PHT Newsletter Issue 94

The City of George Town:
Malaysia's First City

by L.L.Loh-Lim


At the first Local Government Consultative Forum called by the new State Government on 16th June 2008, the issue of George Town's city status was again raised. A working committee headed by Dato Anwar Fazal was set up with terms of reference, the first of which was to look into our city status (or lack of). On 14th October at the second meeting called, the committee reported that

1. George Town was (is) a City from a legal viewpoint. (It was declared a City by Queen Elizabeth II on 1st January 1957 and this status had NEVER been repealed.)
2. The State did not need to and should not make a formal application to the Federal Government for City status due to time and cost factors. (It was reported that this was totally unnecessary as the City status granted by the Federal Government does not carry any benefits in terms of extra funding)

The report also recommended that the State and MPPP should formally adopt this city status as soon as possible and no later than 1st January 2009 in order to celebrate George Town's 52nd anniversary as the first and oldest City in Malaysia. It was also noted that the UNESCO World Heritage Listing was made out to 'The Cities of Melaka and George Town'.

Participants of the Local Government Consultative Forum were asked to begin to use 'City of George Town' in all references to our city as common daily usage would very quickly entrench the status in the minds of all Malaysians.