Villages on Penang Island

There are villages all around Penang Island that existed long before the sprawl of George Town brought urban development. Some of these villages have long been absorbed into George Town, continuing as streets rather than proper villages, even though the names remain. Villages such as Kampung Malabar and Kampung Deli have all disappeared, though the places still retain their names.

In Penang context, a village does not conjure the picture of wooden houses on stilts, with chicken running around the compound. Though this may be true on the few rural corners of the island, more often than not, what you have may be an urban village, with a busy street, and perhaps traditional shophouses on both sides, with five foot ways.

Further away from George Town, we can still find proper villages, particularly on the west coast of Penang Island. But even there, urban development has descended - and often rather unceremoniously. As a result, many traditional villages are uprooted to make way for housing estates. Occasionally, you will find modern houses standing side-by-side to rural houses, depending on the boundary of the housing project. The villages of Batu Maung and Kampung Buah Pala existed until just a few years ago, but have today been transformed into housing development.

On the other hand, within the city itself, there are pockets of rural settlements that continue to exist despite successive urban development swirling around them. There are still some Malay and Chinese villages in places such as Jelutong, Perak Road and Dato Kramat where time seems to have stood still. Many Malay villages survive intact because they occupy Malay reserve land that cannot be redeveloped. Along the waterfront, the clan jetties can also be considered villages, albeit waterborne ones.

On this page I list out the villages on Penang Island, particularly those whose name has the word "kampung" to it. For other places, check also the listing on Localities on Penang Island.