List of districts in Malaysia

Districts (Malay: Daerah; Jajahan in Kelantan) are a type of subdivision below the state level in Malaysia. An administrative district is administered by a lands and district office (Malay: pejabat daerah dan tanah) which is headed by district officer (Malay: pegawai daerah).

Classification

In Peninsular Malaysia, a district is a subdivision of a state. A mukim (commune, sub-district or parish) is a subdivision of a district. The National Land Code assigns land matters, including the delineation of districts, to the purview of state governments. These states operate a Torrens system, with districts administered by the respective state’s land and district office, and coordinated by the land and mines office.

The state of Perlis is not divided into districts due to its size, but straight to the mukim level. The three Federal Territories are also not divided into districts; however Kuala Lumpur is divided into several mukim for land administration purposes. Putrajaya is divided into precincts.

In East Malaysia, a district is a subdivision of a division (bahagian) of a state. For example, Tuaran is a district within the West Coast Division of Sabah. A district is usually named after the main town or its administrative capital; for example, the town of Sandakan is the capital of the Sandakan District, as well as the capital of Sandakan Division.

Some larger districts are further divided into autonomous sub-districts (daerah kecil; literally "small district") before the mukim level. This is prevalent in Sarawak and Sabah, but also seen in Peninsular Malaysia in recent years, e.g. Lojing autonomous sub-district in Kelantan. Sub-districts in Sabah, however, are not divided into mukim.

Relationship with parliament and local government

In contrast to local governments that manage municipal administration and infrastructure development, districts are solely utilised for land revenue. While districts are usually congruent with local government areas, in more urbanised states, municipalities and districts either overlap or subsume one another. In Selangor, the district of Petaling contains three cities – Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya and the state's capital Shah Alam. Similarly in Johor, Johor Bahru District consists of three cities – Iskandar Puteri, Johor Bahru and Pasir Gudang. Conversely, a local government can administer multiple districts, such as in Penang, where George Town encompasses the Northeast and Southwest districts, and Seberang Perai comprises the Northern, Central and Southern districts.

Administrative district boundaries also provide the basis of boundaries for the parliamentary constituencies in the Malaysian Parliament. However this is not always the case; in heavily populated areas e.g. the Klang Valley and Kinta Valley there is serious overlap between district, local government and parliamentary boundaries.

By states

West Malaysia

East Malaysia

Townships (Mukim)

In the 11 states of the Peninsular Malaysia including the Federal Territories, there are townships (precinct for Putrajaya) that been administered by the district office and also the state government. For a list, see Category:Mukims of Malaysia. However, two states and one federal territory in Malaysia is not divided into any townships.

Gallery

Labelled maps

Maps

Notes

References

Sources

Lo Vullo, Eleonora; Ho, Chin Siong; Chau, Loon Wai; Monforti-Ferrario, Fabio; Palermo, Valentina; Rivas Calvete, Silvia; Bertoldi, Paolo (2022). How to develop a Climate Action Plan (CAP) in Southeast Asia-Malaysia: A practical guide for Malaysian local governments : Guidebook. Publications Office of the European Union. doi:10.2760/50282. ISBN 978-92-76-52424-3.