Kedah Royal Cemetery in Penang

Graves at the 2Kedah Royal Cemetery in Penang (22 July 2015)


There is a Kedah Royal Cemetery (GPS: 5.43145, 100.43739) on Penang Mainland. It is located at Kampung Kota, in Seberang Perai Tengah. It is the final resting place of several members of the Kedah royalty, with graves that have been identified to that of Tunku Sulaiman Ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah and Tunku Kutam.

Kedah royalties - along with hordes of Kedahans - were made refugees when Siam attacked Kedah on 12 November 1821. The attacked was led by the Chau Phraya, or ruler, of Nakhon Si Thammarat (known in European historical literature as Ligor).

Gate to the Kedah Royal Cemetery in Penang. (22 July 2015)


The attack on Kedah came about because Siam was not pleased that Kedah's Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin has not met its demands for war supplies (to fight Siam's enemy, Burma)¹, and furthermore, reports had infiltrated to Bangkok that Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin had made contact with Burma.

Many Kedah Malays were killed in the Siamese attack. Those that managed to escape fled via Sungai Kedah, Sungai Merbok and Sungai Muda, crossing the border into Penang. Some 11,000 resettled in Teluk Bahang and Balik Pulau.²

This unassuming grave is possibly that of Tunku Sulaiman Ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah. (22 July 2015)

How to go to the Kedah Royal Cemetery in Penang

The Kedah Royal Cemetery in Penang is located in Kampung Kota, a Malay village in Sungai Dua, Seberang Perai. To reach it, you have to turn off the Jalan Sungai Dua main road (street view below shows the turn off), and go down the country path, passing Masjid Jamek Al-Falah, to reach the site, which is on the left side of the road.

The Kedah Royal Cemetery is on the Map of Kampung Kota, Seberang Perai

Michael Rawlinson and Timothy Tye at the Kedah Royal Cemetery. (22 July 2015)

Acknowledgement

I wish to thank Michael Rawlinson for taking me to this site.

References

List of Cemeteries in Penang and Cemeteries in Malaysia