Editing Penang (section)

=== Local governments ===
Penang is further divided into two city-level municipalities, each administered by a [[Local government in Malaysia|local government]]. The local governments exercise power in areas such as planning and development control, public housing, public spaces, waste disposal, business licensing, markets, local transport, and municipal roads.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harding |first=Andrew |date=Sep 2022 |title=A Baseline Study of Local Government in West Malaysia |url=https://law.nus.edu.sg/cals/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2022/09/CALS-WPS-2201.pdf |journal=[[National University of Singapore]] }}</ref>
* The [[Penang Island City Council]] (MBPP) administers the city of [[George Town, Penang|George Town]], which includes the entirety of [[Penang Island]]. It is made up of a [[Mayor of Penang Island|mayor]], a city secretary and 24 councillors.
* The [[Seberang Perai City Council]] (MBSP) is in charge of [[Seberang Perai]]. Similar in structure to the MBPP, it also consists of a mayor, a city secretary and 24 councillors.

Penang is also divided into five administrative districts {{Ndash}} two in George Town and three in Seberang Perai. Each district is headed by a district officer. The lands and district office in each district deals with land taxation, thus differing from local governments that manage urban administration and maintenance of infrastructure.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ganason |first=Anesh |title=Land Administration System in Malaysia: Building Institutional and Organisational Capacity for Coordinating Land Administration between the Federal and State Authorities |url=https://ifolio.ukm.my/Scripts/tinymce/plugins/filemanager/files/2596/LAND_ADMINISTRATION_SYSTEM_IN_MALAYSIA_ANESH_AJMedit250320101.pdf |journal=[[National University of Malaysia|Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia]] |access-date=5 March 2018 |archive-date=4 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204000732/https://ifolio.ukm.my/Scripts/tinymce/plugins/filemanager/files/2596/LAND_ADMINISTRATION_SYSTEM_IN_MALAYSIA_ANESH_AJMedit250320101.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Adnan |first1=M. Z. |last2=Suratman |first2=R. Suratman |last3=Samsudin |first3=S. |year=2019 |title=Key Geographical Features on Malaysia's Land Tax System: A Comparison Study in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/683/1/012095/pdf |journal=International Geography Seminar 2019 |volume=683 |issue=683 |page=2 |doi=10.1088/1755-1315/683/1/012095 |via=[[IOP Publishing]]|doi-access=free }}</ref>

After [[Pakatan Rakyat]] was [[2008 Penang state election|voted into power in 2008]], the newly-elected state government attempted to reinstate local government elections within Penang, which have been suspended since the 1960s.<ref name="Gooi-2022">{{Cite journal |last=[[Gooi Hsiao Leung]] |title=Enabling Decentralisation and Improving Federal-State Relations in the Federation of Malaysia |url=https://penanginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/web_version_final.pdf |journal=Penang Institute }}</ref><ref name="Abdullah-2023">{{Cite web |last=Abdullah |first=Saifuddin |title=George Town: Malaysia's First Local Democracy |url=https://penanginstitute.org/happenings/in-the-mass-media/913-george-town-malaysia-s-first-local-democracy/ |access-date=19 December 2023 |website=Penang Institute }}</ref> At the time, the [[Barisan Nasional]]-controlled [[Government of Malaysia|federal government]] objected to the move, which eventually led to the [[Federal Court of Malaysia|Federal Court]]'s decision that local government elections do not fall under the jurisdiction of state governments.<ref name="Gooi-2022" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=13 June 2012 |title=Chor: Penang Local Govt Polls Act Not Valid |url=https://theedgemalaysia.com/article/chor-penang-local-govt-polls-act-not-valid |access-date=30 December 2023 |work=[[The Edge (Malaysia)|The Edge]] }}</ref>