Penang’s cemetery tours spur interest in pioneers, colonial history

The sounds of passing cars and birds chirping broke the morning stillness at Penang’s Northam Road Protestant Cemetery as visitors began filtering in after 8am.Tour guide Zul Harris arrived in a purple shirt, grey trousers and a black flat cap to greet seven tourists waiting at the gate.Inside, a narrow laterite path ran through the cemetery beneath old frangipani trees, whose dense canopy cast a muted green light over weathered headstones tilting at uneven angles.Zul was leading a cemetery tour in George Town, where one of Penang’s oldest burial grounds is drawing attention as a historical site with unique heritage features.Tour guide Zul Harris calls for the preservation of Penang’s colonial-era history in Malaysia. Photo: Ushar DanieleInterest is growing in such tours as visitors seek out the island’s darker and lesser-known histories, beyond the food, shophouses and architecture that are core to Penang’s appeal.The Malaysian state recorded 7.2 million passenger movements through its airport in the first 11 months of 2025, according to official data.