page_title: Bayan Lepas
section_title: Sports
hierarchical_section_title: Bayan Lepas / Sports
caption_attribution_description: English: SPICE Arena in Relau, Penang
context_page_description: Bayan Lepas is a town within the Malaysian state of Penang. It is located within the Southwest Penang Island District, near the southeastern tip of Penang Island. Founded in the 19th century, Bayan Lepas is now home to the Penang International Airport and an eponymous Free Industrial Zone, dubbed the Silicon Valley of the East due to its size. Various multinational electronic and engineering firms, including Bosch, Motorola, Dell, Intel and Hewlett-Packard, have set up factories and assembly plants within the town.
  According to urban legend, Bayan Lepas was founded in the late 19th century by a family from Sumatra. The Penang International Airport, the first civilian airport to be built in British Malaya, was opened in 1935. For much of the town's history, it was an agricultural area, with rice farming a major source of income. In the 1970s, the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone was created, ushering in the rapid development of the town.
  Bayan Lepas proper is surrounded by residential townships such as Bayan Baru and Sungai Ara to the north, and Batu Maung to the southeast.
context_section_description: Completed in 2000, the SPICE Arena at Bayan Baru is one of the major sports venues in Penang, capable of hosting various indoor sports events such as squash, badminton and martial arts. It has also emerged as the preferred venue for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) within the state. The SPICE Arena is also complemented in its role as a MICE venue by the GBI-certified SPICE Convention & Exhibition Centre, the world's first hybrid solar-powered convention centre.
  Adjacent to the SPICE Arena, the SPICE Aquatics Centre not only serves as a venue for national and international aquatic sports events, it also serves as a community swimming facility when not in use for tournaments.
caption: SPICE Arena at Bayan Baru
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