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Dr Anthony Silbert explaining the history of Pulau Tikus at the museum of the Church of the Immaculate Conception (19 September 2010)
The name Pulau Tikus means "rat island". It is not the most flattering of names, and yet it is the name for one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Penang. After years of researching this issue, I finally stumbled upon Dr Anthony Silbert, an Eurasian who is a leading member within the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Pulau Tikus. Dr Silbert provided be the background into how Pulau Tikus district got its name.
According to Dr Silbert, Pulau Tikus district got its name from the early Thai Eurasians who settled there around 1810-11. When their boat arrived, it anchored off Pulau Tikus island. The island itself got the name of Pulau Tikus because during low tide, the sand dunes take the appearance of running rodents.
The early settlers tracked from Pulau Tikus island all the way to the site where they settled, which they named after the little islet. That was how Pulau Tikus district got its name.
Pulau Tikus island (9 May 2004)Private Guided Tours of Penang
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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
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