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).

Penang WW1 German Naval War, 1914

World War I saw a surprise naval attack on 28 October 1914 when the German cruiser SMS Emden attacked and sank Allied warships off the harbor of Penang, among them the Zhemchug. This incident aside, the war had relatively little affect on Penang. On the Esplanade there is war memorial commemorating the soldiers who fell in the war.

This may be the story long ago, but it was the only incident happen in WW1, when Penang people were still living peacefully under the Strait Settlement. May be the first taste of war, and it was a naval war, suddenly from outside. May be a great awakening of the global event, that had affect the peace of betel nut island....

You no longer can lived in the island, isolated from the world affairs; the message was clear when come to WW2.... when German come again to built a submarine base in Penang. Not only Japanese, also German from Europe....

They called it Battle Of Penang 1914. Shortly after the outbreak of the war, the German East Asia Squadron left its base in Tsingtao, China. The squadron headed east for Germany, but one ship, the light cruiser SMS Emden—under Lt. Commander Karl von Müller—was sent on a solitary raiding mission.

The following is the story of the WW1 incident happen in Penang 1914:

On October 28, 1914 - exactly 70 years ago today - most of the people of Penang were still deep in slumber just before dawn when the German raider Emden stole into the Penang harbour and sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug in the North Channel. As it was leaving Penang, the Emden also sent the French torpedo boat, Mosquet, to the bottom of the sea, 10 miles off Muka Head on the northwest of Penang Island.

At the outbreak of the First World War, a lone German sea-raider inflicted untold damage on Britain’s war effort in the Indian Ocean. The ship was the 3,650-ton German cruiser Emden. In three months she captured or sank 23 merchant ships, attacked ports and harbours, destroyed a radio station and enticed 80 enemy warships into searching for her.

The Emden’s odyssey began on the morning of August 14 1914 when she left an anchorage among the Mariana Islands in the Pacific.

She was off to do battle, alone. Her orders were to penetrate deep into enemy waters and to seek and destroy British merchant shipping.

She was to hunt and be hunted and to fight a war 10,000 miles from the German homeland, which few among her crew ever expected to see again.

How much longer could the Emden maintain her stealthy role? Daily the hunt for her was intensified. Captain Karl Von Muller knew time was running out.

He decided on another strike, which proved to be the most audacious of all. He had already boldly attacked one enemy port, Madras, when no foreign vessel had dared to challenge British rule on the Indian mainland for a hundred years.

Now he would hit another - but this time a fortified naval base. The risks would be enormous but so, too, would be the prize of a successful raid. The new target was Penang.

The attack was made just before dawn on October 28. The Emden had her fourth ‘dummy’ funnel up and a pilot boat at the bottleneck leading into the harbour paid no attention to her.

Just before entering the harbour. Captain von Muller reduced speed and looked around. Even in the greyness the shore lights stood out.
On the port side were four particularly bright lights, evenly spaced, that at first seemed to belong to houses.

Flames
But as the earliest rays of dawn appeared, the lights separated and disclosed the large funnels and superstructure of a capital Russian warship, the cruiser Zhemchug. Captain von Muller moved toward the unsuspecting enemy.

The battle flags were run up the masts, revealing her true identity and she turned to bring the port torpedo tube to bear on the Russian cruiser.

At 500 yards, the captain and the torpedo officer could see a steam pinnace drawing away from the Russian ship.

It was only the cookboat, taking the cooks and petty officers to the early morning market to buy fresh supplies.

The Emden swiftly moved her torpedo tube into the precise position required. Then, at 300 yards, still without a stir from the cruiser, Torpedo Officer Witthoeft pulled the release handle. ‘Torpedo away!’

On deck the men strained in the gathering light and could see the tell-tale streak of bubbles. The enemy was not more than 250 yards away.

Now there was stirring aboard the Zhemchug, movement on the bridge and on the decks, but it was too late.

There was a muffled explosion below the waterline, and the Zhemchug seemed to leap out of the water, a large splash appearing against her hull just below the second funnel. Then she fell back and began to settle.

When the torpedo splash was seen from the Emden her crew began to cheer, but this was drowned out by the noise of the Emden’s guns, which opened up on the Russian cruiser, aiming at her forecastle where the men were sleeping.

Flames could be seen aboard the Russian ship. She was deep in the water, and the Emden’s shells were tearing into her.

Captain von Muller decided another torpedo was needed to finish the Russian off quickly. He put the Emden into a turn to port to fire the starboard tube.
In these few moments of manoeuvre the Zhemchug’s crew, or some of them, managed to get to action stations and shells began to whistle across the Emden.

Then came the second torpedo. It exploded with a sharp crack, striking home below the surface at a point beneath the bridge and penetrated the cruiser’s torpedo storage.

There was a second explosion and the centre of the ship rose high. She broke into two pieces and splashed back into the water. Immediately, thick smoke belched out accompanied by flickering tongues of flame. There was a sizzling and hissing sound in the water and a cloud spread around and above the Russian cruiser. Suddenly Captain von Muller saw a fast approaching ship from the mount of the harbour, trailing a dense cloud of black smoke of the kind that is associated with fast torpedo boats.

Pilot Vessel
He turned the ship hard aport and headed for this new enemy at maximum speed. At 6,000 yards Gunnery Officer Gaede opened fire on her.

The boat turned and showed herself to be a Government pilot vessel, quite harmless to the cruiser. She had suffered only one hit in the funnel, and that had not disabled her.

The interruption had, however, caused the Emden to run so far out of the harbour that it was foolhardy now to turn back and resume the attack on the ships there.
The battle flags were hauled down as the Emden moved past the entrance buoy, and soon the men were released from battle stations.

Not one man aboard the Emden had been wounded. But the Penang episode was not yet over. Moving away from the scene of her triumph the Emden made a fresh sighting. That was not a merchantman but a French destroyer.

Less than 5,000 yards from the enemy the Emden raised her battle flags. As the ships closed the Emden’s gunners began shooting.

The enemy let loose two torpedoes and turned, presenting her beam as a target. The torpedoes passed harmlessly astern, and the Emden began to fire.

After two salvos the Emden’s gunners found the range, and the third sent the French tricolour drooping. One shell must have landed in the boiler room because white clouds of steam rose high above the ship.

The French continued to fire and a machinegun sprayed bullets above the Emden. After the 10th salvo Captain van Muller ordered his gunnery officer to cease fire. The enemy ship was badly holed. Would she surrender? But no white flag showed.

Two more salvos were fired. The firing aboard the French ship ceased, and she began to sink.

But still she refused to surrender.

The Emden resumed firing, but after the 20th salvo the captain again ordered a halt. The destroyer was down by the bows. Then her stern rose for a moment, and the entire ship disappeared.

The Emden moved in. Two cutters were put over the side, and in one of them the Emden’s medical officer, Dr. Schwabe, carried bandages and medicines to treat survivors swimming in the sea.

In all, 36 seamen and one officer were rescued and brought back to the Emden. From them the captain learned that he had sunk the 2,000 ton French destroyer Mosquet.
Cornered

The Emden’s enemies hunted her for three months in the eastern Indian Ocean. At last on November 9 1914 she was cornered.

The German raider’s nemesis was the Australian cruiser, Sydney, which was bigger, faster and fired bigger shells at a longer range than those of the Emden.

Ten minutes after the battle began, the Sydney’s gunners found their target. They then began to cut the little German cruiser to pieces.

The Emden ran aground on the south coast of the Cocos Keeling Island. The engines were stopped, then started again, and she was firmly fixed on the reef.
Captain von Muller’s tactics was to ram his helpless ship into the reefs in shallow water to ensure that the wreck would be irretrievable.

At least this would be better than being sunk at sea or captured as a prize.
On the same day, the following ticker- tape message was sent out to newspapers around the world:

‘The Emden destroyed. Official. The Press Bureau issued the following statement at 12.39pm. The Emden has been driven ashore at Cocos Keeling Island and burnt.’

(This article was originally published in 2 parts in the March 1985 & June 1985 editions of the Naval Historical Review)

Karl Friedrich Max von Müller

Karl Friedrich Max von Müller (June 16, 1873 – March 11, 1923) was Captain of the famous German commerce raider, the light cruiser SMS Emden during World War I.

The son of a Prussian Army Colonel, he was born in Hanover. After attending gymnasium at Hanover and Kiel, he entered the military academy at Plön in Schleswig-Holstein, but transferred to the Imperial Navy, on Easter 1891. He served on the schoolship Stosch, then on the 'cruiser-frigate' Gneisenau on a voyage to the Americas. He then became signal lieutenant of battleship Baden in October 1894, and later, on her sister ship the Sachsen.

Von Müller was promoted to Oberleutnant zur See, and posted to the gunboat Schwalbe. During the Schwalbe's deployment to German East Africa, he caught malaria which troubled him for the remainder of his life. After returning to Germany in 1900, he served ashore before becoming second gunnery officer of the battleship SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II. An appointment to the staff of Admiral Prince Heinrich of Prussia proved to be his "big break". After receiving high praise and ratings from his superiors, he was promoted to the rank of Korvettenkapitän in December 1908, and assigned to the Reichs-Marine-Amt in Berlin where he impressed Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz.

As a reward, von Müller was given command of the SMS Emden in the Spring of 1913. Soon he achieved fame and notoriety in both the German and other imperial powers' newspapers for initiative and skill in shelling rebellious forts along the Yangtze at Nanjing (or Nanking). He was awarded the Order of the Royal Crown Third Class with Swords.

At the outbreak of World War I, Emden was anchored in the German base at Tsingtao. She departed in the evening of July 31, 1914. On August 4, she intercepted and captured the Russian mail steamer Rjäsan, the first prize taken by the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) of the Great War. Emden then rendezvoused with the German East Asia Squadron of Admiral-Graf (Count) Maximilian von Spee in the Mariana Islands.

It was during a conference at the island of Pagan that Müller proposed a single light cruiser of the squadron be detached to raid Allied commerce in the Indian Ocean, while the remainder of von Spee's Squadron continued east across the Pacific. Kapitän von Müller and Emden were given the assignment.

In the following 12 weeks the Emden and Müller achieved a reputation for daring and chivalry unequalled by any other German ship or Captain. Müller was highly scrupulous about trying to avoid inflicting non-combatant and civilian casualties. While taking fourteen prizes, the only merchant sailors killed by the Emden's guns were five victims of a shore bombardment of British oil tanks at the port of Madras, India, despite the precautions Müller had taken so the line of fire would miss civilian areas of the city. Emden also sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug and the French destroyer Mousquet during a daring raid on Penang, Malaya. Thirty-six French survivors from Mousquet were rescued by the Emden, and when three died of their injuries, they were buried at sea with full honours. The remaining Frenchmen were transferred to a British steamer, Newburn, which had been stopped by the German ship, but not attacked, so as to enable them to be transported to Sabang, Sumatra, in the neutral Dutch East Indies.

When the Emden sent a landing party ashore to destroy a radio station at Port Refuge in the Keeling Islands on November 8, 1914, she was finally cornered by the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney, and was defeated by its longer range guns. Müller, with the rest of his surviving crew, was captured and taken to Malta. A detachment of the crew which had gone ashore was missed, and escaped to Germany under the leadership of Emden's first officer Hellmuth von Mücke. On October 8, 1916, two days after the German resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, Müller was separated from the rest of the Emden crew prisoners and taken to England where he was interned at a prisoner of war camp for German officers located at the Midlands Agricultural and Dairy College (now the Sutton Bonington Campus of the University of Nottingham). In 1917 he led an escape of 21 prisoners through an underground tunnel, but was recaptured. The climate of England disagreed with his malaria, and he was eventually sent to the Netherlands for treatment as part of a humanitarian prisoner exchange. In October 1918 he was repatriated to Germany.

After some controversy, Müller was awarded the Pour le Mérite (or Blue Max) and finally promoted to Kapitän zur See. In early 1919, he retired from the Navy on grounds of ill health, and settled in Blankenburg. He politely refused to write a book detailing his service and exploits. He was elected to the state parliament of Brunswick (Braunschweig) on an anti-class platform as a member of the German National Party. He died there quite suddenly, most likely weakened by frequent malarial bouts, on March 11, 1923.

An army barrack at Emden was named after him, as Karl von Muller barrack. The bronz plaque with Emden's Coat of Arms.

(source: wikipedia)

German cruiser SMS Emden





SMS Emden was a light cruiser of the Imperial German Navy in World War I. The Emden raided Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean early in the war, sinking or capturing thirty Allied merchant vessels and warships before being run aground by her captain to prevent her from sinking, after engaging the more powerful HMAS Sydney at the Battle of Cocos.

The Emden was launched at Danzig on 26 May 1908 and was commissioned into the Kaiserliche Marine on 10 July 1909. She was named after the German city of Emden, which sponsored the warship. Armed with ten 4.1 inch (105 mm) guns, she was the last German cruiser to use reciprocating engines. Emden's sister ship Dresden and all following cruisers were equipped with steam turbines. As with most ships of the time, Emden's twelve boilers were heated by burning coal.

On 1 April 1910, the Emden officially entered the fleet and was assigned to the East Asian Station at Tsingtao in Germany's Chinese Kiautschou colony. Emden left Kiel on 12 April 1910, transited Kiel Canal, and entered the open sea. She was never to see German home waters again. At Tsingtao she acquired the nickname "Swan of the East" because of her graceful lines.

Russian cruiser Zhemchug
Zhemchung (Russian: Жемчуг) was the second vessel in a two-vessel Izmurud-class cruiser protected cruisers built for the Imperial Russian Navy. Her name can be translated to mean “Pearl”. Zhemchung was ordered as part of the Imperial Russian Navy’s plan to expand the Russian Pacific Fleet based at Port Arthur and Vladivostok to counter the growing threat posed by the Imperial Japanese Navy towards Russian hegemony in Manchuria and Korea. For the Russian cruiser, wikipedia has also a good article on the ship.Zhemchug was formally commissioned on August 29, 1904 and she was assigned to the Second Pacific Squadron of the Russian Pacific Fleet.She tok part in Battle of Tsushima from May 27-28, 1905 during Russo-Japanese War.She took severe damage in the battle, but managed to escape to Manila, a neutral port and was interned until the end of the war. At the start of World War I, Zhemchung was part of the Allied (British-French-Japanese) joint task force pursuing the German East Asia Squadron under Admiral Maximilian von Spee, and operated in the Bay of Bengal together with the Imperial Japanese Navy cruiser Chikuma. On October 28, 1914 she was moored at Penang, when attacked by the German light cruiser Emden in what was later called the Battle of Penang.

Zhemchung arrived in Penang on October 26 1914 for repairs and to clean her boilers. Against the advice of Admiral Martyn Jerram, commander-in-chief of the Allied Fleet, Commander Cherkassov had given most of his crew shore leave, and left the ship with all torpedoes disarmed, and all shells locked away save for 12 rounds stowed on deck. Commander Cherkassov was at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Georgetown with a lady friend. The remaining crew were having a party on board rather than keeping watch. Emden arrived at Penang disguised as a British steamer, and opened fire on Zhemchung at point-blank range with a torpedo and her main batteries. The torpedo hit near the aft funnel, blowing off the fantail of the cruiser and destroying the aft guns. To their credit, Zhemchung’s crew managed to load and return fire with the front guns, but missed the German raider and struck a merchant ship in the harbor instead. Emden’s second torpedo then struck Zhemchung at the conning tower, breaking the ship in two. The explosion killed 89 crewmen, and wounded 143 others and the ship quickly sank.

A court-martal held in Vladivostok found Commander Cherkassov guilty of gross negligence and sentenced him to 3.5 years in prison. His executive officer Lieutenant Kulibin, was sentenced to 18 months. The sentences were later commuted to 18 months by Tsar Nicholas II, but both officers were stripped of their rank, decorations and status as members of the Russian nobility. The bodies of 82 crewmen were buried in Penang Western Road cemetery; seven bodies were never recovered. The ship’s 5-inch guns were salvaged by the Russian cruiser Oleg in December 1914.

The only visible evidence of the Battle of Penang incident today is a granite monument which says “To the officer and men of the Russian navy cruiser “Zhemchug” – Their Grateful Motherland” at Penang Western Road Cemetery. A large ship’s anchor next to the plaque with the names of the Russian military personnel. The epitaph to honour the fallen soldiers are in Russian and English.

In Pulau Jerejak, Penang, there is a grave marker to two soldiers from the Russian ship Zemschug who were killed when the German ship Emden sneaked into Penang Harbour in 1914 and attacked.

French destroyer Mousquet
French destroyer Mousquet was returning to the Penang harbour from a patrol. She was under the command of a Lt. Théroinne. The French destroyer Mousquet then trailed Emden under the mistaken notion that the German cruiser was a British warship in pursuit of an enemy vessel. Once both ships were out in open sea, Emden turned her heavy guns on Mousquet and sank her, off Muka Head. Mousquet’s two sister ships, Pistolet and Fronde, tried to follow Emden but lost her during the pursuit.

Lt. Théroinne was amongst the Frenchmen lost aboard the Mousquet. Thirty-six French survivors out of a crew of 80 from the destroyer were picked up by the Emden, three of whom later died from their injuries.They were buried at sea at the insistence of von Müller. Two days later, the Germans stopped the British steamer Newburn and transferred the remaining Frenchmen so that they could be conveyed to Sabang, Sumatra, then part of the neutral Dutch East Indies. Note: Sabang is a city consisting of several islands in Aceh, Indonesia. The metropolitan area is located on Weh Island, 17 km north of Banda Aceh.

The anchor of the warship is today, still on display in the forecourt of the Penang Museum

War Memorial Monument and Cenotaph - The Battle of Penang

Not too far from The Esplanade lies a monument that stands by the sea at the intersection of Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah and Jalan Padang Kota Lama in the heart of George Town, Penang. The gated stone monument is the War Memorial, erected to commemorate the brave soldiers who sacrificed themselves in The Battle of Penang during World War I.

Recommended articles
1. Russian cruiser Zhemchug; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cruiser_Zhemchug
2. SMS Emden (1908); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Emden_%281908%29
3. Battle of Penang, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Penang
4. Russian heroes in Battle of Penang,by Tiberius Kerk dated May 5, 2011 http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/05/05/russian-heroes-in-battle-of-penang/
5. Mousquet (M16) [+1914],http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?105954
6. The last gentleman-of-war: the raider exploits of the cruiser Emden, by R. K. Lochner, Naval Institute Press, 2002.
7. Weh Island, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weh_Island

Penang Trishaws

Penang Trishaws(檳城三轮车)

PENANG, July 7 (Bernama) -- George Town's second anniversary celebration to mark its declaration as Unesco World Heritage Site, on Wednesday kicked off with a procession of 50 decorated trishaws in the city. Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng joined in the procession which began at the Penang Municipal Council heritage building at 9am, and ended at the Yap Kongsi building in Armenian Street about 1pm.

Trishaws(人力三轮车)/Pedicab

The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport; it is also known by a variety of other names such as pedicab, bikecab, cyclo, becak,bicycle rickshaws or trishaw or, simply, rickshaw which also refers to auto rickshaws, and the, now uncommon, rickshaws pulled by a person on foot. Cycle rickshaws are human-powered, a type of tricycle designed to carry passengers in addition to the driver. It is a human-powered vehicle for hire, usually with one or two seats for carrying passengers in addition to the driver. it is normally a three-wheeled vehicle propelled by human power.

Trishaws are widely used for transportation in many parts of Asia, especially in Penang.

Trishaws are designed differently at different places of the world. In South Asia, the passenger seat is mounted behind the driver's, while in Indonesia the driver sits behind the passenger seat. In the Philippines, the seats are usually mounted side-by-side. Cycle rickshaws are also used in some European cities, such as Soho and Covent Garden in London, New York, Munich, which are normally motor powered, where they are most often found near tourist attractions.

Penang Trishaws service is one of the best ways of seeing Penang, moving around the heritage city of Georgetown. Nowaday, it is part of must do list for tourist in Penang.

In 1997 a new pedicab design was created in Berlin, Germany. It is a modern and newly designed pedicab (CityCruiser) with a 500-watt electric assist motor. Although these electric-assist pedicabs were engineered in Germany they are manufactured in the Czech Republic and some clones are now also produced in China. The Chinese clone can be purchased for about three thousand US dollars; the German original is around six thousand US dollars. The Chinese vehicles have over 200 parts and require daily maintenance in order to stay in use but the original will with regular checks require a once a month tune up, in line with most quality western pedicabs. The batteries last about 4 hours with a full charge. As with a few recumbent and semi-recumbent designs, some drivers may suffer with knee and joint pain due to the weight of the vehicle (145 kg).

In many major cities, bicycle rickshaws or pedicabs are popular alternatives to taxi cabs and mass public transportation. I see it in New York(Central Park), San Diego(Harbor area), Munich etc

Trishaws/Beca in Penang(檳城人力三轮车)

In Malaysia ,there are two types of trishaw, the one in Penang is the type with the cycle at the back of passenger carriage. The passenger seat carriage is in front, and the cyclist or trashawman’ seat with the cycle at the back. The cycle will push the carriage forward. In other part of Malaya and some countries in Asia, the cycle is at the side of the passenger carriage, the passenger seat carriage will move together with the cycle, as the trishaw man cycled along.

In Penang, the cycle rickshaw is called Trishaws(三轮车). The local Hockkien Chinese call it lang-chhia(人车), may be a short form of human power tricycle vehicle(人力三轮车), taking the first word “human or lang”( 人) and the last word “ vehicle or chiaa”( 车) , forming the two words, lang-chiaa(人车). The local Malay also called in “Beca”, a Malay word actually derived from Hockkien dialet which means “be-chia” or horse cart. Be (马)is Chinese word for horse, and chia(车)is Chinese word for cart, vehicle or car.The trishaw man is called lang-chiaa-pek() and cycling the trishaw is ta-lang-chiaa.

Penang trishaw are human powered or pedal powered, but the local council is gradually introducing motor powered trishaws. There are about 200 trishaws in Penang, which are scattered around Georgetown area, especially tourist areas. . It ferries tourists through narrow lanes, offering them a closer view of the neighbourhood in an unhurried manner. The nostalgic feeling sitting on top of the three wheeled beca does indeed an unforgettable experience. Besides the novelty of traveling in this open-fronted three wheeled vehicle, trishaw allows visitor the opportunity of visit the sights at a more leisurely pace and stopping at any point to snap picture or to buy souvenir.

The earlier version of rickshaw, which was pulled by runners; you can now found it in Penang museum. But you happen to visit Nara, Japan, you will able to see a rickshaw, similar to the one used in early Penang.



The History of Trishaw in Penang (1880-Now)

The earlier version of trishaw was rickshaw pulled by a runner, the passenger carriage seat was mounted at the back, the runner will use his leg power to pull the carriage. The rickshaw was invented in Japan in 1869. The rickshaw was introduced to Singapore in 1880, last from 1880 to 1940.

The safety bicycle, the bicycle we know it today,with two wheels of equal size, arrived at Malaya in 1890s. It was called "Kereta Angin", which literally means air vehicle; but the Chineses called it kha-chiaa(脚车), which literally means vehicle or car of the legs.

The first car was introduced in 1903, in 1906 the Municipal Commission it took over the tram service and started the electric tram service in Georgetown. A tram or tramcar in English, referred to as streetcar or trolley car in North American,is a rail vehicle which—at least in parts of its route—runs on tracks in streets.

On 9th September 1912, The Malay Daily Chronicle contained an article headed "The coming of pedal rikisha". But trishaw was not introduced, rickshaw is still popular, may be the price was too high for the poor rickshaw puller; may be they need to learn new skill of cycling..... whatever the reason, the pedal power is here to stay.

In 1920, trolley buses were introduced in Georgetown, it is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires (generally suspended from roadside posts) using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit. This development of public transport posed a stiff competition to the rickshaw pullers.

1922, it was reported "Its streets are well-paved and electric lighted. It has tram- cars, buses, rickshaws and motor cars"(source: The Christian advocate: Volume 97, 1922)

In 1927, a Penang newspaper plead for the abolition of rickshaw traffic,arguing that riding rickshaws conflict with the European notion of human dignity(Source: South China Morning Post,30th April 1927). At the end of 1930s, the man-drawn rickshaw was still the popular means of transport for short distance, particularly in the city. The cycling which, by the 1930s, on cheap Japanese bicycles, was already immensely popular with Malayan youth.

1936- The new rickshaw that resembles an old fashioned buggy mounted on a tricycle, was introduced to Penang, Strait Settlement in 1936. It was introduced by the Municipal Commissioner, an initial fleet of 50 rickshaws. (source: Popular Mechanics Oct 1936, Pg 539). The cycle rickshaw is something new, one advantage was the operator rides too. It was the same type of trishaw Penang is using today. In 1938, The licensing of bicycles and tricycles is in force and was further regulated.

Before the war, trishaws were regarded as a novelty in Malaya, but they became a major form of transport during the Japanese Occupation. The current type of trishaw become popular in Penang around the period 1941. In Penang there were about 100 trishaws registered at the beginning of 1942, and around 2500 one year later in 1943,and out number the rickshaws.

From 1947, after the introduction of trishaws during the war, the association used the name Trishaw Peddlers Association and had a membership of over 1,000.

In 1950, the statistic at the time revealed 2,000 trishaws, and the number of the trishaws was maintained at the figure for some time, and no more new license issued.

The Straits Times, 25 August 1950, Page 7 reported with a photo of motor trishaw, and a Singapore motor firm has applied for permission to sell the Czech motor trishaw for $1,825. It was tested in Orchard Road, Singapore on 24/8/1950. The motor trishaw however was not well accepted in the market, may be it was too expensive at the time.

In 1954,4th of June, the proudest moment in the history of the trishaw riders. A total of 500 trishaws from Penang ride for a donation campaign for the Nanyang Univeristy in Singapore(为南大义踏). They collected substantial sum for the university.

Initially the trishaw was the basic transport for local people, especially for woman, children and elderly people. It was also a common phenomenon for woman working in entertainment sector taking trishaw to work. It was one of the attractive scenes for the young man during the time, looking at beautiful woman sitting in the trishaw passing by. Some rich baba family considered riding the trishaw was for bad woman, good woman will not ride the trishaw. The bicycles was the king of the road at that time.

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. The first Malaysian Honda showroom was set up on Pitt Street in Penang, very near the home of Boon Siew. As a sign of their deepening bond of trust and respect, the Japanese Honda Motor Co Ltd soon appointed Boon Siew the sole distributor for Honda motorbikes in the country just as the historic first 50 units of Honda 4-stroke cub were being imported into Malaysia. The Honda Cub became the best selling motorcycle in Malaysia, as it was cheaper than the American and British motorbikes.

The introduction of Honda Cup motorcycle by Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew, change the transport mode of Penang. The so called Honda Cup is picking up fast in the island. The trishaws were facing the real challenge of the days, with the easy installments payment of the hire purchase, soon Honda bikes are everywhere in the street.

In 1964, when the City Council was controlled by Socialist Front, a meeting was held between the association, trishaw owners, and trishaw riders, to discuss the possibility of issuance of new license. The meeting resolved that new license can be issued to create employment opportunity for the local people. In 1964, there were 2,125 trishaws.

Penang has five bus companies which operate from three different terminals. ... 1. Lim Seng Bus Co. Ltd. Terminal at Prangin Road, operate from Georgetown to Air Itam, along Dato Kramat Road 2. Hin Company The other terminal is at Prangin Road(now Jl. Dr. Lim Chwee Leong). Terminal Blue buses (Hin Bus Co.) operate from Georgetown, passing Pulau Tikus. and along the northern beaches to Batu Ferringhi and Teluk Bahang 3. Penang Yellow Bus Company , terminal at Prangin Road, operate from Georgetown to Balik Pulau, passing Jelutong, Glugor 4.Sri Negara bus 5. City Council MPPP buses leave from the Leboh Victoria Terminal one street from the ferry terminal and go to various city destinations. The public buses posed a real threat to the trishaw service sector. The trishaw was forced to retreat to smaller market segment, and operate their service only in the city.

Then come the Vietnam War (from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975) in the 70s, which give trishaws riders some relief, as the GI having the R&R in Penang. R & R, or ‘rest and recreation’, gave soldiers serving in Vietnam a brief respite from the war. United States servicemen on a twelve-month tour of duty were given seven days R & R outside Vietnam. In the early part of the war they could spend this time in one of several Asian cities or Hawaii. From 1 July 1969 onwards, one of the popular destination was Penang. The GI were visiting bars and tourist areas with the bar girls. There were demand for trishaw transport to tourist destination, especially out of city. Their arrival become the new income source for the trishaw service sector in the island. The trishaw man were also acting as tourist guide, and begin to pick up some English to cater for the change. That was the time the trishaw riders saw the potential of trishaws in the tourist industry. Many of them have good time, and some hardworking one was able to save and own a new trishaw themselves.

In 1969, it increased to 2,562 trishaws. This was mainly due to good income received from GI visiting for R&R. Not all trishaws are owned by the riders, some of the riders rent the trishaws from the trishaws owners. The riders need to pay their rental daily. In 1969, it was reported that of 2,562 trishaws, only 446 trishaws are owned by the riders, the remaining 2,098 trishaws are owned by 49 owners in the state. From 1964 to 1969, there is only increase of about 400 trishaws. The local council considered that the number of the trishaws has reached the saturation point. There after the issuance of trishaw license was suspended.

When the Vietnam War was over in 1975, the trishaw was now restricted for sending school children from rich family to their schools or sending amahs or housewives to the morning markets. Then passenger cars and buses become common transport mode, cheaper Japanese cars like Toyota , Datsun, and later Honda cars are in the city……. The trishaws seems to know the swan song is coming….Some local residents began to complain that the trishaw caused congestion and it is an accident hazard s in the roads.

In the late 70s, 80s; Penang was going through industrialization, factories were opened up. In 1987,there are 1700 registered tricycle rickshaw (trishaw) pedallers. Penang people were now having better standard of living, children are going to schools, become better educated. Some of the young people found employment in factory, there were near full employment. Trishaw riders found succession problems. The riders that remained are now old and elderly……until today.

In 2001, 7th September, another trishaw ride donation campaign to collect fund for New Era College Malaysia(新纪元学院)，200 trishaw riders from Penang ride for the campaign.

The number of trishaw and license holders between 2005-2009 are:

2005- 619 trishaws; 101 rider license holders
2006-246 trishaws; 210 rider license holders
2007-105 trishaws; 65 rider license holders
2008-230 trishaws; 180 rider license holders
2009-225 trishaws; 175 rider license holders
(source: http://www.mppp.gov.my/187)

The trishaws sector now has passed its prime; and are facing the competition with taxi, bus, and private car ownership. It is now facing declining stage of their life cycle. It no longer considered as the basic transport mode for Penang people. Gone are the days when the local nyonya woman riding the trishaw to the wet market , temples or to the clinic. It is no longer the choice for public transport. It slowly becomes a mode of transportation merely for tourists. Now only the local Council and state government can ensure the survival of the trishaws in Penang.

You need to apply for Lesen Pengayuh Beca from MPPP to be a trishaw rider, with a fee RM24 and RM2, the initial outlay is low to start the service.

Penang Trishaw Riders' Association(槟城三轮车工友联合会).

Penang Trishaw Riders Assn. No. 276, Macallum Street Ghaut, 10300 Pulau Pinang

Beca riders/traishawman peddlers/ (三轮车夫)

The puller of the rickshaw in the pre wars days were called Rickshaw coolie, they are the runner who will pull the carriage by running on the road. The Chinese called them Lang-chia-pek(人力车夫). They are also called beca rider, or traishaw rider. The locals however popularly called them trishaw man.

In the old days Penang, there were many romance stories of trishaw man with their passenger, some even end up married. May be that is why some Nyonya from the rich family will tell you the story that good nyonya girls should not take the trishaw alone, otherwise people will think negative on you.

The trishaw peddlers are not only provide public transport in the street of the city of Penang. They are now act also as a tourist guide for their passengers. They are equipped with the latest information of the tourist sights along the tourism routes that they took. Some of these riders can speak good English and some foreign languages, which is helpful to the tourists.

The state government is now taking initiative to motorize the trishaws in Penang, which will make cycling easier for the peddlers.

The Future of Penang Trishaw riders

The state government is rebranding the trishaw service as tourism products, especially for the heritage city, where the trishaw is the most suitable transport to move in the narrow streets of the heritage city.

The critical success factor of the trishaw service in rebranding as tourism product is the succession factor; as the current peddlers are normally people of advance age, the succession issue become critical, the profession was not able to attract new blood to the industry. Without proactive planning by the state, the industry may be facing a natural death.

Trishaws is part and parcel of the living heritage of Georgetown, it should continue to remain as living heritage, not only for tourism, but also cultural heritage for the future generation.

So, while some trishaws are still around, seek them out and take a ride down memory lane......lang-chiaa, anyone....

Suggested articles/websites

1. Don’t let Trishaw Riders ruins Penang image; http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/03kfff/Article/
2. Insurance Coverage for trishaw riders, fares; http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/new-straits-times/mi_8016/is_20070119/insurance-coverage-trishaw-riders-fares/ai_n44353229/
3.http://www.mppp.gov.my/187
4. My R & R in Penang, by Lt Col Hank Brandli USAF Ret, Melbourne, Fl.;http://libertyyes.homestead.com/hankbrandli9.html(An interesting story on the author's R&R in Penang)
5. Penang trams, trolleybuses & railways: municipal transport history, 1880s-1963(2006), by Ric Francis, Colin Ganley, Areca Books, 2006
6. Rickshaw coolie: a people's history of Singapore, 1880-1940(2003), by James Francis Warren, NUS Press, 2003
7. Reluctant heroes: rickshaw pullers in Hong Kong and Canton, 1874-1954
By Chi Ming Fung, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland(2005),Hong Kong University Press, 2005

Election warm up talk still on communal line

MCA President Dr Chua Soi Lek has warned the Chinese community that their support for the opposition may cause no Chinese representation in the ruling government. Dr Chua had criticized the SUPP for still accepting government positions in the Sarawak after the latter was badly thrashed in the recent elections.

Why MCA did not ask Gerakan to avoid cabinet seat; I still remember the President of Gerakan said the same thing during the Political Tsunami of last election, if I still can remember.

MCA is now using communal politic tactic to start its election campaign. Some community viewed the warning as a threat to Chinese community. MCA by using racial tone in salvaging their political strength is a desperate move , and may be this will be their last strike, they will possibly followed the steps of SUPP, Gerakan and SNAP.

The two party system is going to stay, despite MCA has the fear that it will become the scenario of Malay dominated ruling party and Chinese dominated opposition party. Malaysian know the scenario will be unhealthy, if Malaysian still thinking of political maturity of pre- merdeka or early independence days of 50s, 60s, 70s, or even 80s, where communal parties was the norm of the days. But the days are long gone, Malaysian are going for multiracial political parties, not parties based on race line.

If there is no Chinese representative in the cabinet, so what? even with representative in the cabinet, the interest of the community was also not protected. What is the use of having racial representative. It is time to throw away the parties based on race, to follow the call for " One Malaysia" Concept as started by the Prime Minister. The first step is to think Malaysian, not Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Iban.

Racial politic will not have market for the future generation and the young voters; they are more educated, and more access to information. They are having the common issues, regardless of race, religion, and education background.

What is "race baiting"? It is the term used in as a synonym for "playing the race card" in American politics to refer to situations where one politician accuses another of being a racist. Race baiting is any form of speech, actions, or other forms of communication, to anger, intimidate or incite a person or race of other people or in simplicity, the making of verbal attacks against members of a racial group.

The party that accused that the other parties are using "race baiting" tactic; but they are now using proxies, thinking that most Malaysian are blind to their tactic.If it is in the opposite direction, some of the proxies will have been under ISA detention. Why the impartiality?....it is clear that it depend on which direction you are in. If you are in the right direction, you can talk anything you like, without any action taken by authority. The picture is very clear.

I was surprise when the Chinese premier come visit Malaysia, he also call for support of "One Malaysia", despite the disrespect of small country to welcome in wrong writing in the welcome banner. I remember historical event of the late Prime Minister Tun Razak's visit to China in 1974, which paved way for the establishment of Malaysia-China ties. On 31st of May 1974, Malaysia was the first Southeast Asian state to effect official ties with China But the most important was that Tun Razak dissolve Parliament on his return to Malaysia after his China visit. General elections 1974 were held in Malaysia between 24 August and 14 September 1974, alongside state elections in all states except Sabah. The result was a victory for Barisan Nasional (formerly the Alliance Party), which won 135 of the 154 seats. I was thinking that the same tactic will be repeated to make use of Premier Wen Jiabao's visit for coming election to gain votes from Chinese community.



China's Premier Wen Jiabao visited Malaysia on April 27 & 28. His high profile visit to Malaysia was marred by an embarrassing banner at a welcoming ceremony. The Chinese text on the banner contained several grammar and syntax errors. The said banner was prominently displayed at a podium near the Prime Minister's Department in the federal administrative capital for the official welcoming ceremony Premier Wen Jiabao, the Prime Minister of a country with 2nd highest GDP. The sentence in Malay was: "Istiadat Sambutan Rasmi Sempena Lawatan Rasmi TYT Wen Jiabao Ke Malaysia" (Official welcoming ceremony in conjunction with official visit of His Excellency Wen Jiabao to Malaysia). Literally translated, the Chinese words read: "Official welcoming ceremony, with him Wen Jiabao His Excellency's official visit Malaysia". the translation was done by Google Translate, instead of consulting an official language interpreter. It was a shameful day for all Malaysian....

I do not know whether the ruling party will make use of Premier Wen Jiabao's visit as the strategic tool for the coming federal and state election. Otherwise the opposition will have a good time making use of the issue to ridiculous the efficiency of the current government. The tactic will backfire.....

What the Chinese community, especially urbane Chinese's concern is the national issues; no longer the communal issues. the corruption, the government governance, the efficiency, the fairness, the protection of their rights, the quality of education, transparency etc.... If the ruling parties are still thinking that they can use communal issues as a base to attract back the votes of Chinese community, they are wrong.

If you put non-Chinese in Chinese constituency, if the candidates are fighting for the same national issues that appealed to the community, they will still votes for him, regardless of their racial background. One fine example is the Kapal Singh in Chinese dominated constituency.

MCA President Dr Chua Soi Lek's statement will backfire, giving a slap on the One Malaysian campaign, talking about the issue going against One Malaysia Concept, how can you threatening the Chinese community, using communal line. The voters will not buy it, surely......he will see the swan song of either his Presidency or his party.....

It seems that he can see his future very clearly....

1Malaysia stresses national unity and ethnic tolerance. The 2010 values of 1Malaysia as articulated by Najib Razak are perseverance, a culture of excellence, acceptance, loyalty, education, humility, integrity, and meritocracy.

Lately there are so many politicians, talking on racial line; I am wondering why the One Malaysia Concept did not make us talk more like Malaysian......is it facing failure to even convince their own politician?....

The country can no longer move forward based on communal line; otherwise it has no future, when globally people are looking less at their skin and religion differences when cyber technology are maturing to borderless society, where nationalism may become less sensitive to the younger generation, the Y generation.

Why?......they will ask.....and cast their votes....

Suggested articles/website:

1. 1 Malaysia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1Malaysia
2. Banner boo-boo during Wen Jiabao's visit to Malaysia, http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20110429-276272.html
3. PM expresses regret over Chinese banner translation error; http://www.mmail.com.my/content/70972-pm-expresses-regret-over-chinese-banner-translation-error
4. Najib following in dad's footsteps; http://www.malaysianbar.org.my
/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=23712
5. DAP wants to be a monopoly, says Chua,http://www.mca.org.my/en/dap-wants-to-be-a-monopoly-says-chua/
6. PAS rejects Najib's invite, says fully committed with PR, http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/newscommentaries/40101-pas-rejects-najibs-invite-says-fully-committed-with-pr

Rangoon Road

Rangoon Road(仰光路)


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Rangoon Road is located between Burma Road and Macalister Road. It is located within the triangular grid , bordering by Penang Road(檳榔律), Burma Road, Anson Road(安順路)and Macalister Road. In within the grid are roads running parallel to each others. The roads are Macalister Lane(姓王公司後 Sen-ông-kong-si-aū), Kinta Lane(近打冷巷), Madras Lane(油较路), Jahudi Road(爪夷路, now Jalan Zainal Abidin,再纳阿比汀路), Lorong Selamat(平安巷), Rangoon Road(仰光路) and Aboo Sittee Lane(三星巷, 三牲巷).

It is known as yang-gon-lor(仰光路) by local Chinese, having similar meaning as its English name.

Rangoon Road or Jalan Rangoon, is named after the former capital of Burma. Rangoon( now is known as Yangon), it is literally means "End of Strife", it is a former capital of Burma (Myanmar) and the capital of Yangon Region (formerly Yangon Division). Colonial Yangon, with its spacious parks and lakes and mix of modern buildings and traditional wooden architecture, was known as "the garden city of the East." By the early 20th century, Yangon had public services and infrastructure on par with London. Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial centre. Rangoon Road is the off road of Burma Road, road named after the country; and there are also many road names in George Town named after towns or places in Myanmar. Many of them, like Rangoon Road, are side road/off road of Burma Road.

In the old days, when Burma and Penang were under British, there was ferry service between the two cities. There are still barter trade between the two places today.

Penang DAP or DEMOCRATIC ACTION PARTY(槟州民主行动党)Head Office will be located at Rangoon Road, just behind the former Super Supermarket building. It is time the state DAP have their own building.

May be next time, the street will become Jalan DAP.....



Suggested articles/websites:

1. DAP(DEMOCRATIC ACTION PARTY (MALAYSIA); http://dapmalaysia.org/newenglish/
2. DAP Penang, http://dappg.org/

Lorong Selamat(Peace Lane)

Lorong Selamat(Peace Lane)


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Lorong Selamat is located between Burma Road(车水路)and Macalister Road(中路). The Burma Road end of the road is facing Tune Hotel and The New World Park,and the other end at Macalister Road. It is one of the parallel roads with the Penang Road, between Burma Road and Macalister Road.

Lorong Selamat is the official name, and it is in Malay. The Chinese called it Pheng-an-ke(平安街) in Hokkian dialect, which means road of peace/safety, but now the local Chinese just named it Pheng-an-Siang(平安巷) in Mandarin, a direct translation from its Malay name, which literally means “Peace Lane”. Why it was call in that name, is it because it is near to Aboo Sittee Lane, the gangster area and the residents there anticipated for a peaceful residence area…..and they named it Pheng-an-ke. The meaning is the same as the official name, Lorong Selamat, Selamat is the Malay word for safety. Peace is called Aman in Malay. Is it a former Malay village or is it named after a person called Selamat?. It is also strange that there is no Chinese name for the street.

During the period, a number of Georgetown streets became centres of Muslim gangster activities. Chulia Street, Hutton Lane, Macalister Road, Dato Kramat, Malay Street, Argyll Road, Burma Road, Abu Sittee Lane, Kimberley Street, Queen Street, Campbell Street and Pinang Road all earned notorious reputation for such activities. The area from the junction of Jalan Bahru(now Macalister Road) to Anson Road and up to Kramat Road was Jalan Bahru White Flag territories.(source: Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 72, 1999, by Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Malaysian Branch)

Aboo Sittee Lane nearby, was called Samseng Hang or street of gangster by local Chinese. Why this street was called Lorong Selamat?.......

I just cannot find any clue about the road name……….

Today, it is a famous street for Penang street food(食街), especially Char Koay Teow(炒粿條). The street has become tourist must come food street.

May be in future, some enterprising Penang lang (Penang people), will capitalize the name of Peace Lane, to make it into a Peace Park, to either celebrate Silence Night annually or selling some souvenirs with peace themes. It will make Lorong Selamat , a truly Peace Lane. This street has the potential to become a theme street, as all tourist attractions and food heaven are around the area.

Selamat Datang ke Lorong Selamat

Peace from Peace Lane

平安巷, 平安....

Ba Hu Raps(Meat Floss Raps)



Suggested website/articles:
1.自創風趣順口溜推銷肉鬆‧安娣網絡人氣指數爆燈, http://www.kooky.com.my/chinese/node/3229?tid

Macalister Lane

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Macalister Lane, or Lorong Macalister, is the first road in a series of side roads between the two main roads of Penang Road and Anson Road. It is within the grid of rectangular area bordered by Penang Road, Burma Road, Anson Road and Macalister Road. It was the first road that run parallel with the Penang Road, between Burma Road and Macalister Road. Like Macalister Road(It was also called Jalan Bahru, literally in Malay means New Road), Macalister Lane was named after Colonel Norman MacAlister, Governor of Penang (1807–1810).

Colonel Norman Macalister, who was a native of Scotland, was Lieutenant-Governor of Prince of Wales Isle (Penang) from 1808 to 1810. The present brick structure of Fort Cornwallis in Penang, was built by convict labour in 1810 during his term as Governor of Penang. He was lost at sea, in the South China Seas, while on the ship "Ocean" traveling back to Scotland (August 1810). Macalister Road and Macalister Lane in Penang are named after him. Macalister Road was originally known as Jalan Bahru or New Road, it may have changed after the death of Colonel Norman Macalister in 1810. Macalister Lane was probably built and named after 1810, prior to that it may be an area behind Ser-ong-kong-si or Ong clan house.

There is a side road connected Macalister Lane to Penang Road, the road is called Lorong Bertam.Bertam is reported to be named after a village in Kepala Batas, Kampong Bertam. The two row of houses are all painted with blue color, a blue lane indeed...

The Chinese called it Ser-ong-kong-si-au(姓王公司後), which literally means “Behind the Ong clan house”. A clan is a group which consists of families that are related to each other, clan house(会馆)is a common institution or meeting place for oversea Chinese in British Malaya, especially Strait Settlement of Singapore, Penang and Malacca. It is a social organization. Normally the family clan houses are either surname related or ancestral village related. Local Penang Hockkian called clan house, “kongsi”( 公司) or Hui-kuan(会馆). Kongsi means “sharing” in Malay, but it is today means company, a commercial enterprise. Kongsi is more meaningfully described the clan house in British Malaya, as it is a place the oversea Chinese who gather together, and shared their stories and living. Some kongsi had hostel facilities for the new comers, and provide medical treatment for the poor. Some call it ancestral temple(宗祠). Penang is the place with many Chinese clan houses, a city of clan houses. Many of these clan houses are now heritage. The earliest clan house in Penang is PERSATUAN KAR YIN FEE KON P. PINANG(檳城嘉應會館), 22, 1st Floor King Street, 10200 Penang; established in 1801. Ong clan house is for people with the surname of Ong(王氏). Ong clan house (王氏宗祠), the local Hockkien called it “Ser-ong-kongsi”(姓王公司). It is located at Penang Road, just directly opposite KOMTAR building in Penang. Macalister Lane is located behind Ong Kongsi.


Persatuan San Kiang Pulau Pinang(槟城三江公会)
Persatuan San Kiang Pulau Pinang(三江公會),槟榔屿三江公所was formed in 1897, it was the earliest San Kiang Association in South East Asia. It is now located at No. 109, Macalister Lane, 10400 Penang. San Kiang Clan house was initially established mainly for the Shanghainese(上海人). But today the clan house is not restricted to Shanghainese, it is opened to all people from San Kiang.

What is San Kiang, which in Chinese it means three rivers(三江), but in China there is no such place or iver called San Kiang or San jiang. Where is the place? It is believed that the term “Sam Kiang” first appeared in 1868 (Emperor Tongzhi’s 7th year). Chinese overseas in Japan established a Sam Kiang ancestral hall in the Xing Fu Temple at Nagaski and later formed a Hezhong Sam Kiang office.
San kiang or San jiang, can be defined in broad sense or narrow definition. In narrow definition, it is the name for three provinces, namely Zhejiang(浙江), Jiangsu( 江蘇)and Jiangxi(江西). It is also called Small San Jiang(“小三江”) . In broad definition, it is the region within the three river basins of Yangtze River(長江)、Yellow River(黃河)、and The Amur(or Heilong) River. The broad definition is also called Big San Jiang(“大三江”). For Nanyang(南洋)Chinese, or oversea Chinese, San Kiang in Hokkian means the third region, other than the two main provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi or the two Guangs which included Hainan(兩廣, 包括海南), and Fujian(福建).

That means if you are Chinese, and your ancestral home is not from Guangdong(粵), Guangxi(桂), Fujian(閩), or Hainan( 琼), you are belong to the group called San Kiang(三江), and you are allowed to join Persatuan San Kiang Pulau Pinang(三江公會).

Chee Cheong Fun at Macalister Lane

Today, Macalister Lane is today famous for the street food, Chee Cheong Fun, the stall is located outside Seow Fong Lye Coffee Shop.

Recommended articles/websites:
1. Norman Macalister, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Macalister
2. Macalisters in Britain's Colonial Past, by Robert M. McAllister, http://www.clanmcalister.org/cma-penang.html
3.Macalister Road, Penang , my ealier blog dated 27th Feb 2010, http://teochiewkia2010.blogspot.com/2010/02/macalister-road-penang.html