The presenters said while Light spoke Malay and wrote in Jawi, he had deceived two Kedah sultans in the past.

The Malaysian Historical Society’s Kedah branch chairman, Dr Ibrahim Bakar, said Light had promised Sultan Muhammad Jiwa military aid to attack the Bugis in Selangor in 1771.

This was in return for control of the Kuala Kedah and Kuala Perlis ports.

In the end, he said, Light failed to get the military assistance as promised from his then-company, Jourdain Sullivan and de Souza, in Madras.

Ibrahim said Light then helped broker a deal with Edward Monckton, a British emissary, who promised the sultan military aid to attack Selangor.

Eventually, Monckton refused the deal, which saw the angry sultan tearing up the agreement on July 29, 1772. Light was then forced to move to Hujung Salang (modern-day Phuket).

Ibrahim said that when Sultan Muhammad Jiwa died, Light made contact with the next in line to the throne, Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Syah.

The new sultan allowed him to occupy Penang island “purely for defence reasons” against Siamese attacks. But when Light failed to offer help, the sultan wanted him out.

Hence, he said, Light had illegally occupied Penang from 1786 until 1791, until a lease was signed with the sultan.

Ibrahim said the sultan lost a lot of revenue. His income dropped from 136,500 riyals to 90,000 riyals when the new Penang port usurped trade from Kedah.

“Light was not the founder of Penang. He was a developer of Penang, at best,” he said.

Ahmad Murad Merican, of International Islamic University of Malaysia, said Kedah’s true history had been buried in favour of colonial narratives on Penang.

He said it was upsetting that “fake history” was being upheld by historians, who were not confident enough to understand what took place.

Murad gave, as an example, the “so-called lease treaty” of Penang with Kedah, which he said never existed.

“Why are we pretending there was an agreement when there was none?” he asked.

Herman Roslan, an exco member of the Malaysian Historical Society’s Kedah branch, said it was clear that Light had deceived many parties in acquiring Penang island.

“The non-Malays are trying to ‘tutup kisah’ (cover up) the official lease of Penang in 1791 by Kedah. There was no ‘bulan dan bintang’ (forever ceded) agreement here. The lease was to be paid regardless.

“My research has also shown that Penang obtained independence only in 1965 as it was under British rule until then,” he said.

Murad said his study of more than 1,200 letters written by Light to the sultan, among others, showed that Light had recognised the Kedah sultan’s power over Penang.

He said several facets of Light’s life had been ascertained. Light was so assimilated in Malay culture that he wore kain pelikat, baju melayu and songkok daily, not Georgian-era clothing as one would have imagined.

He said there were also references showing that Light married an adopted child of the sultan. History books also show Light married Martina Rozells, a Eurasian from Phuket.

Ibrahim, who weighed in on Light earlier, said the Englishman was never a captain as reported in history textbooks.

He said the confusion was likely due to a title given by the Kedah sultan to Light, “Kapitan Dewa Raja” or “royal escort” (pengapit raja).