INFURIATED by the promotional video of the George Town Festival 2024 (FGT 2024) organised by the state government company George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) which it claims as only highlighted the Chinese and Indian culture, PAS has called for the name of George Town to be reverted to its original name of Tanjung Penaga.
PAS Penang information chief Muhammad Fawwaz Mohamad Jan has further questioned when the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led state government would consider the re-naming of the state capital.
“By right, names that symbolise the Malaysian identity should be highlighted instead of being proud of the identity passed down by the colonialists,” he penned on his Facebook page.
As for the promotional video which has since been taken down following massive objection, Fawwaz claimed that it had denied the true unity spirit of Penangites by leaving out the core Malay community.
“Is this another planned agenda to portray that George Town will be owned by a certain race only?” asked the Permatang Pauh MP. “Are there certain parties who want to deny the existence of the original inhabitants who have settled down in Penang before Francis Light’s colonisation?”
With regard to George Town, Prof Datuk Dr Ahmad Murad Merican from the International Islamic University Malaysia’s Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC) had on June 28, 2020 petitioned on Change.org to change the name of George Town to Tanjung Penaga in the quest to immortalise the name of some places and local figures.
In his petition that has only garnered 5,498 signatures at the time of writing, the visiting professor at the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies (CenPRIS) in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) had also mooted the use of “Pulau Pinang” instead of “Penang” in all types of affairs as well as “Bagan Tuan Kechil” to replace “Butterworth” in mainland Penang.
In March 2022, the then Penang Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin saw no justification for the state government to change the name of George Town to its original name of Tanjung Penaga as it was called during the British colonial era.
This is because “George Town” has been used for over 200 years and has been known as the Penang state capital by all parties, according to Yeoh who was also the former Paya Terubong state assemblyman.
“I see no need or justification to change the name George Town because the name George Town has been accepted by every citizen for a long time,” Yeoh had pointed out.
“The name George Town has been used for more than 200 years, it is already known to the people of Penang and even the world community (alluding to how a name change would affect George Town’s status as a UNESCO heritage site). – July 17, 2024
Main image credit: Change.org
