Jalan Khaw Sim Bee, formerly Khaw Sim Bee road, (Traditional Chinese: 許心美路, Simplified Chinese: 许心美路), is a minor road in George Town, Penang. It runs from Jalan Perak to Jalan Westlands. At the junction with Jalan Perak is the Penang Christian Centre. Westland Secondary School is also entered from the road.
Khaw Sim Bee Road was named after a Thai Chinese, Khaw Sim Bee, whom I describe in more detail on a separate page. Khaw was famous both in Malaysia as well as in Thailand. He was born to a wealthy family in 1857 in Thailand. His father Khaw Soo Cheang was Phraya Damrong Sucharit Mahisonphakdi, the Governor of Ranong, on the Isthmus of Kra, Thailand. Khaw received some education in China, enabling him to speak and write in Chinese, but he is unable to write in any other language, except to sign his own name. Nevertheless, he was able to pick up spoken Thai, Malay and English as well as several Chinese dialects.
Khaw began serving the Siamese government as a royal page in 1882, and progressed to become the Governor of Trang (Phraya Rassadanupradit Chao Muang) in 1890. In this position, he developed the port of Kantang and introduced rubber plantation into Thailand. Khaw was instrumental in increasing the productivity of the impoverished south, winning him favor with the king.
While he was so influential in south Thailand, he married a Chinese woman from Penang, with whom he had five sons. However, he was also polygamous and a notorious womaniser. This proved to be his undoing, as he was killed by a doctor in Trang whose wife he had his eyes on. The shooting took place on 25 February, 1913. Also wounded was his nephew, the Governor of Trang. Khaw Sim Bee and his nephew were rushed to the Penang hospital, but succumbed to their injuries on 10 April and 2 May respectively.
Today Khaw continued to be held in high esteem, particularly by the people of south Thailand, from Ranong to Phuket to Trang. A statue to him can be seen at Khao Rang hill in Phuket.
If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.
Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang
Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.
Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.
About this website
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.
While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.
Khaw Sim Bee Road, Penang (30 June 2018)
Sights along Khaw Sim Bee Road
Khaw Sim Bee Road, Penang (30 June 2018)
Statue of Khaw Sim Bee at Khao Rang Hill Park, Phuket, Thailand (12 July 2004)
Jalan Khaw Sim Bee roadsign (30 June 2018)
Jalan Khaw Sim Bee roadsign (7 May 2009)
Map of Roads in Penang
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