Check your facts about Penang, PKR man tells Kedah MB
A 19th century painting of George Town and Penang harbour. The British took possession of the island in 1786 and named it Prince of Wales Island. (Penang Museum pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: An MP from Kedah has urged menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor to check his facts first before demanding RM100 million a year as payment for a so-called “lease” of Penang island and Seberang Perai.
Saifuddin Nasution Ismail of PKR said the issue was about the Kedah state government’s need for revenue. The state should seek federal compensation for preserving a forest reserve instead of arguing about the Penang payment, he said.
He said that, according to a historian, there was no proof of any “lease arrangement” between Capt Francis Light and the Sultan of Kedah in 1776 as claimed by the menteri besar.
“So, the issue of lease payments does not arise,” said Saifuddin, who is MP for Kulim-Bandar Baharu, in the Dewan Rakyat.
Yesterday, professor Ahmad Murad Merican of International Islamic University Malaysia, told FMT that talk of a lease agreement was a myth.
“Don’t tell me the menteri besar cannot check on this,” said Saifuddin, a former assemblyman in Kedah.
He said the real issue was that the state government wanted a new revenue source.
He suggested that the state seek federal compensation for loss of logging revenue by preserving a forest reserve in Hulu Muda, close to the Muda river, the main source of raw water for Kedah, Penang and Perlis.
Saifuddin said that Sanusi, in making his demand for the RM100 million yearly “lease” payment, had threatened to cut off water supplies to Penang.
KUALA LUMPUR: An MP from Kedah has urged menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor to check his facts first before demanding RM100 million a year as payment for a so-called “lease” of Penang island and Seberang Perai.
Saifuddin Nasution Ismail of PKR said the issue was about the Kedah state government’s need for revenue. The state should seek federal compensation for preserving a forest reserve instead of arguing about the Penang payment, he said.
He said that, according to a historian, there was no proof of any “lease arrangement” between Capt Francis Light and the Sultan of Kedah in 1776 as claimed by the menteri besar.
“So, the issue of lease payments does not arise,” said Saifuddin, who is MP for Kulim-Bandar Baharu, in the Dewan Rakyat.
Yesterday, professor Ahmad Murad Merican of International Islamic University Malaysia, told FMT that talk of a lease agreement was a myth.
“Don’t tell me the menteri besar cannot check on this,” said Saifuddin, a former assemblyman in Kedah.
He said the real issue was that the state government wanted a new revenue source.
He suggested that the state seek federal compensation for loss of logging revenue by preserving a forest reserve in Hulu Muda, close to the Muda river, the main source of raw water for Kedah, Penang and Perlis.
Saifuddin said that Sanusi, in making his demand for the RM100 million yearly “lease” payment, had threatened to cut off water supplies to Penang.
So history tells us that if not for Britannia RAMPAS-ing Penang from Kedah (or Siam) KT today would be blogging from Bangkok in Siamese, Jawi or KHAT ha ha ha, we commentators would not have a clue what he was blogging about and Kedahans and Penang-lang would owe allegiance to a Buddhist King in faraway Ayuthayya. And the Bullyland Chinese would not have settled in Penang, even if they did they would be assimilated into Thai culture and have Thai names like Somsak Jaisurapap or something like that. So a Big Thank You to Britannia.
ReplyDeletePeople forget that our first PM Tunku's mother was Thai and he himself was partly educated in Bangkok; he later finished his education in Britannia.
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Tunku Abdul Rahman was born on 8 February 1903, at Istana Pelamin Palace in Alor Setar, Kedah, the seventh son and one of 45 children of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, the twenty-sixth ruler of the Kedah Sultanate. Tunku's mother was Che Menjelara (Nueang Nandanagara), a Thai, and the sixth wife of Sultan Abdul Hamid; she was the daughter of Luang Naraborirak (Kleb Nandanagara), a district officer in Thailand. At that time, cholera and malaria were very common all over Kedah and at least two of Tunku's brothers and his older sister died from cholera while Tunku himself suffered from intermittent attacks of malaria until he left for London in 1920.
He received early education at the Alor Setar Malay Primary School before furthering his studies at the government English school, Sultan Abdul Hamid College. He and his fellow siblings were later sent by his parents to Debsirin School in Bangkok. He returned home in 1915 to continue his education at the Penang Free School.
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