Penang heritage: the Logan Memorial

When I was a kid, my grandparents used to stay in Green Hall. They rented a room on the upper floor of a house that was very deep, dark and damp. It wasn't of their choice that they had to live there but times were very hard in those days. Every few weeks my mother and I would go to visit them. And in the afternoons, my aunt would take me across the road to a small field within the compound of the Penang courthouse. The heritage building still stands today. In fact, it has just been renovated and reopened. I would run around the field in search of a particular plant whose seed, when put into the mouth, would pop as if a small firecracker had just been fired.

In a corner of the field stood the Logan Memorial, a marble statue dedicated to James Richardson Logan, a prominent Penang lawyer and the one-time editor of the Penang Gazette. Logan devoted his life to serving the public and was a strong advocate of freedom of speech, law and order until his death in 1869.

During the courthouse's renovation, I was wondering what would become of the statue. Would the statue be removed from the compound since it smacked of colonialism, never mind that it stood for justice? Well, my question's answered. Yes, it has been removed from the courthouse's compound BUT it has found a new home, in its own little square at the junction of Light Street and Duke Street, across the street from the court house. Best of all, it has definitely been spruced up and looks so tidy.