Heritage: Street plaques

I read about this in yesterday's edition of The Star. I've noticed the plaques too while zipping around the city but never gotten around to take a close-up snapshots of them. So I'm quite happy to quote a few lines from the newspaper's report.

Since early November, a total of 113 blue plaques measuring 40.6cm by 71.1 cm and featuring historical street names and background information have been put up on walls of houses in the heritage enclave of George Town. They carry information in Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese and Tamil.

For example, on the wall of the Eu Yan Sang building in Pitt Street, the plaque indicates that several sections of the road had been previously called Simpang Lelong (Auctioneers’ Junction), Kuan Im Teng Cheng (in front of Goddess of Mercy Temple) and Tua Balai (Big Police Station).

This project was initiated by the Penang Heritage Trust (PHT) and cost RM130,000. It was funded by the Ministry of Tourism and supported by the Penang Tourism Action Council and the Penang Island Municipal Council.

PHT president Dr Choong Sim Poey said the plaques were aimed at supporting the cultural aspects of George Town following its inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. “It took us two months to put up all the plaques because we need to wait for the MPPP to get the consent from the house owners.”