The Seberang Perai City Council ( ) is the

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

that administers the city of

Seberang Perai Seberang Perai is a city in the Malaysian state of Penang. Located on the Malay Peninsula and separated from Penang Island by the Penang Strait, it shares borders with Kedah to the north and east and Perak to the south. The city spans an are ...

, which encompasses the mainland half of the Malaysian state of

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

. The city council, which has jurisdiction over an area of , falls under the purview of the Penang state government. The Seberang Perai City Council is responsible for urban planning, heritage preservation, public health, sanitation, waste management, traffic management, environmental protection, building control, social and economic development, and general maintenance of urban infrastructure throughout Seberang Perai. The City Tower, located at Bukit Tengah, serves as the headquarters of the city government.

History

Province Wellesley (now

) was acquired in stages by the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

in the early 19th century. The principal town within Province Wellesley, Butterworth, began to develop sometime in the 1850s. However, the history of local governance in Seberang Perai only began in earnest towards the end of the 19th century. In 1896, the first Municipal Ordinance was introduced to ensure the smooth administration of

's local authorities. Another legislation was passed in 1913, permitting the establishment of three Rural Boards and a Town Board within Province Wellesley. The four local authorities were: * Butterworth Town Board * Province Wellesley North Rural District Board * Province Wellesley Central Rural District Board * Province Wellesley South Rural District Board The evolution of the local governments in Province Wellesley continued in 1952, when the four local boards were upgraded into local councils. These upgrades took effect within the following year. In addition, the Bukit Mertajam Town Council was formed in 1953, thus increasing the total number of local authorities in Province Wellesley to five. The five local authorities at the time were: * Butterworth Town Council * Bukit Mertajam Town Council * Province Wellesley North Rural District Council * Province Wellesley Central Rural District Council * Province Wellesley South Rural District Council In 1961, both the Butterworth and Bukit Mertajam town councils were merged with their surrounding rural councils, the Province Wellesley North and Central rural councils, respectively. From 1973, the remaining three Rural District Councils were temporarily administered by a single local authority, the Board of Management, Local Government of Province Wellesley (''Lembaga Pengurusan Kerajaan Tempatan Seberang Perai''). Following the enactment of the Local Government Act 1976, the Board of Management was succeeded by the Municipal Council of Province Wellesley (''Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai''). At that point, the municipal council's jurisdiction covered an area of over , encompassing all of Seberang Perai and a few offshore islets, making it the largest municipal council in Malaysia in terms of land size. From 1976, the Seberang Perai Municipal Council was one of the only two local governments in Penang, alongside the then Penang Island Municipal Council. Seberang Perai was granted city status in 2019.

List of mayors

Organisation

The City Council is headed by the Mayor, who is assisted by a City Secretary and 24 councillors. The Mayor's term lasts for two years, while each of the 24 councillors is appointed for a one-year term by the Penang state government. 21 of the councillors are selected by the component parties of the ruling

Pakatan Harapan Pakatan Harapan (PH; stylised as HARAPAN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Centre-left politics, centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has led ...

coalition. Of these, ten are appointed by the

Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party (DAP; ) is a social democracy, social democratic and Secularism, secular political party in Malaysia, sitting on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. As one of four component parties of ...

(DAP), nine by the People's Justice Party (PKR), and two each from the National Trust Party (Amanah) and

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Abbreviation, abbrev: UMNO; , PEKEMBAR) is a Conservatism, conservative, Nationalism, Malay nationalist political party in Malaysia. As the oldest national political party in the country (since its ince ...

(UMNO).

-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are allocated the remaining one councillor positions to allow for the participation in policy-making by Penang's civil societies. The current mayor of the Seberang Perai City Council is Hj Baderul Amin Abdul Hamid, who assumed office in 2024.

Councillors

, the councillors of the Seberang Perai City Council are as listed below.

Departments

The City Council also comprises the following departments and units.

Public finance

References

External links

* {{Local governments in Malaysia

Seberang Perai 1976 establishments in Malaysia City councils in Malaysia