List of cities in Malaysia

This is a list of cities of Malaysia. In Malaysia, there are 18 areas granted city status (bandar raya) by law. However, there are also highly urbanised and populated areas that do 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.

Cities of Malaysia[]

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

Name	State/FT	Local government(s)	Chartered	Population (2010 Census)	Ref.
George Town	Penang	Penang Island City Council	1957-01-011 January 1957	708,127	Jurisdiction expanded in 2015 to encompass the entirety of Penang Island^[1]^[2]
Kuala Lumpur	Federal Territories	Kuala Lumpur City Hall	1972-02-011 February 1972	1,588,750
Ipoh	Perak	Ipoh City Council	1988-05-2727 May 1988	657,892
Kuching	Sarawak	Kuching North City Hall Kuching South City Council	1988-08-011 August 1988	325,132	Kuching is officially made up of two local government entities
Johor Bahru	Johor	Johor Bahru City Council	1994-01-011 January 1994	497,067
Kota Kinabalu	Sabah	Kota Kinabalu City Hall	2000-02-022 February 2000	452,058
Shah Alam	Selangor	Shah Alam City Council	2000-10-1010 October 2000	641,306
Malacca City	Malacca	Malacca City Council	2003-04-1515 April 2003	484,885
Alor Setar	Kedah	Alor Setar City Council	2003-12-2121 December 2003	405,523
Miri	Sarawak	Miri City Council	2005-05-2020 May 2005	234,541
Petaling Jaya	Selangor	Petaling Jaya City Council	2006-06-2020 June 2006	613,977
Kuala Terengganu	Terengganu	Kuala Terengganu City Council	2008-01-011 January 2008	337,553
Iskandar Puteri	Johor	Iskandar Puteri City Council	2017-11-2222 November 2017	529,074
Seberang Perai	Penang	Seberang Perai City Council^[3]	2019-09-1616 September 2019	818,197
Seremban	Negeri Sembilan	Seremban City Council	2020-01-011 January 2020	620,100	Seremban and Nilai were merged to form Seremban city.
Subang Jaya	Selangor	Subang Jaya City Council	2020-10-2020 October 2020	708,296
Pasir Gudang	Johor	Pasir Gudang City Council	2020-11-2222 November 2020	46,571
Kuantan	Pahang		2021-02-2121 February 2021	427,515

Former city within Malaysia

Name	State	Local government	Chartered	Ref.
Singapore	Singapore	Singapore City Council	22 September 1951	Expelled from the Malaysian Federation on 9 August 1965

Penang[]

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 after that 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, the Penang Island Municipal Council, 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.

Most residents disagreed with this view, 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.

On 1 January 2015, the Malaysian federal government upgraded the Penang Island Municipal Council into the present-day Penang Island City Council, thereby expanding the city limit of George Town to encompass the entirety of Penang Island, as well as a handful of surrounding islets.^[1]^[2]

Subsequent cities[]

The royal charters for Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Shah Alam, Malacca City, Alor Setar and Miri were from the Malaysian head of state, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, while Ipoh, Johor Bahru, Iskandar Puteri and Subang Jaya were granted by their respective state sultans.^[4] Malacca City was declared a "historical city" prior to being granted city status in 2003.

Kuala Lumpur, the largest city, is the national capital and a federal territory, but as of 2012, most government ministries have relocated to the new administrative capital of Putrajaya.

Criteria[]

Among the latest (2008) basic criteria for granting City status on a local government is that it has a minimum population of 500,000 and an annual income of not less than RM 100 million.^[5]

Locations of cities[]

Locations of cities in Malaysia

Population[]

Kuala Lumpur is by far the largest urban area as well as the largest metropolitan area in Malaysia. George Town, the capital city of Penang, is the second-largest city in Malaysia and the heart of Malaysia's second-largest conurbation. To the south, the twin cities of Johor Bahru and Iskandar Puteri form the core of the third-largest metropolitan area in the country. Other metropolitan areas with a population of more than 500,000 include Ipoh, Kuching, and Kota Kinabalu.

The following table shows the largest cities by population in Malaysia.

v t Largest cities and municipalities in Malaysia Department of Statistics, Malaysia (2010)
	Rank	Name	State	Pop.	Rank	Name	State	Pop.
Kuala Lumpur Seberang Perai	1	Kuala Lumpur	Federal Territories	1,588,750	11	Shah Alam	Selangor	541,306	Kajang Klang
	2	Seberang Perai	Penang	818,197	12	Iskandar Puteri	Johor	529,074
	3	Kajang	Selangor	795,522	13	Seremban	Negeri Sembilan	515,490
	4	Klang	Selangor	744,062	14	Johor Bahru	Johor	497,067
	5	Subang Jaya	Selangor	708,296	15	Malacca City	Malacca	484,855
	6	George Town	Penang	708,127	16	Ampang Jaya	Selangor	468,961
	7	Ipoh	Perak	657,892	17	Kota Kinabalu	Sabah	452,058
	8	Petaling Jaya	Selangor	613,977	18	Sungai Petani	Kedah	443,488
	9	Kuching	Sarawak	570,407	19	Kuantan	Pahang	427,515
	10	Selayang	Selangor	542,409	20	Alor Setar	Kedah	405,523

Gallery[]

Cities of Malaysia
1. Kuala Lumpur
2. Seberang Perai
3. Subang Jaya
4. George Town
5. Ipoh
6. Shah Alam
7. Petaling Jaya
8. Iskandar Puteri
9. Seremban
10. Johor Bahru
11. Malacca
12. Kota Kinabalu
13. Alor Setar
14. Kuala Terengganu
15. Kuching
16. Miri
17. Pasir Gudang
18. Kuantan

References[]

^ ^a ^b Cavina Lim (25 March 2015). "Penang's First Mayor A Woman". The Star. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
^ ^a ^b "George Town meliputi 'pulau', jelas Datuk Bandar" (PDF). Buletin Mutiara. 1 May 2015.
^ "Seberang Prai achieves city status". The Star Online. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
^ "Sultan of Johor launches Mersing Harbour Centre". NST Online. 2017-09-10. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
^ "Criteria Status for Local Authority". Local Government Department. 30 June 2011. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2012.

External links[]

Map at archive.today (archived 2013-01-05)
Population of cities in Malaysia from World Gazetteer at archive.today (archived 2012-12-09)

[mayor_and_area-1] Cavina Lim (25 March 2015). "Penang's First Mayor A Woman". The Star. Retrieved 24 January 2016.

[island-2] "George Town meliputi 'pulau', jelas Datuk Bandar" (PDF). Buletin Mutiara. 1 May 2015.

[3] "Seberang Prai achieves city status". The Star Online. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2019.

[4] "Sultan of Johor launches Mersing Harbour Centre". NST Online. 2017-09-10. Retrieved 2017-11-21.

[criteria-5] "Criteria Status for Local Authority". Local Government Department. 30 June 2011. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2012.

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