“I DON’T understand how is it that the Malays are oppressed in Penang. My family has been happily living in Penang for 100 years,” a seemingly fuming Malay Penangite @13Mr_Mayhem penned on the X platform.
“Already five generations; Alhamdulillah all are (still) Muslims. All are free to perform Friday prayers. All live in landed brick houses on the island,” he hit out at a post by pro-opposition Ronin Malaya (@RoninMalaya) who urged Malays to be firm in defending their rights.
Sebagai seorang Melayu Pulau Pinang.
Go fuck yourself.
Aku tak faham belah mana mai Melayu kena tindas kat Penang. Family aku elok ja 100 tahun duk Penang. Dah 5 keturunan, Alhamdullilah semua Islam. Semua boleh pi solat Jumaat. Semua tinggal rumah batu landed kat Pulau https://t.co/G2qNXSCxQZ pic.twitter.com/FlzwhplODb
— هراء عسكري ذو مصداقية (@13Mr_Mayhem) November 29, 2024
This was in response to a Sinar Harian article citing Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor that he is prepared to claim Penang as land in the state rightly belongs to Kedah.
Interestingly, a commenter revealed the very likelihood that “many poor Malays who live in flats” are those with “grandfather and fathers from Kedah, Perak, Aceh or even Medan but claim to be a Penangite after living in the state for 30 or 40 years”.
He elaborated on his insightful logic: “Malay migrants in Penang exist in districts like Gelugor, Sungai Pinang, Tanjung Tokong, Pantai Jerejak, etc.
“At that time, these areas had many job opportunities – from the jetty to the rice fields. Most of them settled down as squatters until the 1980s when the state government offered them flats as dwellings.
“Most of them don’t own properties or inherited land in Penang. In fact, they came over with only clothes on their back. This was when they were given homes by the state government as part of the poverty eradication programme.
“Today, their children and grandchildren who aren’t aware of (their family) history accuse the state government of marginalising the Malays in Penang.”
The poster who claimed to “have remained a Balik Pulau Malay from pre-Merdeka (independence) till after Merdeka” further shared that his grandfather “was among the first IC (identity card) recipients when the Federation of Malaya was established”.
This follows a doubt cast by another commuter that “many Indonesians who have only settled down for five years in Selangor tend to claim that they’re Malaysians when they would return to their country every three months to renew their PANCASILA (visa)”.
Following this, a commenter attested to the claim by @13Mr_Mayhem given the grandfather of his own grandmother was born in Penang.
‘She was 96 years-old when she died in 2022. So, there’s nothing surprising of Malays who are original residents of Penang having lived in the state for 100 years (if not more). In fact, my grandma used to live in a brick house in Bukit Gelugor,” noted the netizen.
“My few uncles even have terrace houses in Bayan Baru. Ever since DAP took control of Penang, I’ve been asking them if they’ve ever been oppressed but they only laughed.”
From the racial harmony perspective, a commenter who claimed to have worked in Penang for six years related that “there’ve been no issue of mosques sounding the azan (call for prayers)” except that many Malays are not showing up at mosques (to perform prayers)”.
“There had never been an instance when the Chinese Penangites chased me out … those who make a fuss don’t even live in Penang,” contended the netizen.
To sum up, a commenter suggested that instead of wanting to re-claim Penang, it “would be better off for Sanusi to claim the land that Kedah lost to the Siamese”. – Nov 2, 2024
Main image credit: Kapitan Keling Mosque/Flickr
