The City Council of Penang Island is the council that administers the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Pulau Pinang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Mal ...

, which includes the entirety of

Penang Island Penang Island ( ms, Pulau Pinang; zh, 檳榔嶼; ta, பினாங்கு தீவு) is part of the state of Penang, on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It was named Prince of Wales Island when it was occupied by the British Ea ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

. The city council, which has jurisdiction over an area of , falls under the purview of the

Penang state government The Government of Penang ( ms, Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang) refers to the government authority of the Malaysian state of Penang. The state government adheres to and is created by both the Constitution of Malaysia, the supreme law of Malaysia, and ...

. The City Council of Penang Island is responsible for urban planning, heritage preservation, public health, sanitation, waste management, traffic management, environmental protection, building control, social and economic development, and general maintenance of urban infrastructure. In addition, the city council, in a joint effort with

Rapid Penang Rapid Penang (styled as ''rapidPenang'') is a public bus brand in the Penang, State of Penang, Malaysia. Formed as a subsidiary of Prasarana Malaysia in 2007, to date it is the main public transport operator within Penang; its bus network serves ...

, runs a free shuttle bus service within the heart of George Town. The headquarters of the council is located within the

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

in George Town, which had served as the seat of the George Town City Council until 1976. The council also has offices within

Komtar The Tun Abdul Razak Complex, (Malay language, Malay: Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak; Chinese language, Chinese: 光大大厦; Tamil language, Tamil: கொம்டார் கோபுரம்); colloquially known by its Malay acronym Komtar, fo ...

, the tallest skyscraper in George Town.

History

A committee of assessors for George Town was established in 1800, making it the first local government to be established within

British Malaya The term "British Malaya" (; ms, Tanah Melayu British) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. ...

. The committee, which consisted of British and local Asian ratepayers, was tasked with the valuation of property within the new settlement. In 1857, the George Town Municipal Commission was officially established. It consisted of five members and was led by the Resident-Councillor of Penang. Three of the Municipal Commissioners were to be elected by expatriate ratepayers and Straits-born British citizens, making the Municipal Commission the first, albeit partially, elected local government within British Malaya. However, the local elections were abolished by 1913. In 1951, the British colonial authorities reintroduced municipal elections of nine of the fifteen municipal commissioners for George Town, the first

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

in Malaya to do so. For the municipal elections, George Town was divided into three wards - Tanjung, Kelawei and Jelutong. By 1956, George Town became the first

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

in Malaya to have a fully elected local government. Five wards were created to elect one councillor each year, while the President of the Municipal Council was voted from amongst the councillors. Penang City Hall1

On 1 January 1957, George Town became a city by a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, b ...

granted by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, becoming the first city in the

Federation of Malaya The Federation of Malaya ( ms, Persekutuan Tanah Melayu; Jawi: ) was a federation of what previously had been British Malaya comprising eleven states (nine Malay states and two of the British Straits Settlements, Penang and Malacca)''See' ...

, and by extension,

. George Town remained Malaysia's only city (other than

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

between 1963 and 1965) until 1972, when

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

was also granted city status. The first Mayor of George Town was

D. S. Ramanathan D. S. Ramanathan ( Tamil: டி. எஸ். ராமநாதன்) was a Malaysian politician, mayor, teacher, unionist , Malayan Army and educationist of Ceylonese origin. He was a member as well as chairman of the Labour Party of Malaya, ...

, a Labour Party politician. In 1965, the

Malaysian federal government The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia ( ms, Kerajaan Persekutuan Malaysia), is based in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in Kuala Lumpur. Malays ...

suspended local elections as a result of the Indonesian Confrontation. The George Town City Council was at the time the richest local council in the country, with annual revenue almost double that of the

. In response to allegations of maladministration and misconduct, a Royal Commission of Enquiry was set up by the federal government under Senator Athi Nahappan, while the functions of the City Council were temporarily transferred to the

Chief Minister of Penang The Chief Minister of Penang is the head of government in the Malaysian state of Penang. According to convention, the chief minister is the leader of the majority party or largest coalition party of the Penang State Legislative Assembly. The chi ...

in 1966. The Royal Commission cleared the George Town City Council of the allegations of corruption and recommended the restoration of municipal elections. However, this was never carried out. Instead, in 1971, the two local councils on

- the George Town City Council and the Penang Island Rural District Council, the latter of which administered the rural southwest of Penang Island - were taken over by the Penang state government. In addition, the state government, controlled at the time by Gerakan and led by

Lim Chong Eu Tun Dr. Lim Chong Eu (; 28 May 1919 – 24 November 2010) was a Malaysian politician who served as the 2nd Chief Minister of Penang from May 1969 to October 1990. He was also the founding president of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (GERAKAN). ...

as the Chief Minister, also decided to continue the suspension of Penang's local governments. In 1974, both the George Town City Council and the Penang Island Rural District Council were merged to form the Penang Island Municipal Council. This act also resulted in the consolidation of

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the M ...

local governments Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

into two local governments, each administering one halve of the state - Penang Island and

Seberang Perai Seberang Perai is a city in the Malaysian state of Penang. It is situated on the Malay Peninsula opposite Penang Island, bordering Kedah to the north and east and Perak to the south. Its city centre is located in Butterworth, while its local ...

Controversy over city status

George Town's royal charter provided that: :"''... the said Municipality of George Town shall on the First Day of January in the year of Our Lord One thousand nine hundred and fifty seven and forever thereafter be a city and shall be called and styled the CITY OF GEORGE TOWN instead of the Municipality of George Town and shall thenceforth have all such rank, liberties, privileges and immunities as are incident to a City.''" With the legal entity for George Town being superseded by the merger of the local governments in 1974, the

was of the view that George Town no longer existed as a city. The city of George Town was omitted in federal government publications and maps. Despite this, most citizens of

contend that George Town is still a city to this day, as George Town's city status was technically never revoked. Several federal and municipal ordinances and by-laws still in use today refer to the City of George Town, such as the City of George Town Ordinance 1957 and the City of George Town Liquefied Petroleum Gases By-Laws 1971. According to Penang Heritage Trust (PHT) trustee, Anwar Fazal, a lawyer by profession, George Town "''legally has been and is still a city because the City of George Town Ordinance 1957 was never repealed''". In addition, Clause 3 of the Local Government (Merger of the City Council of George Town and the Rural District Council of Penang Island) Order 1974, which was sanctioned by the then

, stated that

"''... the status of the City of George Town as a city shall continue to be preserved and maintained and shall remain unimpaired by the merger hereby effected.''"

The clause above implies that, although the legal entity for George Town had been superseded, George Town's city status remains intact and unchanged by the merger of the local governments. In 2008, the newly-elected Penang state government, announced that they would revive the commemorations of George Town's city status from 1 January 2009.

Expansion of city limit

In 2015, the Malaysian federal government elevated the Penang Island Municipal Council into the present-day Penang Island City Council. In effect, the jurisdiction of the city of George Town was expanded to cover an area of , encompassing the entirety of

as well as five of the surrounding islets. This also makes George Town the only city in Malaysia to be conferred city status twice, first by

, and then by the Malaysian federal government. Patahiyah binti Ismail was subsequently installed as the

Mayor of Penang Island The Mayor of Penang Island ( ms, Datuk Bandar Pulau Pinang) is the chief executive for the local government of George Town, the capital of the State of Penang and Malaysia's third largest city. The Mayor's responsibilities include the manageme ...

, the first female Mayor in

's history.

List of mayors

Mayors of George Town

Mayors of Penang Island

Organisation

The City Council is headed by the

, who is assisted by the City Secretary and 24 councillors. The Mayor's term lasts for two years, while each of the 24 councillors is appointed for a one-year term by the

. 20 of the councillors are selected by the component parties of the ruling

Pakatan Harapan The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the ...

coalition. Of these, nine are appointed by the

Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party (abbreviation: DAP; ms, Parti Tindakan Demokratik; ; ta, ஜனநாயக செயல் கட்சி) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Malaysia. As one of four component parties of the ...

(DAP), seven by the

People's Justice Party The People's Justice Party ( ms, Parti Keadilan Rakyat , often known simply as KEADILAN or PKR) is a reformist political party in Malaysia, formed in 2003 by a merger of the National Justice Party and the older Malaysian People's Party. The ...

(PKR), and two each from the National Trust Party (Amanah) and

Malaysian United Indigenous Party The Malaysian United Indigenous Party ( ms, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia), abbreviated BERSATU or PPBM, is a nationalist political party in Malaysia. The party was preceded by the United Indigenous Association of Malaysia (). It is a major c ...

(Bersatu).

-based

non-governmental organisations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

(NGOs) are allocated the remaining four councillor posts to allow for the participation in policy-making by Penang's civil societies. The current Mayor of Penang Island is Yew Tung Seang, who assumed office in 2018, whilst IR.RAJENDRAN A/L P. ANTHONY holds the position of the City Secretary.

Councillors

, the councillors of the Penang Island City Council are as listed below.

Departments

The City Council also comprises the following departments.

References

External links

MBPP official website
* https://idirektori.penang.gov.my/papar_ketuajab.php?idj=12&agency=3 {{Local governments in Malaysia

City councils in Malaysia George Town, Penang Penang Island