Penang Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Clock Tower
I am a Penangite, and as one, I am proud of my heritage (whatever that means). One of the heritage buildings in the George Town area is the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Clock Tower, situated near Fort Cornwallis, at the junction of Light Street, Beach Street and The Esplanade. It was built in 1897 by local Penang millionaire, Cheah Chen Eok, to commemorate the sixtieth year of the Queen Victoria’s reign. It is 60 feet in height, one for each year of Her Majesty’s reign. The Queen, however, had died before the tower was completed in 1902. The photo I took, using my Nokia 6288, during the 2008 Chinese New Year on 7 February 2008 18:35 is shown below: 
(Stains, cracks and other “fuglities” visible)
Of course, the photo is not very flattering. The full glory of the tower and the beauty of the tower were also not captured. But what is important with the time when the photograph was taken? It marks about one full year that the fugly information board is not attended to.
(Clearly Penang do not treasure French and Japanese tourists)
The Gerakan or Penang State combined Chinese New Year Open House has been held in Fort Cornwallis for over 4 years. This information board is en route to the fort, and is quite visible. In fact, it is quite prominent with all the huge ass stain on the board. With all the commotions - Visit Malaysia Year, 50th Malaysian Independence Day, and the 12th Malaysian General Election, nobody ever cared to take a look and clean it up. I don’t have the photo I took last year to prove that this stain was there last Chinese New Year, but searching through Flickr, here’s what you can see:
Stain growing - April 27, 2005. Photo by Rescue Dog.
Stain prominent - September 20, 2007. Photo by Northcountry Boy.
Stain still there - March 9, 2008. Photo by Azizul Amier.
All I can say about the previous government is TOOT! The stain was, and is still there for 4 years. Yet nothing was done. Of course, these are just the photographs under Creative Common License. A normal Flickr search would reveal much much more. Having understood the historical value of the building, it clearly should be restored, refurbished and properly maintained. Let’s hope that the new Penang State Government at the least clean the board up. I am giving them one year, till 7 February 2009, to prove themselves.