MORE THAN JUST a final resting place, the old Muslim graveyards in Penang are home to gravestones known as Batu Aceh. These ornamented grave-markers are carved from sandstone or granite with epigraph inscriptions, and are believed to be a continued tradition of the Acehnese diaspora, which came to settle in Peninsular Malaysia at the height of the Sultanate’s influence. [2]The Batu Aceh were used to distinguish the graves of the Muslim elite, notably those of royal families and chieftains. The...
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