Felix Potter, author of the Myeik Heritage Walking Tour, is a historian currently researching for a book on the region. In this article Felix describes the dilemmas facing the British East India Company on acquiring the Tenasserim region of Burma following the 1st Anglo Burmese War of 1824.

Even before British troops stormed into Tenasserim in 1824, the East India Company planned to give it away. They already understood what other conquerors had learned about the province: it is enticing to take, but expensive to maintain and impossible to defend.

The financial drain of occupation made the matter urgent. Only two months after arrival, official correspondence confirmed that 'The Governor General in Council adheres to his original opinion that supposing Tavoy and Mergui could be both held by our troops for the present & without hazard or inconvenience, the best way of eventually disposing of them would be to give them over to the Siamese . . .' At one point, Brigadier General Campbell was instructed to simply hand over Tenasserim to any willing recipient from Bangkok to Phuket, or 'to any Siamese army which may be assembled on that part of the frontier.'