text: That changed in 1786 , when the Sultan of Kedah granted company representative Francis Light rights to the island of Penang and the strip of mainland coast opposite Province Wellesley ( now Seberang Perai ) as a counterweight to the pressing demands of the neighboring Thais and Burmese .
  
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  In 1786 Francis Light decided it would be right to give the Sultan of Kedah rights to an Island and a strip of mainland coast .