Vacation at Pulau Jerajak Resort, Penang, Malaysia

If you're ever tired of the hustle and bustle of Penang, then take some time off at Pulau Jerejak (Jerejak Island), a 15-minute boat ride from Penang.

Pulau Jerejak is still undeveloped, leaving you to experience a pristine jungle environment. The picture above shows the jetty on Penang island and on the right, in the background, is Jerejak island. You hop onto the ferry here and it'll take you to the resort within 15 minutes. Along the way you'll be able to see some historical sites.

Here's a little, interesting history of this relatively unknown island.

Pulau Jerejak gained its alias as The Alcatraz of Malaysia, because of the Jerejak Prison. Located towards the south eastern tip of Penang Main Island, this 362ha island is rich with history, flora and fauna.

The picture above shows the main prison cell on the left. Most of the blocks have crumbled down due to time and Mother Nature. Apparently you can still see the prisoner's writings on the walls. I wonder what they were saying.

In the image below is the warrden's houses. Who were these wardens? How did they live their lives here? Were their families with them?

This island, though not as famous compared to other islands in Malaysia, has had its fair share of auspicious historical events. Francis Light, founder of Penang was said to have arrived in Pulau Jerejak in early 1786 before heading on to Penang.

As a result of Francis Light's earlier ruling whereby immigrants were allowed to claim whatever land they could clear Penang became flooded with immigrants. As a precaution step these immigrants were sent to Jerejak's health inspection centre before they were deported to Penang.

Later in the late 1930's, the British Empire built a hospital that could house 150 Tuberculosis patients at a time. This was located at the eastern part of the island.

Jerejak saw military action during World War II, when a German submarine attacked a Russian naval vessel. It is believed that Jerejak was the site for a German submarine base from June of 1943 to March 1944. A ceremonial cemetery dedicated to Russian soldiers still remains on the island. However, no records indicate that actual bodies were buried at the site.

The Jerejak Rehabilitation Center began operating from 12 Jun 1969 to August 1993 with its first batch of 200 detainees. This first batch of inmates consisted of those detained during the May 13th, 1969 race riots.

In 1982, an upsurge in drug related convictions resulted in the highest number of detainees in Jerejak, 982 to be exact.

7 inmates on the island who worked outside the prison area and were nearly finishing their sentences managed to escape. The first escape incident in January 1988, saw 4 inmates 'leaving' the island while the second incident in Mac 1988 saw 3 inmates flee.

In its course of closing down the prison, 900 detainees were transferred to prisons in Johor. The first transfer involved 100 detainees whom were sent to Muar prison, Johor. The following transfers were in-groups of about 60 detainees and were all stationed at the Simpang Ranggam Prison, Johor. The last group left on 13 August 1993.

The Resort