# Talk:Seberang Perai

Recently, the Penang state government, led by Chow Kon Yeow, declared its intention of turning Seberang Perai into a city.

However, I feel there is some ambiguity regarding Seberang Perai's status as a city. The term Seberang Perai generally refers to the mainland half of Penang. But unlike other cities, it has no well-defined urban core. Instead, Seberang Perai (as a municipality) encompasses several scattered settlements. The largest of the towns by population is Butterworth, although Bukit Mertajam is where the seat of the local government (Seberang Perai Municipal Council) is situated.
Hence, my question is as follows. For Wikipedia purposes, should
a.) Seberang Perai in its entirety be considered a city, or
b.) Butterworth be considered as being granted city status on the virtue of it being the largest town, or
c.) the city status be accorded to Bukit Mertajam as the seat of the local government?
Personally speaking, I prefer option (b) (that Butterworth is the central city within Seberang Perai), as Butterworth has been displayed more prominently in maps of the region compared to either Seberang Perai or Bukit Mertajam. But I would leave it to the other Wikipedia editors. I hope to be able to come to a consensus with other Malaysian Wikipedia editors on whether to recognise Seberang Perai as a city. Vnonymous (talk) 15:02, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

@Vnonymous:, as a resident in Seberang Perai, I think it can be a city as it can consider as County-level city.. Using Butterworth and Bukit Mertajam are not suitable as those towns are totally different and perhaps they can split MPSP into two local government as MPSP is the most largest LC in Malaysia and 21 assemblymen within the jurisdiction area  angys (Talk Talk) 15:09, 3 July 2018 (UTC)
@Molecule Extraction:, you are welcome to discuss.  angys (Talk Talk) 15:09, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

@*angys*: So a county-level city... or a local government area would be more suitable to describe Seberang Perai (when it is granted city status)? Do note that there is no specific settlement by the name of Seberang Perai to begin with (but there are settlements by the name of Butterworth and Bukit Mertajam).
Perhaps describing Seberang Perai as a local government area would be more suitable since the largest population centre and the administrative centre are at two different places (unlike other cities, eg KL, Penang Island, JB, KK, Kuching, etc, where the administrative centre is usually also the main population centre). Just my two cents, though. Vnonymous (talk) 15:35, 3 July 2018 (UTC)
Yes, Seberang Perai is quite different, should do a definition for it in that article, LGA also can be accept.  angys (Talk Talk) 16:53, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

 That will be a good plan to upgrade its status into a city but as Vnonymous had mentioned earlier that there is no special zone/city centre designated for a new city named as Seberang Perai City as the capital of Seberang Perai, then it is not yet a city at least for now. Basically I will wait for a final decision from the government until they really proceed with the idea as been did towards Iskandar Puteri last year [1].  Molecule Extraction (talk) 05:10, 4 July 2018 (UTC)
Points taken. Perhaps the problem lies in the nomenclature too, seeing that Seberang Perai refers to the wider geographic area instead of a specific settlement. Hence the lack of a well-defined city centre. Not sure if the urban planning authorities did consider this anomaly. Vnonymous (talk) 05:44, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

Etymology: also explain "Seberang'. Jidanni (talk) 13:45, 9 September 2019 (UTC)