Introduction

Penang's early municipal history is documented and there are few records available to make a closer study possible. In the early period, the English East India Company's (EEIC) establishment in Penang was very small, consisting of Francis Light as Superintendent, J. Gardyne as storekeeper, Mr. Bacon, as monthly writer, Adam Ramage as Beachmaster, Long, a Malay writer, and Nakhuda Kecil who was the security guard. Penang was administered from Calcutta in India but in 1805 it enjoyed the same status as the three other Presidencies of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. In colonial Penang, the police magistrate administered law and order in the town and territories. Apart from the Committees of Assessors, the English administration in Penang instituted the practice of appointing a Capitan or Headman for each ethnic Asian group. The population of Penang created for themselves a social environment that had all the features of a viable and permanent society.