George Town, you're 50 too!

What I really want to do today is to shout:

And don't you forget it!


Happy 50th Birthday to the city where I was born...

On 1 January 1957, George Town was conferred city status by a Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth II, becoming the only city in Malaysia with such a unique 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."

Several federal ordinances and acts still 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Fazal, George Town "legally has been and is still a city [because] the City of George Town Ordinance 1957 had not been repealed" ("Penang Forgetting Its History", The Star, 1 Jan 2007).

And I want this resolution passed in Parliament declaring that:

George Town is a city;

George Town is Malaysia's first city;

George Town's status as Malaysia's first city must never and will never be questioned!

That's all I really want this Merdeka...