Chief Minister of Penang

The chief minister of Penang is the head of government in the Malaysian state of Penang. According to convention, the chief minister is the leader of the majority party or largest coalition party of the Penang State Legislative Assembly. The chief minister's official residence is Seri Teratai in the capital city of George Town.

Chief Minister of Penang
Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang
Coat of arms of Penang
Incumbent Chow Kon Yeow since 14 May 2018 (2018-05-14)
Government of Penang
Style	Yang Amat Berhormat
Type	Head of government
Member of	Penang State Executive Council
Reports to	Penang State Legislative Assembly
Residence	Seri Teratai
Appointer	Yang di-Pertua Negeri
Term length	Five years, renewable once
Constituting instrument	Constitution of the State of Penang
Inaugural holder	Wong Pow Nee
Formation	31 August 1957 (1957-08-31)
Website	cm.penang.gov.my

The 5th and incumbent chief minister is Chow Kon Yeow, who assumed office on 14 May 2018. Chow succeeds his party colleague, Lim Guan Eng, who had served as the chief minister between 2008 and 2018.

Appointment

According to the state constitution, the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Penang shall first appoint the chief minister to preside over the Executive Council and requires such chief minister to be a member of the Legislative Assembly who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Assembly and must not a Malaysian citizen by naturalisation or by registration. The Yang di-Pertua Negeri on the chief minister's advice shall appoint not more than ten nor less than four members from among the members of the Legislative Assembly.

The member of the Executive Council must take and subscribe in the presence of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri the oath of office and allegiance as well as the oath of secrecy before they can exercise the functions of office. The Executive Council shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly. The members of the Executive Council shall not hold any office of profit and engage in any trade, business or profession that will cause conflict of interest.

If a government cannot get its appropriation (budget) legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, or the Legislative Assembly passes a vote of "no confidence" in the government, the chief minister is bound by convention to resign immediately. The Yang di-Pertua Negeri's choice of replacement chief minister will be dictated by the circumstances. A member of the Executive Council other than the chief minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, unless the appointment of any member of the Executive Council shall have been revoked by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri on the advice of the chief minister but may at any time resign his office.

Following a resignation in other circumstances, defeated in an election or the death of a chief minister, the Yang di-Pertua Negeri will generally appoint as chief minister the person voted by the governing party as their new leader.

Powers

The power of the chief minister is subject to a number of limitations. Chief ministers removed as leader of his or her party, or whose government loses a vote of no confidence in the Legislative Assembly, must advise a state election or resign the office or be dismissed by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri. The defeat of a supply bill (one that concerns the spending of money) or unable to pass important policy-related legislation is seen to require the resignation of the government or dissolution of Legislative Assembly, much like a non-confidence vote, since a government that cannot spend money is hamstrung, also called loss of supply.

The chief minister's party will normally have a majority in the Legislative Assembly and party discipline is exceptionally strong in Penang politics, so passage of the government's legislation through the Legislative Assembly is mostly a formality.

Caretaker chief minister

The legislative assembly unless sooner dissolved by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri with His Excellency's own discretion on the advice of the chief minister shall continue for five years from the date of its first meeting. The state constitution permits a delay of 60 days of general election to be held from the date of dissolution and the legislative assembly shall be summoned to meet on a date not later than 120 days from the date of dissolution. Conventionally, between the dissolution of one legislative assembly and the convening of the next, the chief minister and the executive council remain in office in a caretaker capacity.

List of chief ministers of Penang

The following is the list of chief ministers of Penang since 1957:

Colour key (for political parties):
  Alliance Party   Gerakan   Barisan Nasional   Pakatan Rakyat   Pakatan Harapan

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Term of office			Party		Election	Assembly
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee (1911–2002) MLC for Bukit Mertajam (until 1959) MLA for Bukit Mertajam (from 1959)	31 August 1957	12 May 1969	11 years, 255 days		Alliance (MCA)	–	–
								1959	1st
								1964	2nd
2		Dato' Seri Utama Lim Chong Eu (1919–2010) MLA for Kota (until 1974) MLA for Padang Kota (from 1974)	12 May 1969	25 October 1990	21 years, 167 days		Gerakan	1969	3rd
							BN (Gerakan)	1974	4th
								1978	5th
								1982	6th
								1986	7th
3		Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon (born 1949) MLA for Tanjong Bunga	25 October 1990	11 March 2008	17 years, 139 days		BN (Gerakan)	1990	8th
								1995	9th
								1999	10th
								2004	11th
4		Lim Guan Eng (born 1960) MLA for Air Putih	11 March 2008	14 May 2018	10 years, 65 days		PR (DAP)	2008	12th
								2013	13th
							PH (DAP)
5		Chow Kon Yeow (born 1957) MLA for Padang Kota	14 May 2018	Incumbent	6 years, 181 days		PH (DAP)	2018	14th
								2023	15th

See also

• Deputy Chief Minister of Penang