Pulau Tikus, Penang

Pulau Tikus neighbourhood, Penang (22 July 2017)


Pulau Tikus (Traditional Chinese: 浮羅地滑; Simplified Chinese: 浮罗地滑; Pinyin: Fúluó Dìhuá) is the name of an affluent suburb of George Town, Penang. Located on the northwestern part of the city, Pulau Tikus proper starts near the junction of Burmah Road with Edgecumbe Road, and ends just before the Bagan Jermal junction. Burmah Road forms the main artery through Pulau Tikus, with the heart of town at the intersection of Burmah Road with Cantonment Road.

Measured from the intersection of Jalan Kelawai with Jalan Cantonment (GPS: 5.433293, 100.312619), Pulau Tikus is 4.0 km to Komtar, 10.7 km to the Penang Bridge, 18.7 km to the Second Penang Bridge and 20.2 km to the Penang International Airport.

YouTube Videos related to Pulau Tikus

Map of Pulau Tikus, Penang

Residential properties in Pulau Tikus

Roads in Pulau Tikus

Street Art in Pulau Tikus

Hotels in Pulau Tikus

Villages in Pulau Tikus

What to eat in Pulau Tikus

Businesses in Pulau Tikus

Coffee Shops and Restaurants in Pulau Tikus

Shopping Centres in Pulau Tikus

The shopping centres in Pulau Tikus are, honestly, not as exciting as Gurney Plaza, which technically is part of Gurney Drive, but can also be considered as part of Pulau Tikus.

Buddhist Temples of Pulau Tikus

Apart from the Thai Eurasians, Thai and Burmese of Buddhist faith also made Pulau Tikus their home, carving out enclaves and erecting their places of worship that outlast the villages themselves.

Museums in Pulau Tikus

Schools in Pulau Tikus

Historic Buildings in Pulau Tikus

Amenities in Pulau Tikus

Organisations in Pulau Tikus

Chinese Temples in Pulau Tikus

In comparison, the Chinese community in Pulau Tikus built rather low-profile temples.

Churches in Pulau Tikus

Catholic Heritage Sites in Pulau Tikus

The Thai Eurasian Catholics were the earliest group to settle in Pulau Tikus. Their heritage sites can still be visited in Pulau Tikus today.

Medical Institutions in Pulau Tikus

Petrol Stations in Pulau Tikus

There's a Shell petrol station along Burmah Road next to Midlands One-Stop.

Hospitals in Pulau Tikus

Penang Adventist Hospital was established as a hospital for the destitute and penniless. While it has long abandoned that mission, this private hospital continues to be one of the best and most affordable in Penang. Its bakery is famous in Penang for producing some of the healthiest (but not cheapest) breads.

About Pulau Tikus

The Burmese and Eurasians were the earliest settlers in Pulau Tikus. The Eurasians were the ones to give Pulau Tikus its name. They had fled Phuket, and arrived in Penang via Kuala Kedah. Their boat arrived on the shore off a rocky outcrop, which had a sand bank. To them, it resembled a mouse, or tikus in Malay . They duly called that rocky outcrop Pulau Tikus. The Eurasians then made their way along the coastline moving south until they reached a spot where they decided to establish their settlement. They decided to honour their settlement after the rocky isle which they had earlier named, and that settlement became known as Pulau Tikus.

The Eurasians are of mixed parentage, between the Portuguese and the Thais, and are Roman Catholics. The people of Portuguese descent had had no peace to practise their faith since the Dutch arrive in Malacca in 1641. Religious persecution drove them out of Malacca. They settled in various Malay states as well as in Phuket, which at that time was called Ujung Salang (corrupted in English to Junk Ceylon), an island claimed by the Kingdom of Kedah but ruled by Siam. By the late 18th century, the Eurasians were on the run again, this time due to a decree by the increasingly demented king of Siam, Phraya Taksin @ Phya Tak, who ordered all Christians in Siam to be massacred. The Eurasians fled to Kuala Kedah, and from there, they made their way to Penang, forming the second wave of Eurasians to settlement in Penang.

(The first wave of Eurasian arrivals in Penang settled in town in the area bordered by Church Street, Bishop Street, Pitt Street and China Street, in rather rudimental housing, before moving with their church, the Church of Assumption (so named because they arrived in Penang on the day of the Catholic Feast of the Assumption), to the Farquhar Street area, settling along Argus Lane.)

There were still remnants of Eurasian community in Phuket going into the 19th century, until the Phya Tak Massacre of 1810 forced another group to Penang. Pulau Tikus had become an attractive location to settle down. They were parishioners of the Church of Our Lady Free From Sin. They arrived in 1811, headed by Father John Baptist Pasqual. In Pulau Tikus they built their church which the pope later renamed The Immaculate Conception.

The Burmese had formed a settlement here in the early 19th century, and their presence remained until the early part of the 20th century. At that time, there was a Burmese village here called Kampong Ava - probably named after the town of Ava (today Inwa) in Myanmar. When the British administrators created the main road here, they named it Burmah Road. Off shoots of Burmah Road were also named after places in Burma. Hence we now have road names that are of Burmese origin including Burmah, Irrawaddi, Mandalay, Moulmein, Salween, Tavoy and Thaton.

Today, the Burmese presence in Pulau Tikus is best represented by the Dhammikarama Burmese Temple at Lorong Burma. It has been around since the beginning of the 19th century. The oldest part of the temple, the stupa, dates back to 1805.

As George Town continues to grow, it eventually swallows up the village of Pulau Tikus, making it one of its suburbs. Gone are the Burmese and Eurasian villages. What remains are their temples and churches. A reminder that they were once here is etched in the names of the streets in this area.

To the south of Pulau Tikus, and often regarded as part of the district, is the affluent neighbourhood of Ayer Rajah. It is named after the Ayer Rajah Estate that once belonged to James Scott, who was a partner in business with David Brown, subsequently through intermarriage within the two families. Road names such as Brown Road and Scott Road commemorates these two pioneers.

The etymology of Pulau Tikus

The name Pulau Tikus means "rat island". It took its name from Pulau Tikus, the rocky outcrop off the north coast of Penang, which ironically is not within sight of Pulau Tikus district. When I wrote this passage back in 2004, I speculated over the name, saying that it was probably called Pulau Tikus because of some rodent infestation here. Since then, I have found the historical response to the toponym.

Updates on Pulau Tikus

27 July, 2013: Kelawei Road and Burmah Road are made one way, with traffic on Kelawei Road going from east to west, while that of Burmah Road from west to east. Parts of Gurney Drive is also made one way, with traffic flowing west to east.

Update: 21 September, 2010
Over six years after this page was written, I found someone who explained to me how Pulau Tikus got its name.

View of Pulau Tikus with Moulmein Rise (left) and The Cantonment (right) (13 July 2019)


The luxury condominiums of Gurney Drive, as seen from Pulau Tikus (13 March 2019)

Further Reading

List of Towns in Penang and Towns in Malaysia