Editing Penang (section)

===Post-war years===
Penang was placed under [[British Military Administration (Malaya)|British military administration]] until 1946, after which the [[Straits Settlements]] was abolished. The British sought to consolidate the various political entities in [[British Malaya]], including the [[Crown Colony of Penang]], under a single polity known as the [[Malayan Union]]. Initially, the impending annexation of Penang into the vast Malay heartland proved unpopular among Penangites.<ref name="Koay-2016b">{{Cite web |url=http://penangmonthly.com/article.aspx?pageid=2370&name=penang_the_rebel_state_part_one |title=Penang: The Rebel State (Part One) |last=Koay |first=Su Lin |date=September 2016 |website=Penang Monthly |access-date=26 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034025/http://penangmonthly.com/article.aspx?pageid=2370&name=penang_the_rebel_state_part_one |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Penang secessionist movement|Penang Secessionist Committee]] was formed in 1948 due to economic and ethnic concerns, but their attempt to avert Penang's merger with Malaya was unsuccessful due to British disapproval.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Barber|2010|p=136 }}</ref><ref name="Christie-1998">{{Cite book |last=Christie |first=Clive |title=A Modern History of Southeast Asia: Decolonization, Nationalism and Separatism |publisher=Tauris Academic Studies |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-85043-997-4 |pages=47–48 }}</ref><ref name="Koay-2016a">{{Cite news |url=http://penangmonthly.com/article.aspx?pageid=1287&name=penang_the_rebel_state_part_two |title=Penang: The Rebel State (Part Two) |last=Koay |first=Su Lin |date=1 October 2016 |newspaper=Penang Monthly |access-date=15 October 2016 |language=en-US |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031555/http://penangmonthly.com/article.aspx?pageid=1287&name=penang_the_rebel_state_part_two |url-status=dead }}</ref>

To relieve the concerns raised by the secessionists, the British government guaranteed George Town's free port status and [[1951 Malayan local elections#Municipal election|reintroduced municipal elections]] in 1951.<ref name="Koay-2014" /><ref name="Koay-2016a" /> George Town became the first fully-elected municipality in Malaya by 1956 and was granted city status by Queen [[Elizabeth II]] in the following year. This made George Town the first city within the Federation of Malaya, and by extension, Malaysia.<ref name="Wong-2013">{{Cite news |last=Wong |first=Chun Wai |date=5 October 2013 |title=George Town's First Mayor Ramanathan was a Fiery Man, Politician, Educationist and Unionist |url=http://www.starproperty.my/index.php/articles/property-news/george-towns-first-mayor-ramanathan-was-a-fiery-man-politician-educationist-and-unionist/?search=Penang |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219210847/http://www.starproperty.my/index.php/articles/property-news/george-towns-first-mayor-ramanathan-was-a-fiery-man-politician-educationist-and-unionist/?search=Penang |archive-date=19 February 2018 |access-date=19 February 2018 |work=[[The Star (Malaysia)|The Star]] }}</ref>