Coat of arms of Penang

The coat of arms of Penang was first granted to the Settlement of Penang, then in the Federation of Malaya, by a Royal Warrant of King George VI dated 11 September 1949.

Original arms

The coat of arms as granted was blazoned [cite book
title = Commonwealth Relations Office List
publisher = Her Majesty's Stationery Office
location = London
date = 1960
url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nS2fhytk1gcC ] :

:Shield: "Barry wavy of eight Azure and Argent upon a chief crenellee Or a plume of three ostrich feathers surmounted by a riband of the First on the riband the words Ich Dien in letters of the Third"

:Crest: "On a wreath of the Colours upon a mount a Pinang or Areca-nut palm leaved and fructed Proper"

The Prince of Wales's feathers and the motto "Ich Dien" referred to the fact that Penang was founded in 1786 as "Prince of Wales Island", while the blue and white bars are in reference to the Straits of Malacca that surround Penang island and separate it from Province Wellesley on the mainland.

The Areca-nut palm on the crest is the tree from which Penang ("Pulau Pinang", or "Areca-nut-palm Island") derives its name.

The motto "Bersatu dan Setia" ("United and Loyal") was adopted by the Settlement Council of Penang in 1950 [cite book
title = Penang Information Guide
publisher = K.H. Khaw
date = 1951
location = Penang
url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CEcAAAAAMAAJ ] . As this was at the height of the Penang secession movement [A motion for Penang to secede from the Federation and to join Singapore as a separate British crown colony was narrowly defeated 15 votes to 10 in February 1949, mainly by the use of British official votes: see cite book
last = Christie
title = A Modern History of Southeast Asia: Decolonization, Nationalism and Separatism
publisher = I.B. Tauris
location = London
date = 1996
url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ehCWYZ13SPsC
isbn =186064354X] , it seems that the motto to many people at the time would have referred to loyalty to the British Crown, rather than to the Federation of Malaya.

Present-day arms

Subsequently, after the construction of the Penang Bridge in 1982-1985, the state coat of arms was changed to the present design, which can be blazoned as [cite book
title = Bendera dan Lambing Negara dan Negeri Malaysia
publisher = Ministry of Information
location = Kuala Lumpur
date = 1963] :

:Shield: "Barry wavy of ten Azure and Argent upon a chief Or a depiction of the Penang Bridge Proper"

:Crest: "On a wreath of the Colours upon a mount a Pinang or Areca-nut palm leaved and fructed Proper"

Notes