GEORGE TOWN: Penang’s affectionately named Pulau Gazumbo appears to have undergone an unapproved rebranding on Google Maps.
The familiar island is now labelled “Pulau Seri Aman” and a nearby sandbank marked as “Pulau Seri Mutiara”.
Located next to the Penang Bridge, Pulau Gazumbo is visible year-round, while the so-called Pulau Seri Mutiara is only exposed during extreme low tide.
It remains unclear whether the islands were ever recently gazetted under any official name.
As it was the weekend, senior government officials contacted said they were unaware of how the two islands came to be listed with new names.
What's certain, however, is that Pulau Gazumbo was formed from sand build-up during the construction of the Penang Bridge between 1983 and 1986.
The island was then nicknamed about 30 years ago by a team of Universiti Sains Malaysia students led by the late marine biologist Datuk Prof Zulfigar Yassin, who began studying marine life in the area.
USM has since continued monitoring and studying the islands and the surrounding ecosystem.
The quirky name chosen was an adaptation of "Pulau Kezambo", a fictional place from the 1954 movie titled "Panggilan Pulau" starring the late Tan Sri Teuku Zakaria Teuku Nyak Puteh, better known as P. Ramlee.
