My grandfather

V.M. Noordin

1. Vapoo Merican Noordin aka V. M. Noordin was my grandfather. As far as I can remember, I knew this for a fact from my birth certificate. In the document, my father’s name was written as Md Ismail Marikan bin Vapoo Marikan Nordin. Up until now, everything I knew about Vapoo was from my reading. Not even my father would have known him personally because the latter died when he was only two years old.

2. Vapoo lived in the second half of 19^th century. During his lifetime Vapoo resided at Acheen Street and took care of his father’s company on Chulia Street. Vapoo was a prominent leader of the Chulia (Kling) community. He was one of the headmen of the Red Flag Society. During the Penang Riots of 1867, Vapoo was implicated on account of the involvement of the society in the riots. That might be the reason why he was left out of his father’s will.

Acheen Street (Lebuh Acheh)

3. I suppose Vapoo was a man who went his own way. Being his own man, Vapoo strove to become a prominent merchant in his own right. He established his own company ‘V.M. Noordin’ in 1853. He was said to be one of the most influential Penang merchant. He ran fleet of ships trading mostly with Acheh, Burma, India and Singapore.

 

Chulia Street

4. In the 1870s, Vapoo was appointed a grand juror and municipal commissioner, and made Justice of the Peace. He was also an honorary magistrate and a member of Penang Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture. He died towards the turn of the century on 24 July 1884.

Vapoo's grave

5. In 2013 it was simply by chance that my wife and I found Vapoo’s resting place in a cemetery in the vicinity of the Kapitan Kling Mosque in Georgetown. A tombstone on his grave bears his name in “Jawi” (=Arabic characters). May Allah bless his soul!