Batu Kawan & Perai

From : www.spk5447.blogspot.com

Born in Perai and living here since the last 32 years, I'v seen, heard, learn lots and lots of Perai history. The Perai where i see and live now have undergone massive changes. No more villages, large fields, wooden houses, seafood restaurant by the Perai River, trunk roads and many more. I decided to conduct the research of my birth place, eager to know and learn more about it. I still can recall some of the places during my childhood days. The railway track behind Supreme Garden where Iv seen the platform build in red bricks, where i believe crops from the estate were station before being transported. The huge land in front of current BORR Toll Office in Perai. The field where the Customs quarters is now. The row of shops as we enter Perai where i use to cut my hair. The Perai roundabout. The two lane road all the way from Perai to Bukit Tengah. The square shape steel bus stop and many more. Perai, Prai, Pyre, Prye, Pry - here are some info and photos that I manage to collect. 

I once came across a write up from a journal that stated Perai, initially was known as Praya which is a Portugese word, meaning ‘ahead above is sea’ which i found logic. Ahead of Perai - is our sea front. I couldn’t locate the specific location of the journal, so let’s leave a side the story of it. Before Perai, this pre – planned town during the Straits Settlement had the same pronunciation but different in spelling.  Intially it was penned down as Pry, Pyre, Prye, Prai and now Perai. Prye was such an important location for the British because the Federated Malay State Railway Station which was stationed here. Im sure many of us are not aware on how the Perai port, railway station, jetty and wharf  looked like. I found a photo of the area’s and it is proven that Prye those days have been a very busy transportation & import-export hub. Elephants, herbs, sugar cane and many crops was shipped out from here. 

The above photo shows how the port / hub for import export looked like. After coming across the above photo, my wife and I visited the area.  We found the steel that use to hold the fence. We also found a large steel where I believe it was the crane holder as could be seen on the above folder. Prye for sure was a busy hub which was managed by the British. Developments in the area such as market, schools, police station and post office speak for it self on the development of Prye on those days.

Perai Wharf 

Perai Market

Perai Post office

Perai Railway Hub

The Journal states a school was started in Prye as early ay 1880+

There were 3 schools in Prye on those days and it shows that  education was given priority and quite a number of people have been living over here. Ladang Prye Tamil School, Prai Tamil School & St Marks School was believe to have started around 1936. But recently I found a journal that stated a school was started in Prye as early 1880+.

The Malaysian Journal : 1st school in Prye was in 1879

The Railway Office

Penang was the only station in the world where its Railway office was situated separately from the railway station during the Straits Settlement. For one who would like to travel on train, they need to purchase ticket from the Island ( Currently Customs Office ) and hop into the ferry. Passengers wiere brought to the  Prye Pier before they board the train to either Bangkok or Singapore bound. It was a well planned stratergy for export of goods . The tracks were built by going through or passing estates so that crops could be easily transported. Example from the current situation is, the MSM Factory in Perai. The tracks are base up to the central part of the company to ease the transportation and supply of sugar which is done daily.

The Old Railway Station

Perai Railway Station Hub that would be demolished soon

JMB Vermont Monument in Esplanade surrounded with Indian Labors.

It was similar to those days. Tracks were built passing through the estates. The well known estates during the Straits Settlement are Prye Estate, Alma Estate & Batu Kawan Estate. There were several methods of transportation that were widely used. Other than train, boats were also used.

Prye Estate

All these estates were owned by Brown, Scott & Vermont who planted sugar and they were one of the main supplier. JMB Vermont who was also the manager was regarded as the ‘Grand Old Man’   for his contribution on sugar supply during 1880 – 1890’s. A monument in recognition  of him was once built in Esplanade. In 1906 the estate was sold to Pinang Syndicate Ltd and the new owners opted to plant rubbers. Prye Estate compromises a large area where it was up to Batu Kawan and Permatang Pauh. Prye Estate was believe to be the main place of the owners to run and manage the industry back those days than. Those who had lived in Prye Estate would be aware on the existence of 3 Bungalows. I believe it was to accommodate the 3 owners of these large estate ( Brown, Scott & Vermont ). 

The adv on Singapore NST for the sale of Prye Estate

Air view of Kampung Teluk before it was developed in 1990's

The basement of the sugar cane crusher

The proof of the sugar plantation remains. Evan now, the basement that had placed the sugar cane crushing stone / crusher can been seen in Batu Kawan. The crusher has been taken away and I was told by a friend that it is now being kept by a local. When I received the photo of the crusher, what amused and shocked me was the design of the crusher. It immediately reminded me of the same type and design of stone which was found in Lembah Bujang. Somewhere in 2006 I had visited Lembah Bujang and came across that stone.   Lembah Bujang civilization started hundred of years before the plantation here begun. So how did the crusher had the same design and what does it got to do between the two places. I knew there was something internally related to Batu Kawan & Lembah Bujang.  (Click here for brief history on Batu Kawan)

Left ( Batu Kawan ) , Right ( Lembah Bujang ) 

Batu Kawan & Bukit Mertajam was part of the Lembah Bujang territory. How true can this be? Well, years before during school days, Iv heard that a relic was once found in BM. But not many locals were aware about this. This relic was found by Col James Low in 1845 when he was exploring to find a ruined Buddhist Temple. It is engraved with pre ‘Pallava’ sript which transcripts about a King ‘Thus vanquish, the enemies of King Ramaunnibha'.

Cherok To Kun Relics at the compound of St Anne's Church

J. Low journal on the Relic

Perai Map in 1890+  ( Pyre River )

J. Low Journal on the attack by pirates through Prai River in 1791

Other Part of J.Low journal on Prye & Batu Kawan

As i began the research i realize that every new story i found it links to another. There are many more hidden stories & secrets. I came across an info that Perai had the best soil and it was used to make bricks. The Railway hub which was build by the Brits also caught my attention. Some of the roof piece has Tamil wordings inscriptions on it. A friend were suppose to help me find the roof but i had delayed it. He now has retired and if i do start this research on Perai again, a long journey awaits me.