Deputy chief minister P Ramasamy said there is “no single clear historical document” that would attest that Kedah had leased Penang to the British.

His comment follows that of chief minister Chow Kon Yeow, who said yesterday the state government “will not pay anything to Kedah”.

“The federal government also does not need to entertain any claims outside of the existing agreement,” Chow said.

Yesterday, Sanusi, known for his run-ins with the Penang government, demanded RM100 million a year as “lease payment” for Penang island and Seberang Perai.

He said he wanted the honorarium the federal government had been paying on Penang’s behalf to be raised by RM90 million.

The honorarium had been set at RM10,000 for decades but was raised to RM10 million a year by the federal government from 2018.

In a Facebook post, Ramasamy said: “The documents available are vague and unintelligible, subject to differing interpretations. It must be understood that the so-called lease of the Penang island and the mainland was in response to the Siamese incursion into Kedah and other northern Malay states.

“Kedah gave up Penang in return for the protection offered by the British.”

While it was a goodwill gesture on the part of the federal government to provide compensation to Kedah, he said, it might have nothing to do with the fact that Penang was leased from Kedah.

“However, Sanusi seems to interpret history in accordance with his narrow and biased political interests. He thinks that by invoking history he might get a better chance to get a bigger compensation from the federal government.”

Ramasamy said Sanusi’s demands “resemble blackmail” of the federal government.

“For the sake of historical verification, the federal government should embark on a study to find out whether Penang was indeed leased from Kedah and whether the latter was a sovereign state or not at that time.

“Sanusi is no expert to interpret history as he prefers,” he said.