page_title: Bayan Lepas
section_title: Agriculture
hierarchical_section_title: Bayan Lepas / Economy / Agriculture
caption_attribution_description: English: Kluang River, Penang viewed from the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Highway.
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: The adjacent neighbourhood of Batu Maung is home to an active fisheries industry. It contains a deepwater fishing port, as well as the headquarters of WorldFish Center, an international, non-profit fisheries research organisation, and the Fisheries Research Institute of Malaysia's Fisheries Development Authority.
caption: Fishing boats moored along Kluang River
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