World Heritage listing on UNESCO? Socio-economic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI) Penang fellow, an academic and a former municipl councillor Dr Goh Ban Lee says it again.

Penang, in reality, is

…still struggling with problems like poor public transportation, bad facilities for pedestrians, non-compliance issues, expensive housing, dying city centre, poor management culture, lack of excitement, inconsiderate Penangites and politics.

“Politics always comes first and we have Penangites who do not care that they are obstructing traffic when they order cendol at roadside stalls from their cars.

“We have dirty drains, hawker stalls on pavements, litterbugs, errant motorists and others. With such mentality, a city will not be a nice place to live regardless how efficient the local authorities are,” he said.

George Town Penang needs a revival. But who and how is to do it?