balik Pulau occasionally. He usually made the trip along the hilly path on a sedan chair carried by four coolies, escorted by two constables.

Balik Pulau was also called "Kongsi" because of the longhouse (in front of the Indian temple) built to accommodate 300 to 400 labourers from China. Among the areas cleared by these labourers were Air Putih which was planted with rubber.

A courthouse was built here but it later became the living quarters for estate workers after a new courthouse was built.

(source: extract from article of NST, http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/08place/Article/)

You know what was Koh Seng Tat's view on Chinese burial ground; when a conflict arise with the colonial administration to built a district magistrate's house on the elected area of Chinese burial ground at Balik Pulau? That was in 1887....

Conflict arose between British and Chinese in 1887, when British attempted to enact a burial ordinance that would have restricted the areas where the Chinese could established the burial grounds and would have forced them to disinter previous burial so that a district magistrate’s house could be built on a scenic elevation in Balik Pulau. Colliding here were Chinese geomantic notions that led them to site graveyards in elevated areas with a pleasant view and British notions of sanitation and appropriate land use. In the debate that followed , Kapitan Koh Lay Huan’s great grandson Koh Seang Tat(d 1833), one of Penang most prominent Strait Chinese, cited Roman Law to argue that Penang Chinese burial grounds should remain sacrosamct in perpetuity(Koh, 14, OCT 1887). (source: Rites of belonging: memory, modernity, and identity in a Malaysian Chinese community, by Jean Elizabeth DeBernardi, Stanford University Press, 2004)

The late Koh Seng Tat is telling MPPP, and Penang langs about his view not on Balik Pulau burial ground; but his won burial ground....

The solution of the mistake, relocation. Ten graves belonging to prominent personalities at the private Chinese cemetery in Batu Lanchang will be relocated to the United Hokkien Cemeteries (UHC) sited across the road.(source: The Star, March 18, 2011)

It is sad, Penang lang, MPPP do not know history....may be there is no more Penang lang in the city(or in MPPP?)that know the history of the state?....

I wonder, Penang lang, a declining living heritage now, person still around, who was born in Penang; the original Penang lang of many generations....that still cherish the history of Penang....the strait born ....the Peranakan...will one day face the same fate as Koh's family burial ground.....

There are many heritage buildings and burial grounds still waiting for their days....and no action have taken....just waiting for the nature to take its place...

Shi Chung Goh Chan Lau; Captain Francis Light Tomb; Mission House; Khaw Boo Aun's residence at Bukit Tambun(許武安故居)....there are still many....buildings or burial grounds....

Tears for Penang....tears for Penang lang, a living heritage...

Penang Submarine Base 1943-1945

Penang was captured by Japanese forces invading from the north through Thailand on 19 December 1941, one of the key stages of the Battle of Malaya, days after having neutralized American sea power at Pearl Harbor. Three and a half years of rule of terror ensued. Many of the local populace fled to the interior and plantations to escape from Japanese atrocities, of which many were reported and documented. During this occupation, Penang was governed by four successive Japanese governors, starting with Shotaro Katayama

Penang, situated on the west coast of Peninsula Malaya was under Japanese occupation and in Feb 1942, Japan make Penang as their submarine base, under the command of Admiral Uzuki. A second base was established at Kobe, Japan, and a small repair base was located at Singapore, Jakarta and Surabaya.



In early 1943, German Navy made Japanese occupied Penang their first port of call and principal base for U boats. From 1943 to 1944, Jerejak Island was made a submarine base by the Germans. This base served Axis submarine forces: (Italian Regia Marina, German Kriegsmarine, and the Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kaigun, or Imperial Japanese Navy). Here at regular intervals, technological and information exchanges occurred.

Why German U-boat base in Penang?
Before the German invasion of Russia (Operation Barbarossa) commenced in June 1941, land and air transportation between Germany and Japan was possible. The two allies often seek to exchange knowledge and other raw materials. Germany needed rubber, metals such as copper and bismuth, and medicines such as quinine. On the reverse, Japan needed steel, mercury and optical glass. In addition, the two nations were interested in each other’s latest military hardware, including prototypes of the latest weapons and blueprints for research. After the invasion of Russia, the only practical means of exchange was by sea. Initially, this was met by surface blockade-runners running to and from the Far East. But the British blitz in 1942 disrupted the flow of materials that by the end of 1942, it became clear that German supply lines were being threatened and the situation could not continue as it is. As a consequence, a proposal was put forth by Admiral Donitz on February 1943 to use submarines for transport purposes. In order to provision for U-boats traversing the Indian Ocean, an Eastern base was clearly required.

Another reason for German interest in an Eastern base seem to suggest that while the Atlantic campaign was going well for the Germans, U-boat operations gradually extended southwards, down the African coast and finally up to the Cape of Good Hope. In its quest for more fertile fields, it was only logical to further extend into the Indian Ocean, where it is believed that Allied ASW capabilities were not as sophisticated as those in the Atlantic.

Finally, with the collapse of the Atlantic campaign in May 1943, U-boats needed to be on the offensive elsewhere and with that, U-boats were dispatched to their Far Eastern bases in mid 1943 to undertake offensive operations in the Indian Ocean. Planning however for these bases had already begun, as early as late 1942.

(Extract from German Interest in the Far East, http://www.uboataces.com/articles-fareast-boats2.shtml)

Where exactly was the location of the site of a German submarine base from June 1943 to March 1944.?

It is a little known fact that Penang served as a German U-boat base in the Far East. Where exactly was the location? Some said it was at Pulau Jerejak, some said there was also a secret submarine naval base situated near this Bukit Batu Maung fort. In the Pulau Jerejak island you can found 2 Russian Sailors Grave which their cruiser was sunk in WW1 by Germans. There was a German U-boat Deck gun found on a mountain Bukit Batu Maung in Penang, which is now Penang War Museum. From the historical photo , the U boats were seen clearly at Swettenham Pier, which was established in 1903, and named after Frank Athelstane Swettenham (1850-1946), the first Resident General of the Federated Malay States between 1896 and 1901. Batu Maung is better bet for the submarine base, but Swettenham Pier had a photo for evidence.....

Author Dennis Gunton, author of the book The Penang Submarines, said that:

The mooring space at Swettenham Pier, beneath the parapets of Fort Cornwallis, for example, was largely turned over to German use. "The Japanese built 26 sheds housing various workshops on the esplanade adjacent to Fort Cornwallis, blocked from public view by a six-foot wall,"

Historian Lawrence Paterson, author of the book Grey Wolves: U Boats in the Indian Ocean, who said that;

The 302,200 square feet of machine shops and maintenance areas were linked by railway track to Swettenham Pier. "The facility was able to accommodate up to five U-boats at a time alongside the wooden pylons "And as there was initially little fear of an Allied air attack, the Germans did not hesitate to leave their boats tied in a position that would be considered dangerously exposed in the increasingly bombed French ports. "At Swettenham Pier, they quickly established a torpedo balancing station within the established Japanese balancing workshop as well as maintenance facilities where diesel repairs could be undertaken," adds Paterson. "A mobile torpedo balancing unit was later established aboard the Japanese supply ship Quito." Interestingly, Paterson also records that two German Arado Ar 196 seaplanes were incongruously painted with hinomaru (Japanese national) markings and provided at least a token escort for incoming U-boats.

German U Boat base was at Swettenham Pier.

Commander in Charge(CIC) at Penang Submarine Base

It was reported that the successive different Commander in Charge(CIC) at Penang Submarine Base are as follow :

* Fregattenkapitän Werner Trendtel(who was assigned to Kriegsmarine High Command from Apr 1938 until May 1941 and then transferred to the German embassy in Tokyo as part of the Marine Attaché staff from May 1941 until Apr 1943 from Japan, but did not take over command because of a new task in Japan)

* Korvettenkapitän Wolfgang Erhardt(B: 14 Mar 1907. Commanded T 7. Later served as leader of naval attaché office in Malaya and military attaché office in Singapore from Mar 1943 until the end of the war. Taken into Allied custody and finally released from captivity in Mar 1947. Later commanded Bundesmarine's sail training ship GORCH FOCK from 1958 until 1962).

* Kapitänleutnant Konrad Hoppe - aviation officer, Oberleutnant (Navy) Konrad Hoppe (Crew 35). Hoppe was promoted to Kapitaenleutnant after arrival in Japan, and was placed to disposal for service by Navy HQ. Among his new duties were supervising the building of the base at Penang and later also at Surabaya, on the northern coast of Java. DKiG holder Kapitänleutnant Konrad Hoppe was the Fliegeroffizier of the “Michel” (HSK 9)Hoppe was dispatched on U-168, but later returned to Surabaya, Java as CIC)

* Erhardt again (because Hoppe was dispatched on U-168, but later returned to Java)
* Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Dommes - CIC at Penang from Sept 1943. Commander of U 178 from 02.1943 to 11.1943. Wilhelm Dommes (16 April 1907 in Buchberg – 23 January 1990 in Hannover) was a German U-boat commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He is notable as being the commander of U-boats in the Indian Ocean, whereby German and Japanese forces cooperatively fought for the only time in the war. In January 1945 the base commander of Singapore and Chief of all Monsun boats. (http://uboat.net/men/dommes.htm)

* Korvettenkapitän Waldemar Grützmacher - CIC at Penang from January 1945. Before this, he was CIC in Yokohama.

Werner Trendtel may not be physically with the base, may involved in planning stage at Tokyo. Wolfgang Erhard may be overall in charge at Malaya, including Singapore and Penang. But only Wilhelm Dommes and Waldemar Grützmacher were the men that actually at the Penang Submarine Base, and see action. Konrad Hoppe only oversee the building of the base.



Monsun Gruppe, the German U Boats fleets in Penang
Monsun Gruppe or Monsoon Group was a force of German U-boats (submarines) that operated in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during World War II. Although similar naming conventions were used for temporary groupings of submarines in the Atlantic, the longer duration of Indian Ocean patrols caused the name to be permanently associated with the relatively small number of U-boats operating out of Penang. The Indian Ocean was the only place where German and Japanese forces fought in the same theater. Arrangements were made to avoid incidents between U-boats and Japanese submarines - attacks on other submarines were strictly forbidden. The idea of stationing U-boats in Malaya and the East Indies for operations in the Indian Ocean was first proposed by the Japanese in December 1942. As no supplies were available at either location the idea was turned down although a number of U-boats operated around the Cape of Good Hope at the time. A few days after Cappellini reached the East Indies, U-511 became the first U-boat to complete the voyage. This boat carried Japanese naval attache Admiral Kichisaburō Nomura from Berlin to Kure. The boat was given to Japan as RO-500; and its German crew returned to Penang to provide replacement personnel for the main submarine base being established at a former British seaplane base on the west coast of the Malayan Peninsula. A second base was established at Kobe and small repair bases were located at Singapore, Jakarta and Surabaya. As part of the dispersal of U-boat operations following heavy losses in the North Atlantic during the spring of 1943, Wilhelm Dommes was ordered to sail his U-178 from his operating area off South Africa to assume command at Penang.
(source: wikipedia)

U-511, under the command of Kptlt. Fritz Schneewind, arrived in Penang(then still under Japanese occupation) in July 1943, followed by U-178 in August 1943. This essentially started the U-boat campaign in the Indian Ocean and also provided the Germans with penetration into the Pacific for the first time, alongside their ally, Japan.

On March 28 1943, U-178 departed from France and en route to the Indian Ocean, BdU sent a message that she was to sail to Malaya and set up a U-boat base there. After having replenished from a surface tanker in the Indian Ocean, the U-178 arrived in Penang at the Malayan Peninsula on August 1943. KK Wilhelm Dommes(Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Dommes) became the first commander of the German U-boat base in Asia,located in the former British seaplane base in Penang. A second base was established at Kobe, Japan, and a small repair base was located at Singapore, Jakarta and Surabaya.

U511 - The first U Boat to arrive in Penang

In April 1943, U178 was sent to Penang to establish the U Boat base there. But the first U boat to arrive was U 511 on 15-7-1943, commanded by Kptlt Fritz Schneewind, who took temporary charge of the base as Senior Officer, while his U Boat go on to Kobe. U511 was one of the two U boats presented to Japan for copying. U178 only arrived in late August 1943, after 152 days at sea. It was command by Kptlt Wlheim Dommes, who became Commander of German U Boat base in Penang, with satellite facilities at Singapore, Djakarta, Surabaya and Kobe..

U178
Korvettenkapit Dommes of U178, had got the order on 22 July to refuel from the Italian submarine Luigi Torelli SE of the Cape of Good Hope. On 7 August Admiral Doenitz asked Dommes whether his boat would be fit for a prolonged patrol in the same area after an overhaul in the Japanese base at Penang, Malaya. Dommes agreed, fueled from Torelli next day and in company with the Italian submarine, U178 reached Penang on the 29th.

Why was Dommes sent to Penang? The Battle of the Atlantic had been won by the Royal Navy in May (41 U boats destroyed that month) so that Doenitz had now decided - too late - to send 11 U-boats to the Far East. He believed that in those waters they would have better opportunities and chances and that the anti-submarine measures were not yet fully organized. Until then the U-boat campaign in the western Indian Ocean had not been profitable. The sinking were uneconomic even if one considered the loss of only two U-boats. The anti-submarine measures in those waters were steadily increasing and because of the Axis surrender in North Africa the Mediterranean was reopened to Allied shipping. It meant that the Cape route lost much of its significance for the Allies.

How did the Japanese react to the German proposals? As early as December 1942 they had offered to place some bases at the disposal of the German Navy, for example Penang and Sebang (in Sumatra). But Doenitz was not in a great hurry to accept the offer as far as his U-boats were concerned. Only after the catastrophe in the Atlantic did he take up the offer. But he would soon be disappointed because the Admiralty and Vice-Admiral Max Horton (C-in-C Western Approaches) had anticipated such a diversionary movement of the U-boats and already by mid-1943 the British were building up powerful forces in India. This was why the Japanese requested the Germans to deploy U-boats in the Arabian Sea instead of the east coast of South Africa.
http://www.germanmilitaryhistory.com/blog/51500-far-east-u-boats/

U511- Gift of U-boats to the Emperor of Japan.
Part of the German attempt to improve relations with Japan involved the gift of two U-boats to Hirohito. This gesture of goodwill was to be completed by the presentation of two Japanese submarines to Germany. Japan had requested two large U-boats, 1100 and 1350 tons, but only 750 tonners were sent. The Germans, therefore, were in no position to complain when the Japanese gift turned out to be three old ex-Italian boats which the Germans themselves had repaired.

As usual, misunderstanding plagued the exchange. The German navy demanded payment, evidently not having been informed that the submarines were gifts, and the personal intervention of Hitler was required to straighten matters out.

The first German submarine left Europe in April 1943, under the command of Schneewind (U-511). On board were Admiral Nomura, former special naval representative in Germany, and Woermann, German Ambassador to Nanking. As was the case with Musenberg, Schneewind did not hesitate to engage in operations along the way, with no more success than the former.

On 14 July 1943, U-511 reached Penang, the first German U-boat to touch at a Far Eastern port. The U-boat was officially turned over to the Japanese navy at Kobe on 16 September. Schneewind became Senior Officer U-Base Penang.

The Japanese officers and crews to man the second gift submarine were brought from Japan on the Japanese submarine I-8 in the fall of 1943. After several months of training and study, they took over U-1224, and on 30 March 1944, departed Kiel for Japan. As an instrument of German goodwill, U-1224 was a failure. The course and approximately daily positions of the submarine were known by radio intelligence and enabled TG 22.2 to meet U-1224 on course at about 18°E - 33°W and to sink it, possibly on 13 May 1944.



Independent operations, May to August 1943.

During the summer of 1943, seven U-boats operated independently in the Indian Ocean: Kentrat (U-196), Hartmann (U-198), Bucholz (U-195), Lüth (U-181), Gysae (U-177), Dommes (U-178) and Bartels (U-197). They were concentrated, mainly around Durban, Lourenco Marques, south of Madagascar and off Mozambique. Capetown and Mauritius were also patrolled. According to claims reported in their messages, operations were highly successful. Thirty-six ships, of about 235,000 GRT, were claimed sunk, nine of them by Lüth, who was awarded the highest German decoration for his success.
On 22 June all of these U-boats were refueled by the Charlotte Schliemann south of Madagascar, the first refueling of its kind in the Indian Ocean. Five of the seven returned to Europe. Bartels was sunk while operating off Madagascar, and Dommes (U178) was ordered to make Penang his homing port and operational base.

U-178 was, therefore, the first U-boat assigned to U-base Penang. Kptlt Wlheim Dommes of U178,became Commander of German U Boat base in Penang.

First 'wave' - 11 U-boats and two auxiliaries

Doenitz decided to send the Gruppe Monsun ('Monsoon Group') into the Indian Ocean where they should harass Allied shipping, and after completing their patrol enter Japanese-held Penang. The group consisted of nine Type IXC boats and two IXD-2. For refuelling near the equator there was the U-tanker U462. The supply ship Brake would act as a depot ship in the Indian Ocean.

The dispatch of 11 submarines and 1 supply submarine under Operation Monsoon in Summer of 1943 to Penang. 4 of the submarine actually arrived at Penang, they were U188, U168, U532, U183

Pich (U-168) and Lüdden (U-188), the first Monsun boats to sail, left France about 30 June 1943. Tillesmann (U-516), Würdemann (U-506), Auffermann (U-514), Hennig (U-533), Schäfer (U-183), Junker (U-532) and Witte (U-509) left between 5 and 8 July. Pietzech (U-532) also left at this time, but was forced back to port with engine trouble and did not leave until 16 August. Kuppish (U-847) left the end of July. By the end of August, of the eleven Monsun boats which had sailed from France, five had been sunk in the Middle Atlantic, and one had been forced to drop out of the operation.

With the sinking of Metz is connected to loss of another important Monsun boat, Kuppisch (U-847). Three other active refuelers besides Metz had been sunk in July 1943, and Kuppisch was one of the several operational U-boats forced to act as refuelers pro-tem. On his way to the Far East in July, he was ordered to refuel six submarines. While standing by in the rendezvous area, (which radio intelligence had spotted several days in advance) he was attacked by Card aircraft and sunk on about 27 August. Not only the submarine but the man possibly destined to be the first Commander Penang was lost.(Note: Herbert Kuppisch, the man destined to be the commander of the Penang base. But was KIA when his boat (U-847) was sunk southwest of the Azores).

The U-boats sailed from France and Germany between 11 June and 8 July and their captains were ordered to operate in the Arabian Sea and then to proceed to Penang. Right from the beginning the 'Monsoon Group' met disaster. On 24 June U200 was sunk SW of Iceland by an American Catalina; on 8 July U514 fell victim to RAF Coastal Command's 224 Squadron in the Bay of Biscay; on 12 July U506 was sunk by US planes west of Vigo; three days later U509 was sunk by aircraft of the US escort-carrier Santee NW of Madeira when she was looking for the U-tanker U462 which had been destroyed by Santee's planes west of the Azores; on the 30th the group's own tender was sunk by 502 Squadron, RAF, NW of Cape Ortegal (Spain) and on 27 August U847 was destroyed by three planes of the US escort-carrier Card in mid-Atlantic.

Five of the 11 U-boats proceeding to the Far East and their U-tanker had been finished off before even crossing the equator. The 5 u boats were Schäfer, Pich, Hennig, Junker and Lüdden

They were fueled by the Brake on 8 September, southeast of Madagascar, before cruising to their attack area. Each commander was allowed to use his own judgment to some extent in choosing his attack area, and from September to November 1943, the northern Indian Ocean was well patrolled. The main areas of concentration were the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, and the Laccadive-Maldive Islands. Operations were also conducted off Mombassa, Calcutta and Bombay. The operations on which so much time, fuel and work had been expanded were extremely unproductive. Only three ships, of about 19,000 GRT, were claimed sunk, and the loss of Hennig on 16 October reduced the Monsun fleet to four submarines. The four remaining Monsun boats, Schäfer(U183), Pich(U168), Junker(U532) and Lüdden(U188) reached Penang by November 1943.

The fuel situation of the U-boats was now so critical that U516 was ordered to supply U532 and U533 from her own fuel and then to return to France. The two boats and the other survivors (U168, U183, U188) got round the Cape of Good Hope and joined the supply ship Brake about 450 miles south of Mauritius where they refuelled during 8-14 September. Doenitz was now looking forward to a surprise blow from his U-boats in the Arabian Sea but Japanese submarine operations in these waters had already alerted Eastern Fleet HQ so that convoys were being introduced and strong air and sea patrols covered the endangered routes to Durban, Mombasa, Aden, Bombay and Colombo.

After having refuelled from the supply ship Brake the boats of Gruppe Monsun proceeded to their assigned patrol stations; U168 to the Indian coast south of Bombay, U532 to the mid-ocean Chagos Archipelago and Ceylon, U183 and U533 to the Seychelles-Gulf of Aden area and finally U188 to the southern coast of Arabia. The group was joined by U178 from Penang. The six submarines did not have much success during their patrols which lasted until November. They sank only three ships (20,801 tons) during September and three more (13,015 tons) in October. Group Monsoon then withdrew to Penang, first arrival being U183 on 17 October. But the day before, U533 was lost in the Gulf of Oman to an obsolete RAF Blenheim Mk.V (Bisley) of 244 Squadron. The remaining four units were overhauled in Penang so that only U178, which should have returned to Germany for a refit, prowled the Indian Ocean for the rest of 1943 and sank one ship of 7,244 tons.

Penang was far from being an ideal base for the German Far East U-boats. It had never been a naval base and no trained labor or dockyard facilities were available. The U boat crews could undertake only emergency repairs assisted by shore personnel from the Armed Merchant Raider Thor (lost by fire at Yokohama, Japan, on 30 November 1942). It is not surprising that it took 50-70 days to overhaul a U-boat and prepare her for the next war patrol. As an example of the difficulties, a flashlight or battery could only be got from Bangkok, hundreds of miles distant.

Second cruise of the Monsun submarines - Far East to Germany.

Schneewind, who took over U-183 after Schäfer's death in Penang, Pich (U-168),Junker (U-532), Lüdden (U-188), and Spahr, who replaced Dommes in U-178, left Penang at intervals from 29 November 1943 to 1 February 1944. During January and February, patrols were maintained from Ceylon to the Gulf of Aden and around Mauritius Island. Contrary to plans this was the most productive phase of the entire operation, the U-boats claiming 21 sinkings, totaling about 119,000 GRT.

Of the eleven original Monsun boats, only one, Lüdden, returned to Germany.

The second Monsoon Group - Only one got through
In the autumn of 1943 Doenitz decided once more to send all boats of the large IXD-2 type to the Indian Ocean as soon as they were commissioned. It was the second Monsoon Group but fared even worse than the first after the submarines left their bases in France and Norway. The US Navy had established an airfield on Ascension Island with B24 Liberators and B25 Mitchells available to patrol the mid-Atlantic and out of four U-boats sent only one reached Penang. U848 was destroyed by one of the planes, 290 miles SW of Ascension, on 5 November, U849 on the 25th off the Congo estuary and U850 west of Madeira on 20 December by planes from the US carrier Bogue. Only U510 (Kapitnleutnant Eick) a Type IXC type boat, got through. She left Lorient on 3 November and rounded the Cape in January 1944. Though her movements were detected by RDF (Radio Direction Finding) the search for her was not successful. U510 sank five ships (31,220 tons) and damaged one of 9,970 tons during February and March before entering Penang; a notable individual score at this period of the war.

A second wave of Monsun Gruppe U-boats was dispatched from Europe to make up for losses in transit.

* U-219 sailed on a minelaying mission on 22 October 1943 but returned to France on 1 January 1944 after being diverted to fuel other boats in the North Atlantic.[14]
* U-848 sailed 18 September 1943 and sank the 4,600-ton British freighter Baron Semple before being sunk by USN PB4Y Liberators in the South Atlantic on 5 November 1943.[15]
* U-849 sailed 2 October 1943 and was sunk by a USN PB4Y Liberator in the South Atlantic on 25 November 1943.[15]
* U-850 sailed 18 November 1943 and was sunk by aircraft from USS Bogue on 20 December 1943.[15]
* U-510 sailed 3 November 1943 and sank the 7,400-ton British tanker San Alvaro, the 9,200-ton American freighter E.G.Seubert, and three more freighters before reaching Penang on 5 May 1944

By now torpedoes were running short in the German naval base. U1062 (Type VIIF) left Bergen in Norway on 3 January 1944 with 39 torpedoes (25 as cargo) on board. The three remaining U-boats in Penang (U168, U188 and U532) were meanwhile taking on board important cargoes and preparing for the long and perilous voyage home. They left the base between 4 January and 7 February and were ordered to expend their torpedoes in the Indian Ocean. U188 sank seven ships (42,549 tons), U532 another two and U168 two small vessels.

By RDF fixes the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet could locate the supply ship Charlotte Schliemann east of Mauritius. The ship had already refuelled U178 and U510 on 28 January and should now refuel U532. Eastern Fleet guessed that Charlotte Schliemann was still in the area so the cruiser Newcastle, the destroyer Relentless and Catalinas from Mauritius were sent out to find and destroy her. Even the captains of Charlotte Schliemann and U532 decided on 11 February to shift their point of rendezvous to the south, i.e. into mid-ocean, because they would not run the risk of being detected by air patrols. Should planes attack the tanker, U532 would not dive but open fire with her flak guns. After two hours a Catalina was sighted and U532 dived in spite of the promise not to do so. The U-boat surfaced during the night to search for the supply ship but did not find her.

The Catalinas had summoned the destroyer Relentless which opened fire at 0100 the next day and then fired torpedoes at the supply ship, scoring one hit. The crew of Charlotte Schliemann abandoned her and 41 officers and men were taken prisoner.

Gradually the Indian Ocean became even less attractive for the U-boats, which sank seven ships in February 1944 and four in March. On 11 March the second and last supply ship, the tanker Brake, met the same fate as Charlotte Schliemann. She was about 1,000 miles SE of Mauritius and refuelling U188, U168 and U532. Again the Royal Navy got RDF fixes on the U-boat concentration, due to the ex-Italian U-boat UIT22 continuously sending radio signals to Brake while on her way to Japan. Eastern Fleet HQ sent out the escort carrier Battler, the cruisers Suffolk and Newcastle as well as the destroyers Roebuck and Quadrant to have a look at the presumed rendezvous. One of the carrier-borne aircraft sighted the tanker and U-boats at 1600 and homed Roebuck to the point. The destroyer opened fire and Brake was then scuttled by her crew. U188 reached Bordeaux on 19 June and U532 Penang on 19 April, together with U1062 which brought the precious torpedoes.

So far Doenitz had committed 42 U-boats to his Indian Ocean campaign, 12 had been lost to planes and ships, 23 had made the round trip successfully but only six were at this time operational in the Far East; U168, U183, U532, U510, UIT24 and UIT25. But it was still believed that the Indian Ocean had a high concentration of Allied shipping, ignoring the fact that even in that sea most ships sailed in convoy and not independently. Doenitz should have known this and that his U-boats had no chance of penetrating the convoy escorts and firing their torpedoes. New submarine groups were sent out during 1944 but to reduce the risk of detection from the air the U-boats sailed independently, most of them being sunk.



Of the first six U-boats U177, U1059, UIT22 and U851 were sunk by air attacks before rounding the Cape. Only three got through to the Indian Ocean. Then fate caught up with U852, a new IXD-2 type cruiser which had left Kiel on 18 January 1944 under Kapitanleutnant Eck, the successful skipper of U50. On 13 March, Eck had sunk the Greek freighter Peleus of 4,695 tons in mid-Atlantic, machine-gunned the survivors on the rafts and hurled hand-grenades at them. Four men were still alive when U852 left the scene and three of them were rescued after 35 days. U852 was caught in the Arabian Sea on 3 May and heavily damaged by RAF planes (8 and 621 Squadrons) SE of Socotra Island, going aground off Somalia. Kapitanleutnant Eck, the medical officer, the officer of the watch and the rest of the crew were brought to England where the U852 atrocity was investigated. Only after the war were these three U-boat men brought to trial in Hamburg and sentenced to death. They were executed by a British firing squad on 30 November 1945. Which was the one that arrive at Penang?

The next nine U-boats followed between March and May 1944. Lost to US escort-carrier groups were U860 and the U-tanker U490. All other boats reached the Indian Ocean but the pickings were few and far between; three ships during June, four in July and eight in August. During this period U168, U183, U510 and U532 were undergoing repair and overhaul at Penang. While U198 sank two large British ships near Cape Delgado and Dar-es-Salaam in the first week of August, three warships of 3rd Escort Group sailed from Durban in search of her. The escort carriers Begum and Shah, with four frigates, joined in the hunt. Finally on 10 August an Avenger aircraft from Shah sighted U198 about 600 miles east of Mombasa. Next day another plane from the carrier sighted the U-boat again about 80 miles NW of the Seychelles. The aircraft dropped depth charges as U198 crash-dived. The U-boat came to the surface again and opened fire with her flak guns. U198 evaded the plane but later a Catalina sighted her farther north. At dawn on 12 August the British frigates and the Royal Indian Navy sloop Godavari closed the position. The latter ship and the frigates Findhorn (Royal Canadian Navy) and Parret dropped depth-charges and after the first salvo heavy explosions were heard under water and large oil patches came to the surface. That was the end of U198.

The last U-boats to reach the Indian Ocean were the Type IXD-2s U861 and U862. Two more U-boats, U863 and U871, were sunk in the Atlantic during their attempts in September to reach the Far East. After the Allied invasion of France, U180 and U219 were converted to transports and sailed from Bordeaux on 20 August. Two days later U180 struck a mine on leaving the Gironde, but U195 reached the Indian Ocean. Though U862 was attacked on 20 August off the Comore Islands in the Mozambique Channel, by a Catalina (which was shot down) and hunted by an escort carrier group, she entered Penang on 9 September. U861 reached Penang on the 22nd.

During August and September U859 reappeared in the Gulf of Aden and sank two 7,000-ton ships. But in a well-laid ambush the British submarine Trenchant torpedoed her on 23 September at the very doorstep of Penang. Ironically, the two boats had left their home ports on the same day in the spring.

Already on 14 February UIT23 had been sunk by Tallyho and on 17 July the Japanese I-166 succumbed to Telemachus. The Penang trap seemed to be closed by British submarines based at Trincomalee, Ceylon. Doenitz decided to transfer the base to Batavia, in Java. In Penang everything including torpedoes was short and the Japanese as usual unhelpful, but now more unfriendly as Germany's fortunes declined. The still-operational U-boats were loaded with strategic raw materials such as tin, rubber, wolfram, opium and ordered back to Germany.

U-boat base at Georgetown, Penang island ceased to exist as a functional U-boat base after October 1944 when all U-boats transferred to either Djakarta or Soerabaya due to Allied submarine activity off Penang followed by aerial mining. By 1945 when Grützmacher took charge Penang's only significance was as a radio station. It was the only official Kreigsmarine base permitted within Japanese held Asia. Penang would receive and transmit messages to OKM Germany, however two small frieghters Bogota and Eritrea with radio stations were positioned to maintain contact at Djakarta and Soerebaya, Indonesia.

Relocation to Batavia
U168 left Batavia on 4 October and was sunk the next day by the Dutch submarine Zwaardvisch. Farthest east of all the U-boats to perish she had accounted for just one ship. U181 left Batavia on 19th and sank the 10,198-ton American tanker Fort Lee east of Mauritius. Then engine trouble forced her back to Batavia. The US submarine Flounder caught U537 off Bali on 9 November. U196 sailed on the 11th and was lost on the Sunda Strait. U510 returned to Europe, as well as U843. U862 operated off Fremantle as one of the last U-boats in the Far East during February 1945 and sank two sizeable ships. U510 made a second attempt to reach Germany but being short of fuel had to surrender at St. Nazaire and served in the French Navy until 1958. U195 suffered engine trouble and had to return to Batavia. U183 was torpedoed by the US submarine Besugo in the Java Sea on 23 April 1945.

Though the tables were turned for Germany, two further attempts were made to get through to the Indian Ocean. U864 left Bergen (Norway) on 5 February 1945 but was sunk a short way out by yet another target hungry Allied submarine, HMS Venturer. U234 left Europe with two important Japanese submarine designers on board. She surrendered on 16 May in Portsmouth, US, where the Japanese committed suicide.



The remaining U-boats in the Far East were U181, U195, U219 and U862 as well as the transports UIT24 and UIT25 which were seized by the Japanese in May and commissioned by the Imperial Navy, merely to surrender ingloriously three months later. So ended the U-boat operations in the Indian Ocean and Far East: 'Misconceived, misdirected, and tragically wasteful in spite of devotion to duty, the valiant efforts, sacrifices, and success of the Far East cadre'.

(extract from http://www.germanmilitaryhistory.com/blog/51500-far-east-u-boats/)

Incessant Allied air and submarine attacks render Penang untenable as an operational base for submarines. German U-boats withdraw to Batavia (Jakarta),

In May 1945, the last 4 German submarine and 2 Italian submarines were taken over by Japanese, when German commander surrender. U188, which had been based in Penang, was captured when Allies landing in France in June 1944. The log of U188 from May 1943 to June 1944 revealed to the Allies the situation of the Penang base and the Indian Ocean.(source: A world at arms: a global history of World War II, by Gerhard L. Weinberg, Cambridge University Press, 2005, pg 385)

Six boats remaining in Japanese territory were taken over by the Imperial Japanese Navy when Germany surrendered in 1945.

* U-181 (type IXD2 cruiser) became I-501 and was scrapped at Singapore after Japan surrendered.
* U-862 (type IXD2 cruiser) became I-502 and was scrapped at Singapore after Japan surrendered.
* UIT-24 (originally Cappellini, then Aquilla III) became I-503 and was found at Kobe when Japan surrendered and scuttled by USN in Kii Suido.
* UIT-25 (originally Torelli) became I-504 and was found at Kobe when Japan surrendered and scuttled by USN in Kii Suido.
* U-219 (type XB minelayer) became I-505 and was scrapped at Jakarta after Japan surrendered.
* U-195 (type IXD1 oiler) became I-506 and was scrapped at Jakarta after Japan surrendered.

Japanese forces in Penang finally surrendered to British forces on 6 September 1945.

The Action off the Coast of Penang
U859

German submarine U-859 was a German Type IXD2 U-boat built during World War II. She was one of a select number of U-boats to join the Monsun Gruppe or Monsoon Group, which operated in the Far East alongside the Imperial Japanese Navy.
U-859 was built in Bremen during 1942 and 1943, and was heavily adapted following her completion in July 1943, with the addition of a Snorkel to enable her to stay underwater for longer during the hazardous passage to Penang in Malaya. Thus she was not ready for war service until the spring of 1944, when following her working up period and modifications she departed Kiel for the East.

Although U-859 only had a single war patrol from which she never returned, her six month career was highly eventful and carried her halfway across the world and into an entirely different theatre of conflict.

Commanded by Kapitänleutnant Johann Jebsen, U-859 sailed from Kiel for Penang on 4 April 1944, carrying 31 tons of mercury in metal flasks destined for use in the Japanese munitions industry, and (according to some sources) uranium oxide also destined for Japan. She avoided shipping lanes and during her time in the North Atlantic, remained submerged for 23 hours every day, running on her schnorkel, surfacing for just one hour per day at 23:00, later reduced to 15 minutes. Three weeks into her voyage, Jebsen saw a target he could not refuse. The MV Colin, formerly an Italian freighter taken over by American authorities and registered in Panama, was slowly steaming unescorted in the North Atlantic following engine failure. Three torpedoes sank her before the U-859 went on her way southwards.[3]
The boat's voyage continued smoothly for the next two months, and she rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian Ocean without further trouble. On the 5 July she was spotted by a Lockheed Ventura aircraft, which swooped down on the boat only to be brought down by the anti aircraft guns. There were no survivors from the aircraft's crew.

Her second victim was her most famous, and became one of the most famous treasure shipwrecks of the Twentieth Century. The unescorted Liberty ship SS John Barry was transporting a cargo of 3 million silver one-riyal coins from Aden to Ras Tanura in the Persian Gulf as part of an American government agreement with the Saudi royal family; the silver coins had been minted in America for Saudi monarch King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud and were stacked in huge boxes in the hold, and went down with the ship when she was torpedoed at 15°10′N 55°18′E / 15.167°N 55.3°E, about 100 miles south of the entrance to the Arabian Sea. A massive salvage operation in 1994 succeeded in retrieving many of the lost coins.

Three days later another unescorted merchant, the British SS Troilus was also sunk,[5] with six hands drowned.

On 23 September U-859 was running on the surface, within 23 mi (37 km) of Penang and the end of her voyage, when she was intercepted in the Malacca Straits by HMS Trenchant. In difficult conditions with a heavy swell running and a second U-boat thought to be lurking, Trenchant's commander Arthur Hezlet carried out a snap attack using his stern torpedo tubes, hitting U-859 amidships. The U-boat sank immediately in 50 m (160 ft) of water with several compartments flooded, and 47 men drowned, including her commander.

Twenty of the crew did manage to escape however, opening the hatch in the relatively shallow sea and struggling to the calm surface. Eleven of the survivors were picked up by HMS Trenchant immediately following the sinking, and the remaining 9 were picked up by the Japanese after being adrift for 24 hours and were taken ashore to await repatriation

In 1972 a total of 12 tons of mercury were recovered from the U-859 and brought into Singapore. The West German Embassy claimed ownership of the mercury. The Receiver of Wreck took possession of the mercury, and the High Court of Singapore ruled that "the German state has never ceased to exist despite Germany's unconditional surrender in 1945 and whatever was the property of the German State, unless it was captured and taken away by one of the Allied Powers, still remains the property of the German State..

HMS Trenchant (P331)
HMS Trenchant (P331) was a British T class submarine of the Second World War.On completion she was given over to the crew of HMS Thrasher whose submarine was due for a refit.
Trenchant under her captain Commander Arthur Hezlet, DSO, DSC acted in the Far East mostly off South East Asia against Japanese shipping sinking a range of vessels both transports and warships, using her torpedoes, gun and also by ramming. She often operated in company with her sister, HMS Terrapin.

On 23 September 1944 she sank the German submarine U-859 in the Straits of Malacca, by torpedoes. 11 of the crew were taken aboard as prisoners of war.

On 27 October 1944, "Chariots" carried into action by Trenchant sank a Japanese Army cargo ship, the Sumatra Maru in Phuket harbour, Siam.

Her most significant action during the war was on 8 June 1945, when she sank the Japanese cruiser Ashigara at a range of 4,000 yards with five out of eight torpedoes fired. The action in the Bangka Straits earned her commander a second DSO and the US Legion of Merit, and the ship the battle honour "Malaya 1944-45". The Ashigara had been carrying some 1,600 Japanese Army troops and materiel.

This was the history of Submarine base in Penang, long before Malaysia has her first submarine. The first submarine base in Malaysia, that was in Penang, a German/Japanese submarine base.....

Submariners Prayer

Lord God, our power evermore,
Whose arms doth reach the ocean floor,
Dive with our men beneath the sea;
Traverse the depths protectively.
O' hear us when we pray, and keep
Them safe from peril in the deep.
There are no roses on a Sailor's grave,
No lilies on an ocean wave.
The only tribute are the seagulls' sweeps,
And the teardrops that a sweetheart weeps.

Recommended video in youtube:
1. U234(HITLER'S LAST U-BOAT) (1/5) to 5/5
2. U-864 (HITLER'S LAST DEADLY SECRET) (1/5) to 5/5
3. The hunt for U864 , by BBC
4. Lt. Commander Gysae's U-boat in the Indian Ocean (Jan 1944), Lieutenant Commander Gysae's U-boat in the Indian Ocean, Repair work above and below water while sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, provisions, torpedoes, and oil transferred from supply U-boat, eating and bathing, a commercial freighter is torpedoed.
5. The war file- U Boat Wars, 1-4

Recommended books/websites/articles/blogs
1. The Penang submarines : Penang and submarine operations: 1942/45, by Dennis Gunton (The first and only book that was comissioned by the City Council of Georgetown, Penang - Malaysia. It is also the ealiest book written about both Japanese , German & Italian submarines operating in Asia during WW2. This book talks extensively about Penang Island as the primary U-Boat base, which was shared with the Imperial Japanese Navy. The relationship between two different axis navies as well as the fate of every Gruppe Monsun - the operational name given to the German U-Boats are also discussed here along with a handdrawn map that details all the U-Boats that was sunk in Asia and enroute from Europe to Penang).
2. German U Boat; http://www.uboataces.com/articles-fareast-boats2.shtml
3. Monsun Gruppe, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsun_Gruppe(This wikipedia article provide the list of U Boats in the Indian Ocean/Far East)
4. Hitler's Grey Wolves - U-boats in the Indian Ocean"
5. More than merchants: a history of the German-speaking community in Penang, 1800s-1940s(2006), by Salma Nasution Khoo, Areca Books, 2006
6. U-boat Operations of the Second World War: Career histories, U511-UIT25,by Kenneth G. Wynn, Naval Institute Press, 1998
7. http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2010/03/sejarah-kapal-kapal-monsun-dan.html(some pictures)
8. http://warrelics.eu/forum/after-battle/my-research-german-u-boats-its-bases-asia-singapore-penang-jakarta-surabaya-1531/(some pictures)
9. NTERROGATION OF SURVIVORS FROM THE GERMAN U-BOAT U-168, http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-168INT.htm
10. Fateful Enmity" Turns Into Sincere Friendship, http://www.usmm.org/duffyfateful.html(Must read, the touching story of how Captain George Duffy met the officer Konrad Hoppe of the German cruiser Michel, which sank the US American Leader during WW2, and how friendship developed despite the painful past).