Cities of Malaysia

Largest cities of Malaysia (2010)
Kuala Lumpur George Town	Rank	City	State	Population	Ipoh Shah Alam
	1	Kuala Lumpur	Federal Territory	1,475,337
	2	George Town	Penang	708,127
	3	Ipoh	Perak	657,892
	4	Shah Alam	Selangor	641,306
	5	Petaling Jaya	Selangor	613,977
	6	Johor Bahru	Johor	497,067
	7	Malacca	Malacca	484,885
	8	Kota Kinabalu	Sabah	452,058
	9	Alor Setar	Kedah	405,523
	10	Kuala Terengganu	Terengganu	337,553

This is a list of cities of Malaysia. In Malaysia, there are populated areas which are granted city status (bandar raya) by law. However, there are also highly urbanised and populated areas which does not have city status, but are sometimes colloquially also referred to as cities. City status is granted to a place within a local government area. Other populated areas which do not have city status are legally categorised as municipalities or towns.

The following is a list of places in Malaysia in order by the date they were granted city status.

Penang Island

1 January 2015

George Town became a city on 1 January 1957 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 royal charter stated 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."

However, local government elections were abolished by the federal government in 1965, and the functions of the City Council were transferred to the Chief Minister of Penang in 1966. A Municipal Council for the whole of Penang island was set up between 1974 and 1976.

Although the city status of George Town was never officially revoked, George Town's existence as a corporate entity was in doubt, let alone as a city. This is similar to the position of the former city of Rochester in England, the site of England's second-oldest cathedral, which had been a city from 1211 until 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.

This view was disagreed with by most local residents, who held that as George Town's city status has never been revoked, it remains a city to this day. According to lawyer, Datuk Anwar Fazal, George Town "legally has been and is still a city because the City of George Town Ordinance 1957 had not been repealed".^[3] As city status is a matter of law, the actual legal position will depend on an analysis of the City Council of Penang (Transfer of Functions) Order 1966 and the Local Government Act 1976.

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