“The Federal Constitution does not allow secession. We would like to call ourselves as Malaysian, not Johorean or Kedahan. It tends to break up the unity of the federation,” he said when asked to comment on the term ‘Bangsa Johor’ being used by some people in the southern state.
Speaking at a question and answer session during a Perdana Leadership Foundation talk here this morning, Dr Mahathir said the harmony achieved by Johor today was partly due to the Federal Government’s policies, including allowing the state to compete with its neighbour Singapore.
“To compete with Singapore, we developed the Tanjung Pelepas port and Pasir Gudang. They weren’t the best of locations but it was to attract more shipping activities from Singapore to Malaysia via Johor.
“Many of the developments in Johor were due to the Federal Government because we want to compete with Singapore and Johor is the closest (state),” he said, citing the government’s move to develop Iskandar and the refinery and petrochemical integrated development project by Petronas in Pengerang.
The ‘Bangsa Johor’ rhetoric has been linked to the Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) football team under the leadership of the Johor crown prince, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.
“It is their right to promote the idea (Bangsa Johor). But if they attempt to secede (from Malaysia), the federation will fall. Malaysia became harmonious after Merdeka because we are united in the federation and we support each other,” Dr Mahathir added.
The pro-tem chairman of the newly-formed Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) was also opposed to the idea of Kedah taking back Penang.
However, he urged the Kedah Government to seek higher payment from the Federal Government.
In a 1786 agreement, the Kedah Sultanate ceded Penang to the British East India Company for a fee of 6,000 Spanish dollars a year. The figure was then raised to 10,000 Spanish dollars a year.
After independence in 1957, the Federal Government continued to pay Kedah RM10,000 a year for this purpose.
“This amount is far smaller than the 10,000 Spanish dollars also previously called the ‘silver dollar’. Before I resigned, I suggested that the State Government ask for a payment equivalent to the 10,000 Spanish dollars,” he said.