There have been ideas bandied about since then for something big to be developed on the isle but all have failed to take off. There was, for instance, something about a theme park a la Sentosa island in Singapore and another about a casino.

But as though forbidden by the ghosts of its past, the quiet island has somehow persevered with the desolation it has been reputed for, avoiding any major news or development. Inshore fishermen whisper that the island is destined to remain isolated and secluded, and have even been known to caution visitors not to joke too loudly, for fear of disturbing spirits that inhabit its dense forest.

Then all of a sudden in January the island found itself shoved into a conflagration of news in a manner that has never happened before. And it started with a joke.

While officiating at a Barisan Nasional (BN) retreat on Pulau Jerejak, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, the former chief minister of Penang, remarked in jest that he had been delayed as the key to a boat that ferried him across had been misplaced. And someone had seen a snake in a store room on the island, he added.

Such things, he said light-heartedly, would not have happened under the previous BN government but only under the Pakatan Rakyat administration. The gathering of BN leaders roared with laughter.

Koh’s successor, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, was hardly amused when the papers reported the remark the next day. And he lashed back, calling Koh "irresponsible" for blaming the present government for any poor upkeep of the Pulau Jerejak jetties that are managed by a company called Tropical Island Resort Sdn Bhd (TIR).

Lim went on a rampage, producing reports and statistics of what he called a "scandal" that had caused abysmal losses worth RM30 million in a poorly executed resort project on the island, all perpetrated by the former BN government.

Koh and his colleagues in the BN and his Gerakan party were taken aback by Lim’s searing assault that had come about from what they insisted was only a joke. "I didn’t expect that with such a small comment, he (Lim) would jump like that," Koh said. "It’s really annoying."

Lim’s attacks were by no means any laughing matter. At the heart of his criticism was the question of why Koh’s government had given away a majority 51% stake in TIR to UDA Holdings Bhd, a federal agency under the Prime Minister’s Department, while the state’s own investment arm, the Penang Development Corp (PDC) only got 49%. Lim said that the PDC had invested RM15.435 million in TIR and even gave it loans worth RM3.6 million under Koh’s administration that has still not been repaid.

And he questioned why TIR was allowed to have its land title when it had not even settled the full premium, causing the state to incur losses from non-payment amounting to RM10.6 million.

Koh, who is now a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, had to respond. He explained that the decision to give the 51% majority stake to UDA was to get more federal funding for the project. And furthermore, the land had previously been used as a prison in colonial times, and was therefore required to be under federal control. The Federal Constitution stipulates that any land vested in Malacca and Penang for federal purposes before independence must continue to be used for "federal purposes".

Interestingly, it was also reasoned that the resort was planned with four phases in mind. Only two have been completed, while the other two phases have yet to be developed before the project becomes viable.

While this tit-for-tat exchange was taking place, there was one cryptic remark whose omen seemed to elude the public. Koh revealed that from its early stages the resort initiative on Pulau Jerejak had been hit by tragedies, first by the global economic crisis in the late 90s, and then by the effects of the attacks on New York and Washington on Sept 11, 2001, and again by the SARS outbreak in 2003. And it has never been able to fully recover since then.

Perhaps, just perhaps, there are indeed mysterious forces at play in the island that are sheltering its solitude from undue disturbance. Whatever it may be, the whispers about the place would have surely grown to never again joke aloud when on Pulau Jerejak.

** Republished with permission. This article first appeared in the March 24, 2011 issue of theSun. Himanshu is theSun's Penang bureau chief.

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