PETALING JAYA: A PAS MP has called for the capital of Penang, George Town to be renamed as Tanjung Penaga in his statement regarding the omission of Malay culture in the teaser video for this year’s George Town Festival.
In his statement, Permatang Pauh MP Fawwaz Jan questioned on when will the state government consider renaming George Town to the original name, Tanjung Penaga.
“A name that reflects Malaysian identity should be highlighted, not proudly displaying an identity given by the colonizers,” said Fawwaz.
He also claimed that the George Town Festival 2024 teaser video denies the spirit of unity amongst the people in Penang because the culture of the Malay community in Penang was not featured in the video.
“Is this another planned agenda to portray that George Town will be owned by a certain race only?
“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?”
Meanwhile, the George Town Festival 2024 team has since issued a public apology over its teaser video, stating they “tried their best to ensure inclusive, comprehensive, and balanced representation in terms of program categories, gender groups, ages, and ethnic representations in all George Town Festival programmes.”
They added this year’s festival will include eight programmes from individual and community Malay groups.
