This is a diverse community full of history and culture – and full of hope for the future.
Affluent. Cosmopolitan. Convenient. These are words that are often used to describe Pulau Tikus, a township in Penang that is pretty much located in the middle of everything. It connects the north of the island to the centre and the south.
This crucial thoroughfare had sleepier beginnings though. It was first populated by the Thai-Portuguese Catholics who were fleeing religious persecution by the invading Burmese in Phuket, Thailand, in 1810. They made their way south and eventually settled in Penang under the leadership of their parish priest, Father John Baptist Pasqual. This was a suitable destination for them since some of Pasqual’s friends and families had already settled in the area in the 1780s1.
