Races

Malay

 

The Malays of Penang today forms the second biggest ethnic group in Penang. In the latest statistics of 2011, as reported by the Department of Statistics (The Star, 4 August 2011), there are 636,136 Malays in Penang in 2011. This is a decline of 18,164 from the figure released for 2009, which is 654,300.

The Malays became the majority ethnic group in Penang in 2009, for the first time in recent history, when they surpassed the Chinese. However, the latest figures for 2010 shows that the Chinese is once again the majority in Penang, accouting for 670,400 of Penang's 1.5 million population, and 2.2% more than the Malays for 2010.

The Malay population in Penang has over the past decade narrowed the gap with the Chinese. A variety of reasons contribute to the growing percentage of Malays in Penang compared to the Chinese, among them the fewer number of children per Chinese family, the lower marriage age of Malay couples compared to Chinese couples, the reluctance of Chinese couples to have more children, the migration of Malays from the less developed states to Penang, the migration of Chinese from Penang to other cities such as Kuala Lumpur, as well as to overseas destinations such as Singapore and Australia, and non-pure-breed Malays such as Indian Muslims and Indonesians often passing themselves as Malays

Chinese

 

  The ethnic Chinese in Penang (who form the majority) usually speak a localized variant of Hokkien known as Penang Hokkien, which Minnan speakers from Taiwan and Fujian may have some difficulty understanding due to the slang and some loan words from Malay. Most ethnic Chinese are also able to speak Mandarin, and many are also able to speak Cantonese and Hakka

Indian

 

Covering an area around Lebuh Queen, Lebuh Chulia and Jalan Pasar (Market Street), Little India in the city of Penang, Malaysia, is an ethnic Indian enclave.The oldest hindu temple in Penang, Sri Mahamariamman Temple located here.During the early days of the settlement, Lebuh Chulia was alloted to the Indian immigrants as their enclave.However, over the years, the Chinese immigrant settler community grew in size, resulting in Little India being cocooned in the centre of the ever-growing Chinese community and bordering what is today referred to as Chinatown. The Indian immigrant settlers took up a variety of roles in the settlement, as agricultural labourers, money lenders and spice traders