Rifle Range, Penang
| Rifle Range | |
|---|---|
| Neighbourhood of George Town | |
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Malay | Padang Tembak |
| • Chinese | 打枪埔 |
| • Hokkien | Phah-chhèng-pơ̄ |
 |
|
 Rifle Range
Location near George Town
|
|
| Coordinates: 5°24′38.2248″N 100°17′24.63″E / 5.410618000°N 100.2901750°ECoordinates: 5°24′38.2248″N 100°17′24.63″E / 5.410618000°N 100.2901750°E | |
| Country |
 Malaysia
|
| State |
 Penang
|
| District | Northeast Penang Island |
| City |
 George Town
|
| Government | |
| • Local government | Penang Island City Council |
| • Mayor of Penang Island | Yew Tung Seang |
| • Kebun Bunga State Assemblyman | Cheah Kah Peng (PKR) |
| • Bukit Bendera Member of Parliament | Zairil Khir Johari (DAP) |
| Time zone | MST (UTC+8) |
| • Summer (DST) | Not observed (UTC) |
| Postal code | 11400, 11500 |
| Website | mbpp |
Rifle Range is a residential neighbourhood west of the city of George Town in Penang, Malaysia. Located within the Air Itam suburb, the neighbourhood lies 4.4 km (2.7 mi) from George Town proper and was completed in the 1970s. Formerly a shooting range used by the British Army, low-cost flats were constructed within the area to provide affordable housing for the urban poor.
Rifle Range was so named as the area was once used as a shooting range by the British Army and local police.
Rifle Range, which was used by the military and the police as a shooting range during the British colonial era, was also the site where victims of the Imperial Japanese Army's Sook Ching massacres were buried. During World War II, when Penang was under Japanese occupation, thousands of ethnic Chinese were brutally executed by the Japanese authorities and were buried in mass graves throughout Penang, including at Rifle Range. The remains of the victims would only be uncovered in the 1960s, when the construction of the Rifle Range flats was underway.
In 1964, the Malaysian federal government approved a pilot project to construct prefabricated high-rise housing at Rifle Range. Six blocks of 17-storey flats and three blocks of 18-storey flats, which cumulatively contain 3,699 residential units and 66 shop lots, were to be assembled on-site using prefabricated concrete blocks. The construction of the flats, Penang's first low-cost high-rise housing project, was undertaken by the Penang Development Corporation. The flats were completed in the 1970s.
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