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By A. Shukor Rahman.
 The local school [Francis Light School] boasted of P. Ramlee as an old boy. A. SHUKOR RAHMAN also remembers when Tuanku Bainum who was a resident and when the Tunku came a-visiting on football matters.
IT may be far from being fashionable, glamorous or well-known, but the leafy neighbourhood of Kebun Nyior, just 2km from the heart of George Town, has a lot of colour and history.
Entertainer extraordinaire P. Ramlee, for instance, had his primary education at Francis Light School and older residents recalled he was among those who planted tapioca on the school field during the Japanese Occupation.
After the war, Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was also president of the Football Association of Malaya, used to drop by unannounced at the home of FA of Penang (FAP) honorary secretary Abdul Rahman Abdullah at the teachers' quarters near Francis Light school.
Before he hung up his boots to serve FAP, teacher Abdul Rahman was a prolific striker for Darul Aihsan FC and was also Penang captain in the 1930s.
Older residents will recall Tuanku Bainun, the Raja Permaisuri Perak, who grew up at the teachers' quarters. Her father was school master Mohamed Ali Mann. They also will remember a bubbly young prince, Raja Nazrin Shah, who often came to visit his grandparents.
Salina, another daughter of Ali, was "Miss Penang" in 1962.
Other illustrious visitors to the Ali residence included former minister Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Ismail and singer Ahmad Daud.
Accomplished musician Winnie Cheah was another resident at the teachers' quarters.
Zainal Alam who lived in nearby Jalan Lim Khoon Huat in the 1960s was also a familiar figure.
Datuk Abdul Rahim Khan, Penang's first Umno Youth leader, was a true-blue Kebun Nyior person having been born in the area.
Well-known educationists Lee Eng Hong and M. Ganesan lived in Kebun Nyior for many years while Sime Darby chief executive Datuk Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid was a frequent visitor in the 1960s. Ahmad Zubir's relatives still live in Kebun Nyior.
Kebun Nyior has also produced prominent footballers such as the Chuah brothers, Poh Aun and Poh Beng, V. Tangam, Zain Rahman, Ong Huck Siang, Yeap Kim Hock, Hassanuddin Harun, Ahmad Bab, Jasmadi Suwardi, brothers Ali and Isa Bakar and B. Rajendran.
Former hockey international M. Mahendran is also from the area.
The locality is bounded by part of Jalan Perak, Jalan Datuk Keramat, Jalan Penjara and Francis Light School.
 Among the landmarks encompassed within or lying a stone's throw away are the City Stadium, Penang Prisons, Penang Hospital, Datuk Keramat police station, Convent Datuk Keramat, Padang Brown, Penang Buddhist Association and the Lorong Kulit flea market.
The Municipal Council clubhouse used to hold late night joget parties during council dinners in the 1950s.
There used to be a Javanese Club in Lorong Kebun Nyior and nationalist Ibrahim Haji Yaakob, an uncle to Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie, called here in 1940. The club has ceased to exist but the original Javanese family still lives in the premises.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad also has relatives living nearby.
The Padang Brown hawkers' centre was popular five decades ago as there were few such centres then. It is still thriving today with satay, mee jawa, pasembor, laksa, fried koay teow, lok lok and steamboat drawing locals and outstation visitors.
In the 1950s, there was little in the form of entertainment for youngsters. It was no exception for the restless sons from the teachers' quarters who proved to be rascals when not occupied by afternoon football sessions at the school field.
Hanging around the Malay School near Francis Light School, they noted that old Pak Jab, the school gardener, would be sweeping up leaves as his last task for the day. He would then head for the toilet to ease himself before going home.
The youngsters would hide near the tea hedge behind the latrine and begin taunting Pak Jab.
"Oi, Pak Jab! Why are you taking so long? You must be full of s..t today!" they would chant.
Pak Jab would turn ballistic and respond loudly with several choice expletives, calling them "ill-bred" and casting aspersions on the ancestry of their parents. The rascals would have long disappeared before an enraged Pak Jab came storming out of the toilet.
At night, if they were not in town watching movies or peeping at courting couples at the school field, they would pick on old Pak Seman who lived just outside the Malay School boundary.
A widower for some time, the white-haired food hawker Pak Seman, who wore John Lennon-style glasses, had just re-married.
They would hide among the trees and bushes and call out: "Oi, Pak Seman, are you having fun?"
If there was no response, they would fire slingshots at Pak Seman's zinc roof or the zinc walls of his bathroom. What a racket they made.
Seman would sometimes go on the warpath and fire his own slingshots at the shadowy figures.
Mention must also be made of Teoh Kuan Tong, who opened the first pre-war coffee shop at the corner of Jalan Perak and Jalan Datuk Keramat, across the road from the Datuk Keramat police station.
Teoh, better known as "Panjang", opened for business at 6am so that policemen on early duty could get a decent breakfast. The coffeeshop closed for good when Teoh died a few years ago and a furniture dealer has taken over the shop.
After World War 2, Mohamad Jabbar Ibrahim Shah set up a Mamak stall in front of Dr N.K. Menon's bungalow, directly opposite the Chinese temple. Many Kebun Nyior people would swear that Jabbar served the best teh tarik long before it became a favourite national drink. Jabbar was open for business as early as 5am.
One of Penang's well-known football clubs, Ramblers Sports Club, formed in 1931, used to hold its training sessions daily at the Francis Light School field in the 1960s.
Their biggest achievement came in 1963 when they won the "double" -- the First Division League and the Victory Cup. This paled in comparison to the exploits of their "neighbour", Prisons Sports Club, who were the kings of Penang football in the 1960s and early 1970s.
The club was led by Jalil Che Din at the time and the line-up included such illustrious names as Namat, Shaharuddin Abdullah and Syed Ahmad. The only side which could put up a decent fight against them were the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) team from Butterworth.
Many of the Kebun Nyior old timers have either passed on or moved elsewhere and most of the newcomers are not aware of the neighbourhood's rich and colourful past. ** Reproduced with permission. This article first appeared in the March 1, 2009 issue of the New Straits Times.
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