International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

search-icon

Uncover the Origin and Roles of Community Representatives: The Councillors in Malaysia

Open access
The objectives of this study are to highlight the origin, roles and responsibilities of councillors in Malaysia and provide an overview of their functions at the local level. They are approximately 3500 councillors situated among 155 local councils in Malaysia. They are the representatives of the local community that come from a variety of backgrounds. These councillors deal with a variety of complex and sometimes contentious issues at the local level. In Malaysia, councillors are appointed by the state government. However, many people are unaware of the role’s councillors should played with. Thus, this study highlights their origin, roles and responsibilities by reviewing the literature from secondary sources such as local government acts and journals. Findings showed that several methods can be used by the local councillors to engage with the community at the local government level. In conclusion this study hopes to shed a clearer view of the councilors’ roles and functions in the community.
Copus, C. (2003). Re-Engaging Citizens and Councils: The Importance of the Councillor to Enhanced Citizen Involvement. Local Government Studies, 29(2), 32-51. doi:10.1080/03003930308559369
Denters, B., and Klok, P.-J. (2013). Citizen Democracy and the Responsiveness of Councillors: The Effects of Democratic Institutionalisation on the Role Orientations and Role Behaviour of Councillors. Local Government Studies, 39(5), 661-680. doi:10.1080/03003930.2012.670747
Head, B. W. (2007). Community engagement: participation on whose terms? Australian Journal of Political Science, 42(3), 441-454.
Hosmer, S. T., and Tanham, G. K. (1986). Countering covert aggression (No. RAND/N-2412-USDF). RAND CORP SANTA MONICA CA.
Kyohairwe, S. B., Kiwanuka, M. ( 2014). Political Recruitment and Political Participation: Analyzing the Constituency Effect on Councillors’ Performance in Local Governments of Uganda. Journal of African & Asian Local Government Studies.;3(4):1-18.
Lee, G. B. (2012). Governance and accountability in Southeast Asian cities. Urbanization in Southeast Asia: Issues & Impacts, 341.
Liyunan, S. (2015). Ahli majlis perlu tahu keperluan rakyat. Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd. Retrieved from http://www.utusan.com.my/berita/wilayah/ahli-majlis-perlu-tahu-keperluan-rakyat-1.58481
Local Government Act 1976 (Act 171) (Malaysia).
Marzuki, A. (2009). A review on public participation in environmental impact assessment in Malaysia. Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, 4(3 (12), 126-136.
Ministry of Housing and Local Government, Local Government Department. (n.d.) Category of Local Authority. Retrieved from
http://jkt.kpkt.gov.my/en/SUK%26PBT/PBT/KategoriP
Newnham, L., and Winston, G. (1997). The role of councillors in a changing local government arena. . Australian local government: Reform and renewal, 105-124.
Nooi, P. S. (1989). Sistem kerajaan tempatan di Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Norris, M. W. (1980). Local government in peninsular Malaysia. Gower Publishing Company.
Nurudin, S. M., Hashim, R., Rahman, S., Zulkifli, N., Mohamed, A. S. P., and Hamik, S. A. (2015). Public participation process at local government administration: A case study of the Seremban Municipal Council, Malaysia. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 211, 505-512.
Rahman, F. A. A. (2016). Demokrasi dan Pilihanraya di dalam Kerajaan Tempatan Journal of Global Business and Social Entrepreneurship (GBSE) Vol. 1: no. 5 (2016) page 134–142.
Singh, L., Kaur, H., & Rahman, S. (2017). Evaluating Public Participation Mechanisms in LA21 Programs in Malaysia. Global Journal of Business and Social Science Review (GJBSSR), 5(3), 76-83.
Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 (Act 133) (Malaysia.).
Tayib, M., Coombs, H. M., and Ameen, J. R. M. (1999). Financial reporting by Malaysian local authorities: a study of the needs and requirements of the users of local authority financial accounts. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 12(2), 103-121.
Tennant, P. (1973). The decline of elective local government in Malaysia. Asian Survey, 13 (4), 347-365.
Ting, S. K., Dollery, B., and Villano, R. (2014). Administrative scale economies in local government: An empirical analysis of Sabah municipalities, 2000 to 2009. Urban Studies, 51(13), 2899-2915.
Town and Country Planning Act 1976 (Act 172) (Malaysia).
Xiu, D., and Liu, Z. (2005). A formal definition for trust in distributed systems. In International conference on information security (pp. 482-489). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
In-Text Citation: (Rahman et al., 2022)
To Cite this Article: Rahman, S. B., Lai-Kuan, K., Soon-Yew, J., & Muda, W. A. binti W. (2022). Uncover the Origin and Roles of Community Representatives: The Councillors in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(9), 222– 231.