Dewan Negara: Parliament's Upper House Not Elected in a General Election

Bahasa Malaysia: Dewan Negara · English: Senate · 中文: 上议院

When Parliament is dissolved, all 222 Dewan Rakyat seats fall vacant and every member must contest again. The 70 members of the Dewan Negara do not. Their term of office, under Article 45(3) of the Federal Constitution, “is not affected by the dissolution of Parliament.”

That difference is not a coincidence. It is the single most important design point between the two Houses of the Malaysian Parliament — and the most frequent source of confusion.

Short answer

Dewan Negara is the upper house (Senate) of Parliament. Article 44 of the Federal Constitution provides that Parliament consists of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and two Houses: Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat.

Its members are called Senators. None of them is elected by ordinary voters. They are either elected by the State Legislative Assembly or appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Dewan Negara versus Dewan Rakyat

	Dewan Negara	Dewan Rakyat
Provision	Article 45	Article 46
Number of members	70	222
Route of entry	Elected by the State Legislative Assembly or appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong	Elected by voters in a federal constituency
Minimum age	30 years (Article 47(a))	18 years (Article 47(b), following the Akta A1603 amendment)
Term	Three years, maximum two terms	Until Parliament is dissolved
Effect of dissolution of Parliament	Term of office unaffected	All seats fall vacant
Presiding officer	President of the Dewan Negara	Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat

A full account of the other House is in the article Dewan Rakyat.

One more difference that is easy to overlook: Article 43(2)(a) requires the Prime Minister to be a member of the Dewan Rakyat, but Article 43(2)(b) allows other Ministers to be appointed from either of the two Houses. This is why someone can become a Minister without ever having contested a general election.

Where the 70 seats come from

Article 45(1) breaks this down into three groups:

Group	Number	Route
Two for each State (13 states)	26	Elected under the Seventh Schedule
Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (2), Labuan (1), Putrajaya (1)	4	Appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong
General appointed members	40	Appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong
Total	70	26 elected, 44 appointed

Notice the middle row of that table. Because the Federal Territories do not have a State Legislative Assembly, they cannot elect a senator — so the Constitution gives them their seats through the appointment route.

How the 26 state senators are elected

The Seventh Schedule sets out the procedure, and it takes place entirely within the State Legislative Assembly:

1. When a vacancy arises, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong notifies the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri that the election of a Senator is required.
2. The Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri requires the State Legislative Assembly to elect a Senator “as soon as may be.”
3. A candidate’s name is proposed and seconded by members of the State Legislative Assembly itself, together with a written statement from the candidate that they are willing to serve.
4. A vote is taken, and the names of the members who vote for each candidate are recorded — it is not a secret ballot.

Voters in that state do not vote for a senator directly. The ones who vote are the state assembly representatives they elected.

How the 44 senators are appointed

Article 45(2) sets out the criteria for appointed members. They must be persons who, in the opinion of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong:

• have rendered distinguished public service; or
• have achieved distinction in a profession, commerce, industry, agriculture, cultural activities or social service; or
• represent a racial minority; or
• are capable of representing the interests of the Orang Asli.

One thing needs to be read alongside this. Article 40(1) provides that in carrying out his functions under the Constitution, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall act in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet or of a Minister acting under the general authority of the Cabinet, except as otherwise provided by the Constitution. The appointment of senators is not among those excepted discretionary powers.

Three years, two terms

• Term of office: three years (Article 45(3)).
• Term limit: not more than two terms, whether consecutive or otherwise (Article 45(3A)).
• Vacancy: must be filled within 60 days from the date the President of the Dewan Negara ascertains that a vacancy exists (Article 54(1)). Failure to do so within that period does not invalidate an appointment made afterwards. One important exception: Article 54(3) provides that the 60-day period does not apply to a vacancy among the senators elected by a State under the Seventh Schedule.
• Presiding officer: the Dewan Negara elects its own President and Deputy President from among its members, and may not transact any other business while the office of President is vacant (Article 56(1)).

Because the three-year term runs on its own cycle, the membership of the Dewan Negara changes gradually, not all at once after every general election.

What the Dewan Negara can and cannot do

Can. Article 66(2) allows a bill to originate in either of the two Houses, subject to Article 67. Articles 66(1) and 66(3) require a bill to be passed by both Houses before it is presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for royal assent.

Cannot — introduce a financial bill. Article 67(1) provides that a bill making provision for taxation, loans, the Consolidated Fund, payments into or out of that Fund, and similar financial matters “may not be introduced in the Dewan Negara.”

Cannot — reject a bill outright. Article 68 gives the Dewan Negara a power to delay, not a power to veto:

Type of bill	Effect if the Dewan Negara does not pass it
Money bill	If sent at least one month before the end of the session and not passed without amendment within one month, it is presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Article 68(1))
Other bill	May be passed again by the Dewan Rakyat in the following session, but not earlier than one year after it was first passed (Article 68(2))
Bill amending the Constitution	Article 68 does not apply, except for amendments excluded from Article 159(3) — Article 68(5)

Article 68(4) provides that a bill presented through this route must bear the certificate of the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, and that certificate is final and shall not be questioned in any court.

The full path of a bill — from first reading through royal assent and gazettement — is set out in the article How a bill becomes law.

Common mistakes

• “Senators are appointed by the Prime Minister.” The Constitution states that appointments are made by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Article 40(1), in turn, provides that His Majesty acts on the advice of the Cabinet.
• “All 70 senators are appointed.” Only 44 are. The remaining 26 are elected by a vote in the State Legislative Assembly.
• “The Federal Territories elect their own senators.” The four Federal Territory seats are appointed seats, because the territories have no State Legislative Assembly.
• “The Dewan Negara can block the budget.” Article 68(1) limits its effect to one month for a money bill.
• “Senators lose their seats when the government falls.” Article 45(3) states the opposite — the term of office is not affected by the dissolution of Parliament.
• “The number 70 is fixed forever.” The amendment notes printed against Article 45(1)(b) show that the number of appointed members once read sixteen, then twenty-two (Akta 26/1963), then thirty-two (Akta 19/1964), before being amended to forty (Akta A442, effective 31 December 1978).

The Constitution allows this arrangement to be changed

Article 45(4) gives Parliament three express options, by law:

• raise to three the number of elected members for each State;
• provide that the members for each State are elected by direct vote of the voters of that State;
• reduce the number of appointed members or abolish appointed members altogether.

This provision has existed since Independence Day (Hari Merdeka). As at the text of the 2020 Reprint, none of the three options has been exercised.

Related terms

• Dewan Rakyat
• Yang di-Pertuan Agong
• Malaysian Parliament
• Federal Constitution
• Federal Territories

What’s next

If you need to verify any of the figures above, go directly to the primary source: the text of the Federal Constitution at the Federal Legislation Portal (lom.agc.gov.my), Articles 44 to 68 and the Seventh Schedule. Every number in this article comes from that text.

To understand what happens to a bill after both Houses have passed it, continue to the article How a bill becomes law; for a broader view of the institution, see Malaysian Parliament.

This article is classified as sensitive (3R+1: constitutional matter) under NegaraKu.md editorial policy. It is written in a purely descriptive manner — covering structure and function only — and remains a draft until reviewed by a human. No figure is published unless it can be verified against the text of the Federal Constitution itself.