Kampung

Bahasa Malaysia: Kampung · English: Village · 中文: 甘榜／village

A dictionary will tell you that kampung means “village”. That’s correct — but incomplete. In Malaysia, a kampung is also a formal administrative unit, with a head, a committee, a term of service and official allowances.

Two meanings at once

As a	It means
Social unit	A local community bound together by neighbourliness, kenduri (communal feasts), gotong-royong (mutual help) and a surau or balai raya (prayer hall or community hall)
Administrative unit	A recognised area under a mukim and District Office, with a Ketua Kampung and an official committee

This is why someone can say “I’m going balik kampung” (the social, sentimental meaning) while a government letter refers to that very same kampung as a specific administrative area.

The Ketua Kampung and their committee

In District Office directories, the position is often listed as “Ketua Kampung / Pengerusi JPKK” — because the two are usually the same person. JPKK stands for the Jawatankuasa Pembangunan dan Keselamatan Kampung (Village Development and Security Committee).

According to the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (Kementerian Kemajuan Desa dan Wilayah, KKDW):

• Each JPKK has 13 members: one Chairman, one Secretary and 11 Committee Members.
• The term of service is 2 years (1 term), or until terminated by the Appointing Authority.
• Membership must include at least 30% women and at least one youth representative.
• The Chairman’s monthly allowance is RM500 (JPKK) or RM900 (JPKKP), and the Secretary’s is RM300.
• There are 15,449 institutions of JPKK and JPKKP nationwide, according to KKDW data as of October 2023.

JPKK members are appointed by the state government, while JPKKP (the Federal version) is appointed by the Minister of Rural and Regional Development.

Names that keep changing

This is the most common source of confusion. The same body has previously been known as:

1. JKKK — Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung (the old name, still widely used in everyday conversation)
2. MPKK — Majlis Pengurusan Komuniti Kampung
3. JPKK — the current name, after the Cabinet agreed to improve its implementation on 8 July 2020

States also differ. Selangor, for example, retains the term MPKK for its Kampung Tradisi (traditional villages).

Common mistakes

• Equating JPKK with Rukun Tetangga (KRT) or a Residents’ Association (RA). KRT is run by the Department of National Unity and is more focused on residential areas; an RA is a body residents register themselves. JPKK is a rural structure under KKDW.
• Assuming the Ketua Kampung is the same as a Penghulu. A Penghulu administers an entire mukim, an area covering several kampung.
• Assuming a kampung only exists outside towns. Many traditional kampung remain standing within urban areas that have grown up around them.

What’s next

To understand where a kampung sits within Malaysia’s broader layers of administration, start with Wilayah Persekutuan — a territory with no state government of its own — and Selangor, the state that still uses the term MPKK.

For actual dealings, lists of Ketua Kampung and Penghulu for each mukim are published on the respective District and Land Office portals.