This Article here is taken directly from 'My Island in The Sun' by Khor Cheang Kee. I found it very heartwarming and I thought I'd share it with you. Perhaps it's because I share the same sentiments with the writer, after all, I'm a Penang girl myself ('',) wink*wink*

Last Saturday, I wrote that Penangites have the best brains in the country. Today, I am going to stick out my neck further, and claim another ‘best’ for the island. I have always held-and I will say it again here- that Penang girls not only make the best laksa, the best poh piah and the best curry kapitan, they also make the best wives.
I am prompted to come to defence of the Penang girl by a letter which I received this week from a clans-woman, Miss Ritiana Khor, of Glugor Lane, who very indignant indeed. She has just come across a recent comment by my fellow columnist, SH Tan, comparing the ‘unmade-up’ girls of Penang, wearing pants in the street and stomping along like boys, to the oh-so-feminine girls of KL.
‘I am mad and speechless,’ Ritiana fumes. ‘So will you, on behalf of all Penangites, please write on the unspoilt beauty of our girls, just as you have written on the natural beauty of our islands?’ ‘Our girls have different moods-the mood for fun in pants, the mood for dancing in formal gown and evening wear. They do not put on make-up because they know there is more to beauty of the face than just a layer of paint.’
Well put, Ritiana, I agree unreservedly that there is no charm more wholesome than in being natural, looking natural and acting natural. Our girls, I would imagine, are especially blessed with the attractiveness of being themselves. They certainly know their priorities. They are first and foremost Penang girls, and that is something special. They may not have the most sophisticated taste in cosmetics, but they have more than cosmetic beauty. They are feminine because they are feminine, and not because they are made to look feminine. Their beauty does not have to rely heavily on laboratory and surgical aids. But being naturally sweet and wholesome does not make them country bumpkins either. They can also demonstrate the parry and thrust of sharp minds. And they have the native wit to hold their own, if need to be. All this, plus virtues that make good wives, thrifty home makers and gracious hostesses.
The Penang girl is interested in people as people. She enjoys your company for itself and does not expect too many frills. She would sooner eat by a roadside stall (if the food is better) than at an expensive restaurant. But she is equally at ease dining and wining at a posh hotel, if that is where you insist taking her. Hers is a sunny nature with the friendly smile that goes with it. She sees the bright side of life, and takes things with a laugh. Even when you take a Penang girl to dinner and find, at the crucial moment, that you left your wallet at home, do not worry: her sense of humour will see you through.
Yet with all this happy charm, the Penang girl does not lack the gifts of the intellect. What I said last week about Penang having the best brains in country applies to women as well as men. For didn’t we provide the country’s first woman lawyer in Mrs. BH Oon? And our first woman representative at the United Nations, and first Ambassadress abroad, in Miss PG Lim?
In the field of fashion, too, Penang girls have blazed a trendy trail. The modern Penang nyonya see-through kebaya, with its delicate embroidered cut-out lacework, has made the London scene in a big way. It is now quite the thing, so I am told, to wear this bra-less and Kerongson-less, with the front ends tied at midriff level. What, one may ask, would our old-world grandmother have to say about this?
Still, all said and done, the Penang girl, I feel, represents the happiest compromise between the old and the new. To the more zany she may be old-fashioned than not, but isn’t there a song that says:
‘There’s something about an old fashioned girl
That brings back the long, long ago.
My heart sings in praise of her lovely ways
And envies her old fashioned beau.
The modern miss I know would be glad
To have the charm her grandmother had’
While our modern miss (in Penang) does not lack the charm her grandmother had, she also does not lag behind in making her impact on the contemporary scene.
Speaking of women and fashion, I like what the experts say -that the French are the best dressed women in the world and the Swedes the best undressed women.

Saturday, February 22, 1975
Khor Cheang Kee