Noisy Sanusi – just playing politics?

Kedah MB Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor is back at his bawling best, with state elections looming. After his run-ins with politicians and royalty, he now has a few new choice demands.

THE road from Kepala Batas to Pinang Tunggal in mainland Penang is decent, until it becomes narrow. A turn-off leads into an even narrower road, wide enough for just one car. Then the path is just a hard-packed gravel track.

Up ahead, some 50m from the edge of Sungai Muda which runs through the area, stands a stone marker. There’s little of interest there, except the tall stone.

The place is surrounded by oil palm plantations and open fields where cows come to graze.

But that marker, about 200m from what is now the northern-eastern edge of Penang, is an important historical monument. The inscription on it says “British and Siamese boundary”.

Anything north of that point was once Siam (as Thailand was then known). Everything on this side was Malaya – and Penang.

The place is locally known as Ekor Kuching and the marker was, according to historians, put up circa 1821 – two centuries ago.

It stands as evidence that Penang has existed since that time, as part of Malaya and then Malaysia.

Kedah? It was part of Siam (Thailand) then. It was only ceded back to Malaya in 1842. Again, between 1941 and 1946, Kedah, along with Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu, was under Thai administration, with the end of World War II seeing the states returning to Malaya.

Kedah, however, is said to have had sovereignty over Penang when the state was first ceded to the British back in the 1780s. The state has a chequered history, having variously come under the rule of Langkasuka, Tambralinga and Ligor.

The claims are many, but one fact remains: The state of Penang has existed, on its own, since Francis Light claimed to have “founded” it in 1786.

I am no historian to argue about these dates, but I accept that between 1945 and 1990, there were two Germanies, and now there is only one. Also, there was once a country called USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). It doesn’t exist anymore and no amount of crying is going to bring it back.

So, the latest bit of histrionics by Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor – that Penang belongs to his state – is quite galling.

Penang does pay RM10,000 (it was originally 10,000 Spanish pesos) as part of the deal that made it sovereign, and that amount was increased to RM10mil in 2018 when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, himself a Kedahan, was prime minister.

But that does not mean Penang belongs to Kedah. We also know that Sabah paid an honorarium to the Sulu Sultanate for many, many years until the recent incursion. That does not mean the Sulus can claim Sabah back as their own.

Sabah belongs to Malaysia, just like Penang. Not to any other entity. Sanusi will be opening a dangerous can of worms if he goes down that track.

His latest provocations are just that – a lot of hot air and meaningless drivel aimed at provoking others. It serves no purpose, because our Federal Constitution says Penang is a sovereign state.

Sanusi’s call for the country’s supreme law to be amended just because he has read something someone wrote about what happened more than two centuries ago needs to be shrugged off.

He may have other reasons for his attention-seeking claims. For one thing, the state elections are around the corner.

But then, this mentri besar does not usually need a reason to come out swinging. He is a man known for his loud and brash ways. He is popular in his home state because he speaks the layman’s language, is full of bravado, and is known to shoot his mouth off.

He once invited journalists to register for places in containers that were brought in to hold the overwhelming number of Covid-19 dead. Somehow, he thought it was funny.

He also laughed off the “white flag” initiative during the pandemic, which was meant to feed those who were desperate, saying he would not help anyone who flew that flag.

He has had a long-drawn fight with Penang’s Deputy Chief Minister P. Ramasamy over the water that the state draws from Sungai Muda. The river has its origins somewhere in the Thai-Kedah border, and Penang draws water from its side of the waterway.

Anyone who follows football in Malaysia also knows of Sanusi’s running battle with Johor Darul Ta’zim FC’s owner, the Tengku Mahkota of Johor.

The mentri besar has shown scant respect for the royal boss of JDT. The two have called each other names, with the Crown Prince even calling Sanusi an “expert in failure” while depicting him as a Ronald McDonald clown.

JDT is by far the most successful team in Malaysia, and it is leagues ahead of Kedah’s team, or any other Malaysian team for that matter.

So far this year, JDT is top of the table with 12 wins out of 12 while Kedah is a distant fifth with just seven wins. Last year, JDT won the title with 56 points while Kedah ended up eighth with just 27.TMJ’s policies – and money – have led to JDT’s success. However, Sanusi often claims he can raise a lot of money too.

Remember Wakedah?

In 2020, he claimed to have found rare earth elements in the state worth about RM43 trillion. It jolted the world. It would make Kedah very rich, much like Wakanda, Marvel’s fictional vibranium-producing nation, from which the Black Panther rises.

The trillions became about RM62bil – still a king’s fortune by any measure – and Sanusi even announced a joint-venture partnership to mine this rare earth.

It’s been almost three years but so far, Kedah – by Sanusi’s own reckoning – remains a poor state. He now wants to make money by getting rid of the state’s famed padi fields and turning them into industrial areas.

It reminds me of his multibillion ringgit plan for a race course in Bukit Malut, Langkawi, that was designed to turn the island into an Asian Monte Carlo, complete with an F1 track. That remains a pipe dream.

I have serious doubts about the yield from Sanusi’s latest grand plan. Huge buildings do not bring in investors. Good policies do. So far, that does not seem to be the forte of his administration.

Kedah does have successful industrial areas in Kulim, which borders Penang’s Bukit Mertajam and is near the Thai border. It’s probably the proximity with Thailand and Penang that has seen these areas boom.

Remember that Penang and Johor, along with Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak, were the states with the highest approved investments last year. Investors want to go there, not necessarily to Kedah.

Taking away the padi fields is only likely to send more Kedahans into poverty and leave the state with a bunch of white elephants.

Now, Sanusi wants Kedah to be paid RM370mil (more than RM1mil a day) to preserve the padi fields.

That’s blackmail, and it stinks of dirty politics too.