# Local Councils in Malaysia: The Tier of Government You Cannot Vote For

> Malaysia's third tier of government — city, municipal and district councils — delivers roads, rubbish, drains, licensing and planning at street level. Since 1965 its councillors have been appointed by state governments rather than elected, a position later fixed in statute by the Local Government Act 1976.

- Category: states
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-24
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/states/local-councils

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The council that fixes your street lights, collects your bins, approves your neighbour's
extension and licenses the coffee shop downstairs is the tier of government closest to
daily life. It is also the only tier whose members no Malaysian voter chooses.

Local councillors, and the Mayor or President who leads them, are appointed by the state
government. That has been the position for six decades — set in motion by an emergency
suspension in 1965 and later written into permanent law.

## The basic facts

| Item | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| The three grades | City Council, Municipal Council, District Council |
| Governing law (states) | Local Government Act 1976 [Act 171] |
| Who sits on a council | A Mayor or President + 8 to 24 Councillors (s. 10, Act 171) |
| How they get the seat | Appointed by the State Authority; term not exceeding 3 years |
| Constitutional basis | Local government is item 4 of the State List (Ninth Schedule) |
| National policy body | National Council for Local Government (Article 95A) |
| Federal Territories | Outside Act 171 — run by DBKL, Perbadanan Putrajaya, Perbadanan Labuan |
| Local elections | Suspended 1 March 1965; not currently held |

## Where local government sits in the structure

Malaysia has three tiers of government: federal, state, and local. Local government is not
mentioned as a tier of its own in the way the first two are — instead, it appears as a
subject the states legislate on.

Item 4 of the State List, in the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution, assigns to the
states "Local government outside the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and
Putrajaya", expressly including "local administration; municipal corporations; local, town
and rural board and other local authorities; local government services, local rates, local
government elections". Local government elections are therefore, on paper, a matter the
states control.

That state autonomy is bounded by one federal mechanism. Article 95A establishes a
National Council for Local Government, chaired by a federal Minister with one representative
from each state (appointed by the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri) and up to ten federal
representatives. Its duty is to "formulate from time to time … a national policy for the
promotion, development and control of local government throughout the Federation", and the
Constitution provides that "the Federal and State Governments shall follow the policy so
formulated". This is why councils across the peninsula run on one broadly uniform model
rather than eleven different ones. For the wider pattern of who legislates on what, see
[the federal–state division of powers](/en/government/federal-state-division).

## The three grades of council

Under the Local Government Act 1976, a local authority takes one of three grades.

- **District Council** — the base grade, typically covering smaller towns and rural
  districts.
- **Municipal Council** (*Majlis Perbandaran*) — a more urbanised area meeting the criteria
  for municipal status.
- **City Council** (*Majlis / Dewan Bandaraya*) — a municipality that has been elevated to
  city status. In the Act's own words, a City Council is "the Council of any Municipality
  which has been conferred the status of a City".

Section 3 of Act 171 is the switch that creates and grades a council. It provides that the
State Authority, "in consultation with the Minister and the Secretary of the Election
Commission", may by notification in the Gazette declare an area to be a local authority
area, name it, define its boundaries, and "determine the status of the local authority …
that of a Municipal Council or a District Council." Section 4 lets the state change a name,
change the status, or alter the boundaries later.

Whatever the grade, the internal structure is the same, and so is the way the seats are
filled.

## How councillors are appointed

Section 10 of Act 171 sets out the make-up of every local authority. A council "shall
consist of the Mayor or President; and not less than eight and not more than twenty-four
other Councillors, to be appointed by the State Authority."

The word doing the work is *appointed*. Residents do not elect councillors; the State
Authority — the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri, acting on the advice of the state
government — names them. Section 10 goes on to require that the majority be people
ordinarily resident in the area who, in the state's opinion, have "wide experience in local
government affairs" or "have achieved distinction in any profession, commerce or industry,
or are otherwise capable of representing the interests of their communities."

The other features of the office follow from the same appointed model:

- A councillor's **term of office shall not exceed three years**, and a councillor is
  eligible for reappointment.
- A seat **falls vacant** on resignation, on disqualification, or "if his appointment is
  revoked by the State Authority" — the state that appoints can also remove.
- A **Mayor or President** heads the council, likewise appointed rather than elected to the
  post by residents.

## The Federal Territories are run differently

Item 4 of the State List excludes Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan, and Act 171 does not
create ordinary councils there. Each Federal Territory has its own arrangement:

- **[Kuala Lumpur](/en/states/kuala-lumpur)** is administered by Kuala Lumpur City Hall
  (Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, DBKL) under the Federal Capital Act 1960 [Act 190], headed
  by a federally appointed Mayor (Datuk Bandar).
- **[Putrajaya](/en/states/putrajaya)** is administered by Perbadanan Putrajaya.
- **Labuan** is administered by Perbadanan Labuan.

In each case the local-authority function is exercised by a federally appointed body, not an
elected council — a parallel to, but legally separate from, the state council system.

## How local elections came to be suspended

Malaysia did once elect its local councils. Under the Local Government Elections Act 1960 and
earlier ordinances, cities, municipalities and many town and district boards had elected
councillors, and George Town in Penang held some of the country's earliest local elections.

The turning point was documented and specific. On **1 March 1965**, during the armed
confrontation (*Konfrontasi*) with Indonesia, local government elections were suspended by
emergency regulations. The measure was framed as temporary, and sitting councillors were
left in office rather than removed at once.

A **Royal Commission of Enquiry**, chaired by Senator Athi Nahappan, was appointed to study
the working of local authorities and reported at the end of the decade; it recommended the
restoration of elected local government. That recommendation was not adopted. Instead:

- The **Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act 1973 [Act 124]** ended the terms of the
  remaining elected councillors and allowed their functions to be carried out by boards of
  management appointed by the state governments.
- The **Local Government Act 1976 [Act 171]** then put the appointed system on a permanent
  footing. Section 15 provides that, "Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in
  any written law, all provisions relating to local government elections shall cease to have
  force or effect", and that councillors holding office when the Act came into force ceased
  to hold office.

Since then, no local government elections have been held in Malaysia. Whether they should be
reinstated has been raised periodically by state governments, political parties and civil
society; because local government elections sit on the State List, any such change engages
both the states and the National Council for Local Government's uniform national policy under
Article 95A. This entry describes the legal position and its history; it does not take a view
on that debate.

## Common misconceptions

- **"I can vote for my mayor."** Not in Malaysia's current system. Mayors, Presidents and
  councillors are appointed, not elected.
- **"Local councils are a branch of the federal government."** They are established and
  administered by the state governments under Act 171 — except in the three Federal
  Territories, which are run federally through separate bodies.
- **"City, municipal and district councils are three different laws."** They are three
  grades under the same Act 171, differing mainly in the size and status of the area, not in
  their basic appointed structure.
- **"Elections were abolished by the 1976 Act."** The 1976 Act made the position permanent,
  but elections had already been suspended in 1965 and the elected councils wound up in 1973;
  Act 171 confirmed and completed the change.

## What's next

To see how the local tier fits beneath the state and federal governments, read
[the federal–state division of powers](/en/government/federal-state-division) and
[the Federal Constitution](/en/law/federal-constitution), where the State List and Article
95A live. For how the two Federal Territories run their own local administration outside this
system, see [Kuala Lumpur](/en/states/kuala-lumpur) and [Putrajaya](/en/states/putrajaya).

## Sources

- Local Government Act 1976 [Act 171] (online version of updated text of reprint) — https://lom.agc.gov.my/ilims/upload/portal/akta/LOM/EN/Act%20171%20-%20Local%20Government%20Act%201976.pdf (Laws of Malaysia, Attorney General's Chambers)
- Federal Constitution — Ninth Schedule (List II, State List, item 4) — https://sagc.sabah.gov.my/sites/default/files/law/NinthSchedule.pdf (State Attorney-General's Chambers, Sabah)
- Federal Constitution (Reprint as at 1 November 2010) — Article 95A, National Council for Local Government — https://media.unesco.org/sites/default/files/webform/r2e002/5c697b36285ff53e3f573e0c049d64610ebaa572.pdf (Attorney General's Chambers (reprint))
- Local Government Elections Act 1960 (Revised 1991) — https://www.commonlii.org/my/legis/consol_act/lgea19601991350/ (Laws of Malaysia (Commonwealth Legal Information Institute))
- Pemansuhan Pilihan Raya Kerajaan Tempatan Dan Implikasinya Di Malaysia (The Abolition of Local Government Election in Malaysia and Its Implications) — https://www.academia.edu/76575084/Pemansuhan_Pilihan_Raya_Kerajaan_Tempatan_Dan_Implikasinya_DI_Malaysia_The_Abolition_of_Local_Government_Election_in_Malaysia_and_Its_Implications_ (Academic paper (peer-reviewed journal article))

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