It looks like Kedah's Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has done it again - stirring the hornet's nest - this time claiming that Penang belongs to his state.
What's guaranteed though is that this certainly won't be the last time he does that. With the state elections just around the corner, maybe he was firing the opening salvo? Or could it be a case of "testing the waters" to see what the response would be from across the Muda River?
Some might even say that he is trying to rally his "green wave" troops to prepare for the upcoming election battle. Well, Penang may be an island surrounded by raging waters but its people are more than resilient to withstand any "wave." Mind you, not even the great Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 was able to rattle its inhabitants!
In fact, Penangites are also known to be very proud of their state. They will fight tooth and nail to defend it - anyone dare to claim ownership of their famous laksa?
Still the MB's outrageous claim did manage to ruffle a few feathers. So much so that Penang's Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow understandably got sucked into the skirmish asking the Kedah MB to go to the courts.
Meanwhile, ex-CM Lim Guan Eng chose not to be a bystander either, asking Penangites to come out in droves to lodge police reports as apparently, it was unconstitutional to make that claim.
Even the country's Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is from neighbouring Perak, joined in saying that it was an act of incitement by people who seem to lack knowledge in history and in the country's Constitution. That surely was "spot on" from a leader who oddly, in the eyes of many, seems to be saying all the right things these days.
But perhaps the strongest rebuttal must have come from PM Anwar himself. He went on to stress that leaders should understand and respect the Constitution and agreements. Yes, indeed. After all, he was born in Seberang Perai, which is in Penang of course. Now, how dare they lay claim on his beloved state?
True, Penang may have been part of Kedah a long, long time ago; but according to some historical records, for a period of time, Kedah also used to be under the control of Siam (present day Thailand)!
Moreover, unless you were day-dreaming about Madonna or Mariah Carey in class during your history lessons, Kedah was also apparently at one time under the control of the Chola, Srivijaya and Langkasuka empires, right? Does that mean the heirs of those empires, if any, can stake a claim on it now? No way!
Some detractors though will say that since Penang has been paying an honorarium of RM10,000 (subsequently raised to RM10 mil since 2018) to Kedah, that evidence alone should suffice to substantiate their claim on Penang. But then the Malaysian government was also paying an honorarium of sorts, around RM5,300 annually, to the Sulu Sultanate heirs for decades. Does that mean Sabah belongs to the Philippines?
Meanwhile, interestingly, another person had disputed the fact that Penang belonged to the British and explained that it had always belonged to Kedah! (Read here)
Still, regardless of what people may say, it's all water under the (Penang) bridge! As was expertly pointed out by the writer Hafiz Hassan in the Malay Mail, Penang is and will always be a sovereign state within Malaysia. Period.
Why? Because inter alia, the country's Constitution clearly affirms that it's a state within the Federation with a territory of its own and its own State Constitution. Moreover it also has federal guarantee of its State Constitution and has a state legislative assembly whose constitution and privileges are accorded federal protection under Article 72 and Eight Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
Premised on all that, and for as long as there is a Malaysia, legally and constitutionally Penang, just like Kedah, will always be a sovereign state. So it looks like no one can dispute that. Case closed!
At any rate, even if it was all just meant to be a pre-election "sandiwara", the honourable Kedah MB and his cohorts have to be careful with their contentious claim on Penang. As elected leaders, they have to base their arguments intelligently on established facts and recorded history - not on raw emotions or on myths!
Or maybe the whole episode could have been a devious, not-so-cleverly orchestrated attempt to pressure the government to increase the honorarium to a whopping RM100 mil as was "demanded" by the same MB a few years ago? Possible?
Whatever it is, it's obvious that there are no winners in this silly non-issue. Still, there may be a loser though. Who?
Well, who else but poor old Gerakan (representing Perikatan Nasional); they must have been in a gung-ho mood for the coming state elections with grand plans to contest more seats in Penang - even openly dreaming of regaining the "love" of some disenchanted Chinese voters.
But surely now all those dreams may have gone up in smoke - thanks to the mistimed claims and antics of their ambitious comrade, the "colourful" MB from their neighbouring state. Note: Colourful as in "flamboyant" - not as in Swatch watches!
JK Joseph is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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