Many places in Malaysia had different names prior to colonisation. Though, the places which were given name changes by the British have since stuck.
Permatang Pauh MP and PAS Penang’s Head of Information Ustaz Muhammad Fawwaz Mohamad Jan isn’t exactly too happy with this and is now calling for George Town, Penang, to revert back to its original name, Tanjung Penaga.
Taking to his Facebook page, he questioned when the government will consider changing George Town’s name back to Tanjung Penaga following the announcement of the George Town Festival 2024, which according to him, only highlights certain races.
He wrote, “Penang PAS is extremely upset and disappointed over the release of a promotional video for ‘George Town Festival 2024’, which is claimed to only promote Chinese and Indian cultures. The video seems to deny the true spirit of unity of the Penang community because the culture of the Malay community in Penang is not promoted.”
“Is this another planned agenda to portray that George Town will only be owned by a certain race? Are there certain parties who want to deny the existence of the original population of Penang, who settled in Penang before Francis Light’s colonisation?”
He went on to call for the government to take this matter seriously and to take action against the relevant parties for the sake of maintaining harmony among the people of Penang.
For this, he believes the Penang state government must consider changing George Town’s name back to Tanjung Penaga.
“Also, when does the state government want to reconsider changing the original name of George Town to Tanjung Penaga? Names that symbolise Malaysia’s identity should be highlighted, instead of being proud of the identity given by the colonialists,”
“Therefore, there is great hope from Penang PAS that the Penang state government will not allow any party to create the neglect of the Malays and not just make the ‘Unity Government’ as merely lip service,” he added.
Would you prefer that the government change the names of places to their original names or are you okay with what they’re currently called?
Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
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