Reviews & Press : : The Chinese in Penang: A Pictorial History

Book Launch: Friday, 25 January 2008

Speech by YB Dato' Dr. Toh Kin Woon in English

If we want to understand the Chinese in Penang - a 'community' or ethnic block who are economically dynamic, politically divided, socially complex and culturally resilient - you could do well to look at Tan Kim Hong's book.

Kim Hong's broad yet particularistic overview gives many insights into the development of the Chinese in Penang. The Chinese in Penang have made history for more than two hundred years, and they continue to make history.

As Thomas Carlyle said, 'Histories are as perfect as the Historian is wise, and is gifted with an eye and a soul.' Kim Hong has taken the approach of writing a people's history. Although he has not avoided compiling a profile of prominent people, he has taken great pains to include the stories of the common people.

Here I shall quote the definition of 'people's history' found in Wikipedia, which seems a fair enough definition - 'A people's history is the history of the world that is the story of mass movements and of the outsiders. Individuals not included in the past in other types of writing about history are part of this theory's primary focus, which includes the disenfranchised, the oppressed, the poor, the nonconformists, and the otherwise forgotten people. This theory also usually focuses on events occurring in the fullness of time, or when an overwhelming wave of smaller events cause certain developments to occur.'

Throughout the book, the author tries to give a balanced perspective, representing the rich and the poor, the political right and left, people of ideas and and people of action, the Chinese-educated and the English-educated, across dialect groups and religious persuasions. Though women do not exactly make up 50% of the book, they are not neglected either.

It is important for a community to know itself, and to be known by others. History enriches our understanding, helps us to avoid mistakes of the past, and to chart out our future.

Unfortunately politicians often do not have the benefit of learning from the past. To quote Margaret Thatcher (though I am not an admirer of hers), 'The wisdom of hindsight, so useful to historians and indeed to authors of memoirs, is sadly denied to practising politicians.'

The Chinese in Penang: A Pictorial History is an important contribution to Malaysian history and therefore should be of interest to all Malaysians, old and young. It is hoped those who write the history curriculum for schools will also sit up and take notice of it, possibly incorporating some of this history into the history that schoolchildren learn in classrooms.

I would like to congratulate the author for taking up such the challenge and turning out quite an even-handed and exciting work, and his remarkable team, for the good work done. I would also like to congratulate the publisher Areca Books for producing a number of interesting books on Penang, the latest being this impressive coffee table book.