Federal vs state: who does what
Malaysia has two elected law-making levels, so a federal vote and a state vote choose representatives for different institutions and policy areas.
A Malaysian voter can be choosing representatives at two different levels. A federal election chooses MPs for the Dewan Rakyat, while a state election chooses assembly members for a DUN. The Prime Minister’s constitutional basis of support is the Dewan Rakyat, so a state result does not by itself change the MPs in Parliament or the federal parliamentary majority.
The starting point for “who does what” is the Ninth Schedule. Parliament legislates on the Federal List and State Legislatures legislate on the State List; both can legislate on the Concurrent List. Federal subjects include areas such as citizenship, defence, criminal law, finance and education. State subjects include land, local government, forestry and specified Islamic-law matters.
Some everyday issues cross levels. Public health, social welfare, housing, planning, drainage and irrigation are on the Concurrent List. That means a voter may reasonably look at both federal and state representatives when judging policy in those areas, while remembering that the particular laws involved can set out further details.
The Constitution also supplies rules for overlap. Federal law prevails where it is inconsistent with State law, and Parliament has defined routes to legislate on some State List subjects, including for uniformity among states. At the same time, state legislatures retain their own listed powers and a limited residual power over unlisted matters.
The Federal Court’s February 2024 decision in the Kelantan case shows why the lists matter. The Court held that 16 challenged state-enactment provisions were outside the Kelantan legislature’s constitutional power. The decision was about the boundary of legislative authority, illustrating that a state law can be tested against the Federal Constitution.
Sabah and Sarawak require an extra check because the Constitution gives them supplementary lists and special constitutional safeguards, including protections relating to specified legislative, executive, financial and immigration matters. For voters, the practical takeaway is simple: identify whether the issue is federal, state or shared, then ask what the candidate for that particular elected body can actually influence.
That is the answer. Everything below is the working: each claim the explanation rests on, labelled with how certain it is and linked to where it came from. You can stop here.
The working
What the sources say
23 claims, 23 of them carrying a linked source. Each one shows how certain it is — that label is written in the knowledge base alongside the claim, not decided here.
How to read the labels
- established
- multiple independent reliable sources, and uncontested.
- contested
- reliable sources disagree, or official and independent accounts differ.
The constitutional division
established
Malaysia’s Federal Constitution divides law-making subjects in the Ninth Schedule into the Federal List, State List and Concurrent List.
established
Parliament may make laws on matters in the Federal List and Concurrent List, while a State Legislature may make laws on matters in the State List and Concurrent List, subject to constitutional conditions and restrictions.
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Parliament may legislate for all or part of Malaysia, including with effect outside Malaysia, while a State Legislature may legislate only for all or part of its own state.
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If a State law is inconsistent with a federal law, the federal law prevails and the State law is void to the extent of the inconsistency.
established
A State Legislature also has residual power to legislate on a matter not listed in the Ninth Schedule, provided Parliament does not have power to make laws on that matter.
established
Parliament can legislate on State List matters in specified circumstances, including to implement international obligations, to promote uniformity of laws among two or more states, or at a state legislature’s request.
established
Parliament may make laws concerning land, local government and other State List matters to ensure uniformity of law and policy, subject to Article 76(4)’s stated limits.
Examples of who legislates
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The Federal List includes external affairs, defence, internal security, civil and criminal law, citizenship, finance, trade and commerce, transport, communications, education and labour.
established
The State List includes Islamic law and personal and family law for persons professing Islam (with stated constitutional limits), Malay customs, land, agriculture and forestry, local government, and state public works.
established
State Syariah courts may have jurisdiction only over persons professing Islam and only over matters included in the State List; their criminal jurisdiction is limited to what federal law confers.
established
The Concurrent List includes social welfare, public health and sanitation, town and country planning, drainage and irrigation, protection of wild animals and birds, and housing.
established
Executive authority generally follows the constitutional division of legislative subjects: federal executive authority extends to federal matters, and state executive authority extends to State List matters.
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A state’s executive authority must be exercised so as not to impede or prejudice the federal executive authority.
Elections and representation
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Federal elections choose Members of Parliament for the Dewan Rakyat, while state elections choose members of the relevant State Legislative Assembly (DUN).
Election Commission open-data portalElection Commission voter-education portal
established
The Prime Minister is appointed from among Dewan Rakyat members who, in the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s judgment, are likely to command the confidence of a majority of that House.
established
A state election changes the composition of that state’s DUN, not the existing composition of the Dewan Rakyat; therefore it does not itself change which MPs sit in Parliament or directly determine the federal government’s parliamentary majority.
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The Dewan Rakyat and a State Legislative Assembly ordinarily dissolve after five years from their first meeting, unless dissolved earlier, so their election dates need not be the same.
Election Commission voter-education portalElection Commission
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In the 2022 general election, 222 parliamentary seats were contested; the Election Commission’s portal separately records DUN seats and state-level election data.
Election Commission open-data portalElection Commission open-data catalogue
Sabah and Sarawak
established
Sabah and Sarawak have supplementary State and Concurrent Lists in the Ninth Schedule, in addition to the lists that apply generally.
established
Article 161E requires the concurrence of the relevant Yang di-Pertua Negeri for constitutional amendments affecting specified Sabah or Sarawak matters, including state legislative powers and related executive and financial arrangements.
established
Article 161E also protects federal-law rights and powers relating to entry into and residence in Sabah and Sarawak, subject to the terms of the federal law concerned.
A recent constitutional ruling
established
On 9 February 2024, the Federal Court, by an 8–1 majority, held 16 provisions of Kelantan’s Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019 unconstitutional and invalid because the Kelantan State Legislature lacked power to enact them.
established
The ruling concerned legislative competence—whether the state legislature had constitutional power over the provisions challenged—not a general ruling that state Islamic law is invalid.
What is still argued over
Where reliable sources disagree
These are set out side by side, with each position attributed to whoever holds it. No winner is picked.
contested
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research characterises Malaysia’s federal government as clearly dominant and links federal–state tensions partly to fiscal centralisation; this is an academic interpretation of how the constitutional system operates in practice, not a constitutional rule.
contested
Penang’s State-Federal Relations Select Committee characterises Malaysia as highly centralised and argues that states have limited powers and finances; this is the committee’s assessment and reform position.
contested
Analysts quoted by the Associated Press said the 2023 state-election outcome affected political pressure on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition, but it did not alter the Dewan Rakyat’s membership; the political significance attributed to a state poll is an assessment rather than a direct constitutional consequence.