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By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright June 2023
Here's a 10,000 dollar question for you to ponder!
The British promised to pay 10k Spanish dollars per year for taking over Penang Island and Butterworth.
Tun Mahathir, when he was Prime Minister, persuaded Lim Guan Eng, the Finance Minister, then to pay more than 10k a year to Kedah.
Sanusi now claims Penang is part of Kedah, and Anwar wants him to investigate for doing so, but Tun Mahathir said to suggest that the MB committed a crime for views on Penang’s history was “too much”.
Anyway, according to reports, Anwar said police were investigating Sanusi for causing public mischief and abuse of network facilities.
On June 6, PMX confirmed that police had handed part of the investigation reports on Sanusi, who claimed Penang to be part of Kedah, to the attorney-general.
The 10k question is what's the Spanish dollar (not pounds) promised by the British got to do with the continuous payment by PH government when Lim Guan Eng was Finance Minister as recently as four years ago?
Mahathir said that historically, the sultan of Kedah agreed for the British East India Company to take over Penang island on a payment of 6,000 Spanish dollars a year. Later, a strip of the mainland opposite the island was added for 4,000 Spanish dollars a year, he added.
That partly answers the reason why 10k Spanish dollar! But why Spanish? It must have been the currency that was in demand then! The English pound sterling was not a popular currency, obviously during that era. The Sultan of Kedah knew what currency he wanted!
However, when Lim Guan Eng who is at the forefront of the protest over Sanusi's claims and also a Finance Minister of the PH-led government under Tun Mahathir then agreed to pay more than 10k Malaysian Ringgit to Kedah. Why?
Why is Ringgit, not Spanish dollars? When did the currency change? It must have been after Malaya became independent and the Spanish dollar went out of style.
The last question is, if Penang was an independent sovereign state, why does it keep paying 10k per year to Kedah?
Tun Mahathir mentioned "take over" of 10k a year to Kedah. If I remember (my history lessons) correctly, the Sultan agreed to the takeover for as long as there's the moon and the sun!
Maybe Sanusi ought to be reminded to look up to the skies sometimes. Last night, there was a strawberry moon out, but no stars were seen because it was cloudy. But they were there! The sun is still shining brightly this morning.
Sanusi should thank his lucky stars because Kedah gets to share a tiny weeny bit of Penang’s wealth on a yearly basis. Instead of shouting and screaming to get back the island and the strip on the mainland, wouldn't it be better to negotiate for a bigger sum! Nicely?
Maybe Sanusi ought to cool down and act like a shrewd landlord and gently like Tun Mahathir did, negotiate for an increase in the annual contribution to Kedah.
Our advice is to avoid having to take over Penang it would be a big headache to run that territory that becomes "Pening Island" during the lunar new year celebrations.
Even kids are making fun of you Dato' Sri, with a statue of Francis Light modified in your honour and jokes aplenty on TikTok about this interesting but historically impossible dream to attain, no different from the quest of Don Quixote fighting the windmills.
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