George Town, Penang

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca
	Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, iv
Reference	1223
UNESCO region	Asia-Pacific
Inscription history
Inscription	2008 (32nd Session)

George Town
George Town
	City Centre
; Flag	; Logo
	Motto: Memimpin Sambil Berkhidmat; ("Leading We Serve")
	George Town Location in Peninsular Malaysia
	George Town Location in Malaysia
	Coordinates: 5°25′00″N 100°19′00″E / 5.41667°N 100.31667°E
Country	Malaysia
State	Penang
District	North-East Penang Island
Founded	1786
Municipality established	1857
Granted city status	1957
Government
• Mayor (Datuk Bandar)	Patahiyah Ismail
Area
• City Centre	305.773 km2 (118.060 sq mi)
• Metro	2,740.000 km2 (1,057.920 sq mi)
Elevation	4 m (13.1 ft)
Population (2010)
• City Centre	510,996
• Density	4,299/km2 (11,130/sq mi)
• Metro	1.5 million
Time zone	MST (UTC+8)
• Summer (DST)	Not observed (UTC)
Website	www.mbpp.gov.my

George Town^[1] (also less commonly spelt as Georgetown^[2]) is the capital and largest city of the state of Penang, Malaysia. George Town is also the district capital of North East Penang Island district.

Named after Britain's King George III, George Town is located on the north-east corner of Penang Island. The inner city has a population of 510,996, while the metropolitan area, also known as the George Town Conurbation,^[3]^[4] consists of Jelutong, Sungai Pinang, Sungai Nibong, Gelugor, Air Itam, Tanjung Bungah and Tanjung Tokong with a combined population of 2.5 million making it the second largest metropolitan area and the biggest northern metropolis in Malaysia.^[5]

The settlement was declared a city in 1957 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.^[6] In 2015, Penang island, on which George Town is located, was also awarded city status.

The inner city of George Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The enclave consists of colonial architecture built during the heyday of British rule over the Straits Settlements (Penang, Singapore and Malacca), mixed with Chinese shophouses, five foot ways and places of worship of various religions. George Town is awarded the UNESCO listing for its "unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia".

George Town is also known as Tanjung ("The Cape") in Malay, Qiáozhì Shì (乔治市) in Chinese and ஜோர்ஜ் டவுன் (Georgetown) in Tamil. Its Malay name is derived from the older name of the town, Tanjung Penaga ("Cape Penaigre").

History[edit]

1811 print of early George Town

1884 map of early George Town and the hills to the west

The coat of arms of the City Council of George Town

George Town was founded on 11 August 1786 by Captain Francis Light, a trader for the British East India Company, as base for the company in the Malay States. He obtained the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah and built Fort Cornwallis on the north-eastern corner of the island.^[7] The fort became the nexus of a growing trading post and the island's population reached 12,000 by 1804.Monographs on Malay Subjects, Volume III. MBRAS. 1925. Psge 42.^[8]^[9]^[10]^{[citation needed]}

The historic commercial centre was segmented into the banking and trading areas related to port activities which included shipping companies, the import and export trade, and the wholesalers who dominate the southern section of Beach Street until now. It has been listed as a World Heritage site since July 2008.^[11]

On 1 January 1957, George Town was declared a city by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.^[6]

In 2015, Penang island as a whole, was awarded city status by the Malaysian government.^[12] Thus, George Town is the only city in Malaysia to have been conferred city status twice, firstly by the British monarch, and later, by the Malaysian government.

Governance[edit]

The City Hall housing the City Council of Penang Island

In 2015, the entire Penang island (on which George Town is located) was granted city status, thus upgrading the municipal council into the Penang Island City Council (Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang).^[13]

Parliament And State Assembly[edit]

The State Assembly Building

List of George Town representatives in the Federal Parliament (Dewan Rakyat)

Parliament	Seat name	Member of parliament	Party
P.048	Bukit Bendera	Zairil Khir Johari	DAP
P.049	Tanjong	Ng Wei Aik	DAP
P.050	Jelutong	Ooi Chuan Aun	DAP
P.051	Bukit Gelugor	Ramkarpal Singh A/L Karpal Singh	DAP

List of George Town representatives in State Legislative Assembly

Parliament	State	Seat name	State assemblyman	Party
P.048	N.22	Tanjong Bunga	Teh Yee Cheu	DAP
P.048	N.23	Air Puteh	Lim Guan Eng	DAP
P.048	N24	Kebun Bunga	Cheah Kah Peng	PKR
P.048	N.25	Pulau Tikus	Yap Soo Huey	DAP
P.049	N.26	Padang Kota	Chow Kon Yeow	DAP
P.049	N.27	Pengkalan Kota	Lau Keng Ee	DAP
P.049	N.28	Komtar	Teh Lai Heng	DAP
P.050	N.29	Dato Keramat	Jagdeep Singh Deo	DAP
P.050	N.30	Sungai Pinang	Lim Siew Khim	DAP
P.050	N.31	Batu Lanchang	Law Heng Kiang	DAP
P.051	N.32	Seri Delima	Nethaji Rayer	DAP
P.051	N.33	Air Itam	Wong Hon Wai	DAP
P.051	N.34	Paya Terubong	Yeoh Soon Hin	DAP

Unesco World Heritage Site[edit]

On 7 July 2008, George Town was, together with Malacca, formally inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is officially recognised as having a unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.^[14]

Due to strict rent controls, George Town retains many of its colonial-era shophouses to this day and is often considered an architectural gem. Since the repeal of the rent controls in 2000, many pre-war buildings have given way to new high rises. Partly for this reason, the city was listed in the 2000 and 2002 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund (WMF). Heritage guidelines are still in its infancy and much needs to be done to conserve architectural treasures for the benefit of future generations. In 2005 WMF helped restore an 1870s structure within the George Town Historic Enclave, with support from American Express. The structure is used by the Penang Heritage Trust as a model to further its mission to protect the most significant buildings in the community.^[15]

Transportation[edit]

The iconic 65-storey KOMTAR tower in the heart of George Town is Penang's tallest building

The view of Little India

State of Penang map with the George Town capital labelled

The 13.5 km (8.4 mi) long Penang Bridge

Penang Port

Rapid Penang in Jetty Bus Terminal

Tanjung City Marina (foreground), with a cruise liner docking at the Swettenham Pier, George Town

Komtar, as seen along Penang Road, near the junction of Argyll Road.

In the past, George Town can boast of having the best public transportation system in Malaysia, with electric trams, trolleybuses and also double-decker buses. George Town Municipal Transport operated both trams and trolleybuses, the tramway system being steadily replaced in the mid-20th. century by trolleybuses, first introduced in 1925. GTMT is famous for having operated the smallest public service trolleybus. In the 1950s, GTMT bought ex-London Transport trolleybuses. Despite having purchased new Sunbeam British trolleybuses in 1956/7, the system was abandoned in 1961.^[16] The use of double-decker buses ceased in the 1970s when George Town Transport ceased to trade, the network being operated by private-owned buses.

George Town has an extensive road network. The Jelutong Expressway connects the city to the Bayan Lepas Industrial Zone and the Penang International Airport. With this highway, trips to the airport were cut short to 30 minutes instead of almost an hour in the past.

The Penang International Airport serves as the main airport of the northern part of Malaysia. Several destinations within Malaysia and Asia are covered, such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok, Jakarta, Hong Kong and Taipei.

To get over to Butterworth on the mainland, the Penang Ferry Service at Weld Quay operates daily since 1920. Passengers, cars and motorcycles can all travel using the ferries.

Other than the ferry service, commuters can drive over the Penang Bridge to cross over to the mainland. In 2014, the Second Penang Bridge was opened. This second bridge is currently the longest bridge in Southeast Asia, and is located further to the south, linking Batu Maung on the island with Batu Kawan on the mainland. To travel elsewhere around Malaysia, commuters can take the North-South Expressway after both bridges to reach their destinations.

Contemporary public transportation in George Town is operated by Rapid Penang, the sole bus company in Penang. Almost every bus connects George Town to their respective destinations, with Weld Quay being the main terminal of Rapid Penang on Penang Island and Komtar being the main hub. There is also a free bus service operated by Rapid Penang. This bus service only serves George Town daily, taking commuters and tourists on a drive along George Town's famous heritage sites. Recently, open-air double decker buses, known as Hop-On Hop-Off buses, are introduced for tourists in George Town.^[17]

Express buses used to stop at Komtar but has since been relocated to the Sungai Nibong Bus Terminal, at the suburbs of the city. There are many express bus companies operating 24-hours there, and the main domestic destinations are Genting Highlands and Kuala Lumpur. There are also express buses travelling to Singapore and southern Thailand.

George Town also has numerous cycle rickshaws plying its streets.

Beginning 2015, the Penang Transport Master Plan is to be implemented by the Penang state government. The plan envisages, among others :

The return of trams in the streets of George Town,^[18]
Light Rail Transit (Penang Rapid Transit) lines from Komtar to the Penang International Airport and the suburbs of Air Itam, Paya Terubong and Tanjung Tokong,^[19] and
An overhead cable car linking Komtar to the Penang Sentral in Butterworth.^[20]

With the completion of the plan in 2030, the Penang state government aims to have multiple public transportation systems on the ground, at sea and even in the air.

Sports[edit]

City Stadium

George Town's city suburbs[edit]

Night scene of Jelutong Penang.

Gurney Drive in Nov 2008

Tanjung Bungah view at night

Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi at Armenian Road.

George Town metropolitan satellite towns[edit]

Bayan Lepas Bayan Baru Balik Pulau Kepala Batas Butterworth Permatang Pauh Bukit Mertajam Perai Nibong Tebal in Penang
Sungai Petani Kulim Yan Serdang Baling Sik in Kedah
Parit Buntar Bagan Serai Selama Taiping Kuala Kangsar Gerik in Perak

[5] The George Town Conurbation Plan

Climate[edit]

George Town features a tropical rainforest climate, under the Köppen climate classification. As is the norm for many cities with this climate, George Town experiences relatively consistent temperatures throughout the course of the year, with an average high temperature of about 31 degrees Celsius and an average low of 24 degrees Celsius. While George Town does not have a true dry season, its driest months are from December through February. The city sees on average around 2,550 mm (100.4 in) of precipitation annually.

Climate data for George Town
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	32 (89)	32 (89)	32 (89)	32 (89)	31 (88)	31 (88)	31 (87)	31 (87)	30 (86)	30 (86)	31 (87)	31 (88)	31 (88)
Average low °C (°F)	24 (75)	24 (75)	24 (76)	24 (76)	24 (76)	24 (76)	24 (75)	24 (75)	23 (74)	24 (75)	24 (75)	24 (75)	24 (75)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	70 (2.76)	90 (3.54)	140 (5.51)	230 (9.06)	240 (9.45)	170 (6.69)	190 (7.48)	240 (9.45)	350 (13.78)	390 (15.35)	240 (9.45)	110 (4.33)	2,540 (100)
Source: http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=10684&refer=&units=metric

List of schools in George Town[edit]

English Schools[edit]

Penang Free School, the oldest English school in the country
St. Xavier's Institution, the oldest Catholic school in South East Asia with links to similar schools throughout the region.
St. George's Girls' School
Methodist Boys' School
Convent Green Lane
Convent Pulau Tikus
Convent Light Street

Chinese schools[edit]

Tamil Schools[edit]

SJK(T) Azad
SJK(T) Ramakrishna^[21]
SJK(T) Jalan Sungai^[22]

Colleges[edit]

Penang Medical College
KDU College^[23]
SEGi College Penang^[24] (Penang branch of SEGi University)
SENTRAL College^[25]
Olympia College^[26]
INTI University College^[27]
Equator Academy of Art
Han Chiang College
Wawasan Open University

Miscellaneous education[edit]

The Penang Japanese (Supplementary) Saturday School (ペナン補習校, Penan Hoshūkō^?, PJSS), a supplementary Japanese school, holds its classes in the Moral Uplifting Society of Penang. It opened in January 2012 and had six preschool and 25 primary students as of September 2013.^[28]

Image gallery[edit]

Beach Street
Fort Cornwallis, the first British settlement on Penang
Sri Mahamariamman Temple
Kek Lok Si Temple
Kapitan Keling Mosque
Islamic Museum
Khoo Kongsi Temple
The colonial Eastern & Oriental Hotel
Jewish Cemetery on Jalan Zainal Abidin (former Jalan Yahudi or Jewish Street)
St. George's Church, the oldest Anglican church in Southeast Asia, recently renovated
Komtar Tower the highest building of George Town and the state of Penang
Penang Road
A part of the old town
A street in the old town of George Town
"Little Children on a Bicycle" mural on Armenian Street
"Boy on a Bike" mural on Ah Quee Street
Gurney Drive
Weld Quay and its ferry terminal viewed from the Chew clan jetty