Allegations that renowned Penang-born entertainer P Ramlee is missing from the George Town heritage celebrations and promotions have been rubbished by the state government.

George Town celebrated its Unesco World Heritage Site anniversary on July 7, its sixth year since obtaining the prestigious award in 2008.

Two letters, similar in content, but carrying different writers’ names and published in The Star and New Straits Times yesterday, alleged that “missing (in the celebration) is the presence of its illustrious son of the soil - the giant of the man called P Ramlee”.

Penang Institute (state sponsored think-tank) executive director Zairil Khir Johari ( left ) said that dedicated events honouring the famous Malay entertainer have been annually organised in the state.

He vehemently denied that the state government had marginalised the celebrity, saying that Penang had organised the annual  P Ramlee Festival in 2012, while the 2014 edition is being planned.

“This festival is organised not only to honour P Ramlee but also to  appreciate his contribution to the country’s film and music industry,” said the Bukit Bendera MP in a press conference yesterday.

“The event is opened to all levels of society, including lectures by intellectuals, academicians and experts in the field, and we plan to hold such events yearly,” he added.

Zairil said the Institute had also organised forums, dialogues and song contests to commemorate P Ramlee, touted as Penang’s most famous son.

P Ramlee, whose films and songs captured the hearts of many, including non-Malays, is known throughout Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia until today.

Participation of Aziz Sattar

Zairil said that the forums organised in the name of P Ramlee saw the participation of his colleague and dear friend, the late Aziz Sattar.

“Reports on these events and festivals were published in the mainstream newspapers,” Zairil quipped.

“Aziz and I even appeared on NTV7 to talk about P Ramlee,” he added. Accompanying him was Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Zairil welcomed any offer by Putrajaya to further immortalise and honour the memory of the Malaysian icon, who died at the age of 44 in 1973.

He was conferred the title ‘Tan Sri’ in 1990, 17 years after his death, although he had directed and acted in 66 films with more than 360 songs to his credit.

In the same press conference, George Town Festival representative Lisa Case denied that the legend had been sidelined in this year’s heritage celebrations which begins for a month starting on Aug 1.

 “There will be a special screening of P Ramlee films to expose his works to the younger generation as we want to remember and honour our past heroes,” she said.