Is Francis Light the founder of Penang?

Is Francis Light the founder of Penang? (2 November 2013)


B. Melayu



Is Francis Light the founder of Penang? This is a question that rears its head every once in a while. For some reason, I continue to come across people who are still not satisfied to credit Francis Light as the founder of Penang. Is this the result of a decline in our knowledge of English, or is it an intentional malice to downplay the role of Francis Light? In order for us to state unequivocally that Francis Light is the founder of Penang, we need to fully understand that that statement means.

I myself don't deny that Francis Light founded Penang. I say this with full knowledge that there were settlements on Penang Island predating the arrival of Francis Light. There are people who have established these settlements. However, they cannot be regarded as the founder of Penang, based on the established definition of "founder" in English. Let's examine the reason.

A person is credited as the founder of any modern entity, be it a city, state or nation, if he established the city, state or nation, that that entity progressively develops to this present time. With such an understanding, we can say that Francis Light founded Penang, because he established the settlement that progresses in development to become modern Penang.

The verb "to found" should not be confused with the verb "to discover". The role of Christopher Columbus in discovering America is not the same as that of Francis Light founding Penang.

Other people including George Leith, Robert Townsend Farquhar, Lim Chong Eu, have all contributed their part in furthering the development of Penang, but they are not the founder. That title belongs to the person who planted the seed for the development to come. Whether he is a likable person should not come to play.

As mentioned, there are said to be settlements in Batu Uban, Tanjong Tokong and possibly Bayan Lepas when Francis Light arrived to establish George Town. But it is George Town that progressively develops into modern Penang. If Penang had progressively developed out of the settlement in Batu Uban, then we can say that the founder of Batu Uban is the founder of Penang. But not so. The moment George Town was established, it eclipsed all other earlier settlements as the one that develops in a continuous progression to become modern Penang.

It is not my intention to downplay the role of the various founders of local settlements predating George Town. As a history enthusiast, I appreciate the role each of these early founders have played. Even though some of these settlements may have merchantile activity with other places in the region, they do not play the role as centre of development that evolves into modern Penang.

It does not matter if the locality already has settlement(s) when someone comes along to establish his. Whosever settlement is the catalyst for the progressive development that continues to present times, he is the founder of the modern entity. When Francis Light established his settlement on Penang Island, the island is not terra incognita. By the time he landed, the island is not only already known, it is already owned, by the Sultan of Kedah.

By the same understanding of the word founder, we can say that Stamford Raffles is the founder of Singapore while Lee Kuan Yew is the founding father of Singapore. In either case, it is clear that you do not have to be the first person to have arrived at a place to be credited as founder. What you do have to do, is to be instrumental in planting the seed of its progressive development.

Is there a confusion over who is the founder of Singapore, is it Stamford Raffles or Lee Kuan Yew? Only among those who are easily confused. Because Stamford Raffles established the British settlement of Singapore (even when it was already inhabited), he is credited as founder ("pengasas" in Malay). Because Lee Kuan Yew established the modern nation of Singapore, he is credited as the founding father ("bapa kemerdekaan" in Malay) Singapore. It all depends on where we refer to the place of the modern nation.

It is my hope that we put aside this continuous questioning over whether Francis Light founded Penang, and accept him for the role he played in turning Penang into what it is today. The more we know about Francis Light, the more we shall appreciate his contribution and sacrifices towards the development of modern Penang. As they say, to know is to love. Without Francis Light, all the earlier settlements of Batu Uban and Tanjong Tokong will be no better off than any of the coastal villages in Kedah.