Since I'm so much in the mood to give my tuppence worth of opinion to the Penang state government, here's one more that had been in my mind for several years. I might as well say it now or else it'll never be said.
I'm quite miffed when people continually refer to Penang as Pulau Pinang. Not that I don't want to use the Bahasa Malaysia version but why Pulau Pinang. Isn't the state composed of both the island and the mainland? Doesn't the mainland portion of Penang count at all? Our founding fathers treated us residents of the mainland as a step-child of the state. They forgot that we are also integral part of the whole economy.
My suggestion is simple. Just call the whole state officially in Bahasa Malaysia as Pinang, dropping the word Pulau. It would then make a lot of sense later if you refer to the island as Pulau Pinang and the mainland as Seberang Pinang. Why use the - in my opinion - utterly ugly Seberang Prai??
Now repeat after me: Pulau Pinang, Seberang Pinang, Pulau Pinang, Seberang Pinang. Like the sound of it? I do.
2 comments:
Keep in mind though that people also generally refer "Penang" to the island of "Pulau Pinang", not to the entire state of Penang, and Seberang Prai areas are normally referred by their respective districts/towns - Kepala Batas (for SPU), Prai (SPT) and Nibong Tebal/Jawi/Batu Kawan etc. (SPS).
I like idea of introducing "Seberang Pinang" though to refer the three districts of SPU, SPT & SPS.
As for Penang or Pulau Pinang, now that Georgetown has been recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site, I'm waiting for the state & federal govt to re-elevate Penang to CITY STATUS, and call it perhaps "Bandaraya Pinang" (Penang City), to include both Balik Pulau (Southwest District) and Georgetown (Northwest District).
I meant Northeast/Timur Laut for Georgetown btw (typo).
After all Georgetown is technically still of "city"-status (the first in Malaysia since before the formation of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu), and that status has never been formally revoked even after the establishment of MPPP & MPSP.
Why are we calling a city, a George "Town". Let's call our beloved island "Penang City" (Bandaraya Pinang).
Let's make the noises for this during Tapak Warisan Dunia Georgetown 3-day celebration later this month (25-27jul08)....
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