Rename George Town as Tanjung Penaga, says Penang PAS MP

 

Former Penang executive councillor Yeoh Soon Hin had said that changing the name would negatively affect its status as a Unesco heritage site and said the capital had been known globally as George Town for more than 200 years. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

A PAS MP has called for Penang’s capital city of George Town to be renamed as Tanjung Penaga, which he claims was the original name of the area before it was renamed by the British.

Permatang Pauh MP Fawwaz Jan said the state’s capital city should be renamed to reflect Malaysia’s identity. 

We should not take pride in an identity given by the colonisers,

 the Penang PAS information chief said in a statement.

When will the state government consider renaming George Town to its original name of Tanjung Penaga?

Calls to rename George Town are not new. In 2022, International Islamic University Malaysia’s Ahmad Murad Merican proposed the name change as 

George Town

 was deemed a legacy of British colonialists.

He had also proposed that Butterworth and Port Dickson be renamed Bagan and Tanjung respectively.

However, this was shot down by the then executive councillor Yeoh Soon Hin, who said changing George Town’s name would negatively affect its status as a Unesco heritage site.

Yeoh also said Penang’s capital was known globally as George Town for more than 200 years.

Well-known heritage activist Khoo Salma Nasution, who has written many books on Penang’s history, had said that George Town was laid out on a promontory known as Cape Penaigre, named after the Penaga tree.

Murad was said to have used the translation of 

cape

 (tanjung) to make his case for the name change.

Meanwhile, Fawwaz questioned if the now-removed promotional video for the George Town Festival 2024, which received flak for only promoting Indian and Chinese culture, was part of an agenda to depict George Town as only belonging to 

certain races

.

The MP said stern action must be taken against the parties responsible for omitting Malay culture in the teaser video in order to safeguard the state’s harmony.

The organisers of the festival have apologised over the matter and said the annual event had consistently featured Malay culture, which it added was 

rich with artistic and cultural elements

. - FMT