Penang Info

Penang State motto: Bersatu dan Setia (United and Loyal).
State anthem: Untuk Negeri Kita ("For Our State").
Capital is George Town
Area
- Total 1,046.3 km²
Population
- 2006 estimate 1.47 million
Penang (pronounced /p?'næ?/; Malay: Pulau Pinang) is the name of an island in the Straits of Malacca, and also of one of the states of Malaysia, located on the north-west coast of peninsular Malaysia. It is nicknamed Pulau Mutiara or Pearl of the Orient. Penang is the second smallest state in Malaysia after Perlis, and the eighth most populous. A resident of Penang is colloquially known as a Penangite.

Name
The island was referred to in the navigational drawings used by Admiral Zheng He of Ming-dynasty China in his expeditions to the South Seas in the 15th century. Early Malays called it Pulau Ka-Satu or "First Island". The name "Penang" comes from the modern Malay name Pulau Pinang, which means island of the betel nut tree (Areca catechu), family Palmae. In Chinese, Penang is known as ?? (pinyin: Binchéng / Bingchéng). All three names can refer either to the island of Penang, the state of Penang or sometimes the state capital, George Town. More specifically, George Town is known as Tanjung in Malay and ??? (Qiáozhì Shì) in Chinese. Penang Island is simply Pulau Pinang (/'pula? 'pina?/) in Malay and ??? (Binláng Xù) in Chinese, and Penang state is Negeri Pulau Pinang in Malay and ?? (Bin Zhou) in Chinese.

Geography
State of PenangThe state is geographically and administratively divided into two sections: Penang Island: an island of 293 square kilometres located in the Straits of Malacca; and Seberang Perai (also known as Province Wellesley): a narrow hinterland of 760 square kilometres on the Malay peninsula across a narrow channel whose smallest width is 4 km (2.5 miles). It is bordered by Kedah in the north (demarcated by the Muda River) and east, and Perak in the south. The body of water between Penang Island and Seberang Perai is the North Channel to the north of George Town and the South Channel to the south of George Town. Penang Island is irregularly shaped, with a granitic, hilly and mostly forested interior, the highest point being Western Hill (part of Penang Hill) at 830 metres above sea level. The coastal plains are narrow, the most extensive of which is in the northeast which forms a triangular promontory where George Town, the state capital is situated. The topography of Province Wellesley is mostly flat. Butterworth, the main town in Province Wellesley, lies along the Perai River estuary and faces George Town at a distance of 3 km (2 miles) across the channel to the east.

Climate
Penang enjoys a year-round equatorial climate which is warm and sunny, along with plentiful rainfall, especially during the southwest monsoon from April to September. The climate is very much dictated by the surrounding sea and the wind system. Penang's proximity with Sumatra, Indonesia makes it susceptible to dust particles carried by wind from perennial but transient forest fires, creating a phenomenon known as the haze. The Bayan Lepas Regional Meteorological Office is the primary weather forecast facility for northern Peninsular Malaysia.

Demography
The state has the highest population density in Malaysia with 2,031.74 people per square kilometre on the island and 865.99 people per square kilometre on the mainland. Penang is the only state in Malaysia where ethnic Chinese forms the majority.

Language
The common languages of Penang, depending on social classes, social circles, and ethnic backgrounds are English, Penang Hokkien, and Malay. Mandarin, which is taught in Chinese-medium schools in the state, is also increasingly spoken. Penang Hokkien is a variant of Minnan and is widely spoken by a substantial proportion of the Penang populace who are descendants of early Chinese settlers. It bears strong resemblance to the language spoken by Chinese living in the Indonesian city of Medan and is based on the Minnan dialect of Zhangzhou prefecture in Fujian province, China, but incorporates a large number of loanwords from Malay and English. Many Penangites who are not ethnically Chinese are also able to speak in Hokkien. Most Penang Hokkien speakers are not literate in Hokkien but instead read and write in standard (Mandarin) Chinese, English and/or Malay. Malay is spoken locally with north-western dialect features, such as hang for "you" and depa for "they/them". English is a working language widely used in business and commerce, and is also the language of instruction of Science and Mathematics in schools. English used in an official or formal context is predominantly British English with some American influences. Spoken English, as in the rest of Malaysia, is often in the form of Manglish (Malaysian colloquial English). Other languages, including Cantonese and Tamil, are also spoken in the state. Teochew is heard more in Province Wellesley than on Penang Island.

Religion
The official religion of Penang is Islam and the head of Islam is the Yang Dipertuan Agong, but other religions are freely practised. These are Buddhism, in the Theravada, Mahayana and increasingly also Vajrayana traditions, Taoism, Chinese folk religion, Hinduism, Catholicism, Protestantism (the largest denominations of which are the Methodists, Seventh-day Adventists, Anglican, Presbyterian and Baptists) and Sikhism- reflecting Penang's diverse ethnic and socio-cultural amalgamation.



History
History of Penang
Penang, originally part of the Malay sultanate of Kedah, was given to the British East India Company in 1786 by the Sultan of Kedah, in exchange for military protection from Siamese and Burmese armies who were threatening Kedah. On 11 August 1786, Captain Francis Light, known as the founder of Penang, landed in Penang and renamed it Prince of Wales Island in honour of the heir to the British throne. Unbeknownst to the Sultan, Light had acted without the approval of the East India Company when he promised military protection. When the Company failed to aid Kedah when it was attacked by Siam, the Sultan tried to retake the island in 1790. The attempt was unsuccessful, and the Sultan was forced to cede the island to the Company for an honorarium of 6,000 Spanish dollars per annum. This was later increased to 10,000 dollars, with Province Wellesley (Seberang Prai) being added to Penang in 1800. An annual honorarium of 10,000 ringgits continues to this day to be paid each year by the Malaysian Federal Government to the state of Kedah. In 1826, Penang, along with Malacca and Singapore, became part of the Straits Settlements under the British administration in India, moving to direct British colonial rule in 1867. In 1946 it became part of the Malayan Union, before becoming in 1948 a state of the Federation of Malaya, which gained independence in 1957 and became Malaysia in 1963. The island was a free port until 1969. Despite the loss of the island's free-port status, from the 1970s to the late 1990s the state built up one of the largest electronics manufacturing bases in Asia, in the Free Trade Zone around the airport in the south of the island.

Incorporated into Date
Straits Settlements 1826
Crown Colony 1867
Japanese occupation 19 December, 1945
Malayan Union 1 April, 1946
Federation of Malaya 1 February, 1948
Independence 31 August, 1957
Malaysia 16 September, 1963

Legislative
The State Assembly Building
The unicameral state legislature, whose members are called state assemblymen, convenes at the neoclassical state Legislative Assembly (Dewan Undangan Negeri) building at Light Street. It has 40 seats, 38 of which is held by the ruling Barisan Nasional party while the remaining two are each held by the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and PAS. In the Malaysian Parliament, Penang is represented by 13 elected Members of Parliament in the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives), serving a five-year term, and has two senators in the Dewan Negara (Senate), both appointed by the state Legislative Assembly to serve a three-year term.

Airport
Penang International Airport (PEN) is located in Bayan Lepas in the south of the island, and international flights are available to London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Medan, Taipei, Bangkok, Seoul, Riau, Xiamen and Guangzhou. The airport serves as the northern gateway to Malaysia. In 2006, the airport handled 3.1 million passengers, both domestic and international, and 22.22 million metric tonne of cargo in 2005 from within and outside the country[6]. Ferry and seaports
A Penang ferry docking at the Butterworth jettyCross-channel ferry services, provided by the Penang Ferry Service, connect George Town and Butterworth, and were the only link between the island and the mainland until the bridge was built in 1985. High-speed ferries to the resort island of Langkawi, Kedah in the north as well as to Medan, Indonesia are also available daily. The Port of Penang is operated by the Penang Port Commission. There are four terminals, one on Penang island (Swettenham Pier) and three on the mainland, namely North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT), Butterworth Deep Water Wharves (BDWW), and Prai Bulk Cargo Terminal (PBCT). Malaysia being the 13th largest exporting nation, the Port of Penang plays a leading role in the nation's shipping industry, linking Penang to more than 200 ports worldwide. Swettenham Pier also accommodates cruise ships.

Meet Single Girls in Malaysia !

Paralumun New Age Village