The Claim Penang Belongs to Kedah

Malaysia’s history is in the spotlight! 

 

Last Monday, Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor had declared that Kedah and Penang do not have a border because the latter belongs to Kedah. He also claimed that Kedah’s border is only with Perak and Perlis. 

 

He is not only very insistent that Penang belongs to Kedah – but, according to a Free Malaysia Today report, he wants the Federal Constitution to be amended to support his claim. 

 

In 1785, the Pattani Sultanate (which used to encompass the modern Thai provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat as well as parts of Kelantan) was dismantled by the Siamese, and unwilling to fall to the same fate, Kedah began to seek diplomatic assistance from other powers in the region. 

 

Coincidentally, Francis Light, an agent of the English East India Company, was looking for a trading post along the Straits of Malacca for the British Empire at the same time. Francis then approached Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah in 1786 to make a proposition on behalf of the EIC (and others). In exchange for British military assistance and a loan of 6,000 dollars to settle Kedah’s debt with Siam (present-day Thailand), Francis’s entourage would be allowed to settle on Penang. 

 

Obviously, there’s more to the story, but this was arguably the moment when Penang ceased to belong to Kedah. If that didn’t do it, the treaty between George Leith, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Prince of Wales Island (yeah, the Brits renamed Penang the same year Francis Light moved in) and Sultan Dziaddin Mukarram Shah II in 1800 was certainly the dagger through the heart. The treaty gave 189.3 km² of Seberang Perai to the Brits and afforded them permanent sovereignty over both Prince of Wales Island and the newly ceded mainland territory. 

 

Long story short: Penang (again, arguably) hasn’t been under Kedah’s control since 1786. 

 

Now, we don’t know what his actual justification is, but if Sanusi is of the opinion that Penang historically belongs to Kedah, surely Kedah also belongs to Thailand, since that was the case prior to the 1909 Bangkok Treaty by the same logic? 

 

Pettiness aside, maybe a better rebuttal to Sanusi’s claim would be that… Penang is its own territory, according to the Federal Constitution! 

 

In fact, under the Federal Constitution, Penang: 

• is a State which makes up the States of the Federation of Malaysia as declared by Article 1(2); has a territory of its own which is accorded recognition by Article 1(3);
• not only has a State Constitution but one has a provision for conferring on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong the position of Head of the religion of Islam in the State;
• has federal guarantee of its State Constitution under Article 7;
• has a State Legislative Assembly whose constitution and privileges are accorded federal protection under Article 72 and Eighth Schedule. 

This is all a convoluted story really!