Municipal Council of Penang Island

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The Municipal Council of Penang Island or Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang (MPPP) is a local authority which administers Penang Island. This agency is under Penang state government. MPPP are responsible for public health and sanitation, waste removal and management, town planning, environmental protection and building control, social and economic development and general maintenance functions of urban infrastructure. The MPPP main headquarters is located at Jalan Tun Syed Sheikh Barakbah (The Esplanade), George Town.

Contents

[edit] History

The old city hall housing the Municipal Council
The old city hall housing the Municipal Council

The Municipal Council of George Town was established in 1857, the first local authority in Malaya. Three out of five municipal commissioners were elected by a limited franchise, but due to apathy these elections were abolished in 1913.

In 1951, as part of the move towards independence for Malaya, the British colonial authorities reintroduced local elections of nine of the fifteen municipal commissioners for George Town. Other municipal councils in Malaya followed shortly thereafter, with Kuala Lumpur holding its first local elections the year after. By 1956, George Town had become the first municipality in Malaya to have a fully-elected council, with Cllr G. H. Goh (Alliance) as its first President.

On 1 January 1957, George Town became a city by a royal charter granted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, becoming the first town in the Federation of Malaya to become a city (Singapore became a city in 1951). The first Mayor of George Town was Cllr D. S. Ramanathan (Labour). George Town was the only city in Malaya/Malaysia until Kuala Lumpur was granted city status in 1972. To this day, the Royal Charter is still prominently displayed in the Penang State Museum.

In 1965, the federal Government suspended local elections as a result of the Indonesian Confrontation. A Royal Commission in 1968 recommended the restoration of local democracy, but this was never carried out.

In 1974, the City Council of George Town was merged with the Rural District Council of Penang to form the Penang Municipal Council. The Local Government Act 1976 finally abolished local elections throughout Malaysia, providing for municipal councillors to be appointed by the state government.

[edit] 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."

In addition, several federal ordinances and acts refer to the City of George Town, such as the City of George Town Ordinance 1957. According to Penang Heritage Trust (PHT) trustee, Datuk Anwar Fazal, a lawyer by profession, George Town "legally has been and is still a city [because] the City of George Town Ordinance 1957 had not been repealed" ("Penang Forgetting Its History", The Star, January 1, 2007).

However, since the City Council of George Town was merged with the Penang Rural District Council in 1974, it is not clear if George Town continues to exist as a legal entity, let alone as a city. Rochester in England, the site of England's second-oldest cathedral, which had been recognised as a city from the year 1211, lost its city status in 1998 when it was merged with a neighbouring borough. As the new council was not granted city status, and the city through oversight failed to appoint charter trustees to inherit the city charter, the city ceased to exist. In the view of the federal and state governments, George Town has similarly lost its city status.

Whether George Town is a city is a matter of law, and will depend on the legal instrument by which the merger was effected: was the municipality that was established in 1857 abolished in 1974, or did was it merely expanded to include the area formerly governed by the Rural District Council? Alternatively, if the Municipality of Penang Island is a new entity, did it inherit the "rank, liberties, privileges and immunities" of the old City of George Town? It is also not clear what effect the Local Government Act 1976 may have had on the previous charter and ordinances.

The issue of city status has lain dormant since 1974, but in recent years local resentment has grown as relatively insignificant towns such as Alor Star have been designated cities. Several years ago the Penang state government announced its intention to petition the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia for a regrant/reconfirmation of city status once the city's new boundaries were agreed, but there has not been any progress on this front. The only other way to establish whether or not George Town remains a city would be an application to the High Court of Malaya for a declaration that George Town continues to be a city in law.

On January 1, 2007, no special event was held to celebrate the golden jubilee of George Town's city status and the 150th anniversary of the state's municipal status, prompting Datuk Anwar Fazal to slam the state government and calling it a "missed opportunity". He recalled "there was a three-day celebration on January 1, 1957, to mark the 100th anniversary of the municipality and its elevation to a city. It was a remarkable event, with some 5,000 dignitaries, including the Malay rulers attending. There were chingay demonstrations, a decorated vehicle procession, wayang kulit displays and cross-channel swimming matches" ("Penang Forgetting Its History", The Star, January 1, 2007).

[edit] Mayors (Yang di-Pertua)

[edit] President of the Municipal Council of George Town

  1. G. H. Goh (1956)

[edit] Mayors of George Town

  1. D. S. Ramanathan (1957 - ????)

[edit] Mayors (Yang di-Pertua) of the Penang Municipal Council

[edit] Organisation chart

[edit] Mayor (Yang di-Pertua)

[edit] MPPP chief director

[edit] Departments

[edit] Branch office

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

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