Penang is unique among the local tourist destinations. It has everything and more - culture, heritage, beach, hills and above all, fabulous food. For this reason, our family has visited Penang numerous times over the last decade and thoroughly enjoyed our experience each time.
However, our latest trip during the recent school holidays proved to be a bitter and a thoroughly forgettable experience. Much to our shock and sadness, we found Penang to have deteriorated so much that it made us to swear not to visit the ‘Pearl of the Orient’ ever again.
The first unpleasant surprise greeted us when we stepped off the aerobridge and into the Penang International Airport. An overwhelming presence of the new Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng greeted the visitors. Images of Guan Eng were everywhere; on welcoming boards, huge billboards, tourism promotional videos and brochures, posters, etc.
This made one wonder what the chief minster is trying to accomplish as this can be easily misconstrued as an attempt to build a cult of personality. Which what one of our fellow visitors, a Caucasian, was heard remarking rather sarcastically by comparing him to North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung and Tamil Nadu politicians.
Further ordeals awaited us. The trip from the airport to our hotel took us two hours instead of the usual 30 minutes as we were caught in a massive traffic jam. We later found that this snarl was caused by the closure of several key roads. There was no notification or any instructions on alternative roads to use.
Only when we finally checked in at our hotel that did we realise that the cause – a motor GP that was being held on several busy public roads. It was really irresponsible for the state authorities to conduct such events during the busy holiday season and on a Saturday morning at that. More irresponsibly, the authorities failed to provide the necessary traffic diversion arrangements thus creating massive traffic congestion and chaos.
Further unpleasant surprises awaited us. Our rental car was issued a ticket for not paying parking fees even though it was Saturday evening. Upon checking, we were told by the hotel staff that the state had quietly extended hours for traffic fees collection since the beginning of the year, from morning right up till midnight even during weekends.
All along the Batu Ferringhi area, we discovered monstrously ugly structures being built seemingly at a breakneck pace and with scant regard to Mother Nature or public safety. The famed beaches were dirty and badly maintained with the cleaners, who used to be efficient during our previous visits, nowhere to be found.
Downtown, we were dismayed to find frenzied construction work going on at various historical and heritage buildings. Some of the most valuable buildings were being turned into pubs, individual homes, show rooms, galleries, restaurants or for other business purposes.
Traffic order to seems to have broken down with illegal double and triple parking seeming to be the norm rather than an exception. In popular commercial areas such as Pulau Tikus, Weld Quay, Little India and many others, irresponsible parking and illegal businesses have made the traffic come to a standstill and driving hazardous.
At Little India, our initial joy in seeing road signs in Tamil turned to disappointment with the poor translation of the road names. The twin phenomenon of unchecked development and poor enforcement was again evident at Little India too.
What is so surprising and sad is the rapid rate of decline of Penang within the short space of two years since our last visit in December 2007. We are unsure what really caused such alarming deterioration but the Penangites we spoke to pointed their anger and fingers squarely at the new state government.
We are not familiar with the state politics to make an assessment or judgment but if the state government does not act quickly to arrest this decline, Penang and Penangites will be the biggest losers. Tourists like us will give the state a wide berth if nothing is done.
