States and federal territories of Malaysia

Malaysia is a federation which consists of thirteen states (Negeri) and three federal territories (Wilayah Persekutuan). Eleven states and two federal territories are located on the Malay Peninsula while the remaining two states and one federal territory are on the island of Borneo.

The states and federal territories

West Malaysia, on the Malay Peninsula

States (State capitals in parentheses):
- Sultanate of Johor (Keluang)
- Sultanate of Kedah (Pendang)
- Sultanate of Kelantan (Kota Bharu)
- Sultanate of Pahang (Maran)
- Sultanate of Perak (Ipoh)
- Sultanate of Selangor (Shah Alam)
- Sultanate of Terengganu (Terengganu Tengah)
- Elective Monarchy of Negeri Sembilan (Kuala Pilah)
- Kingdom of Perlis (Kangar)
- Melaka (Bandar Melaka)
- Pulau Pinang (George Town)

Federal Territories:
- Federal Territory of Putrajaya (federal administrative capital)
- Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (legislative capital)

East Malaysia, on Borneo

States (State capitals in parentheses):
- Sabah (Kota Kinabalu)
- Sarawak (Kuching)

Federal Territory:
- Federal Territory of Labuan (Bandar Labuan)

List in alphabetical order

Name	Capital	Region	Type	Pop.	Area (km²)	Density (/km²)	Abbr.	ISO	FIPS
Johor	Johor Bahru	West (Peninsula)	State	3,300,000	19,984	137.6	JHR	MY-01	MY01
Kedah	Alor Setar	West (Peninsula)	State	1,818,188	9,426	188.7	KDH	MY-02	MY02
Kelantan	Kota Bharu	West (Peninsula)	State	2,100,000	14,922	93.8	KTN	MY-03	MY03
Kuala Lumpur		West (Peninsula)	Fed. Terr.	1,887,674	243	7747.5	KUL	MY-14
Labuan	Bandar Labuan	East (Borneo)	Fed. Terr.	85,000	92	923.9	LBN	MY-15	MY15
Melaka	Bandar Melaka	West (Peninsula)	State	733,000	1,650	432.1	MLK	MY-04	MY04
Negeri Sembilan	Seremban	West (Peninsula)	State	1,004,807	6,645	137.4	NSN	MY-05	MY05
Pahang	Kuantan	West (Peninsula)	State	1,396,500	35,964	38.2	PHG	MY-06	MY06
Perak	Ipoh	West (Peninsula)	State	2,260,576	21,006	104.7	PRK	MY-08	MY07
Perlis	Kangar	West (Peninsula)	State	215,000	810	244.9	PLS	MY-09	MY08
Pulau Pinang	George Town	West (Peninsula)	State	1,503,000	1,046	1436.9	PNG	MY-07	MY09
Putrajaya		West (Peninsula)	Fed. Terr.	50,000	46	1087.0	PJY	MY-16
Sabah	Kota Kinabalu	East (Borneo)	State	3,387,880	76,115	32.2	SBH	MY-12	MY16
Selangor	Shah Alam	West (Peninsula)	State	7,200,000	7,956	905.0	SGR	MY-10	MY12
Sarawak	Kuching	East (Borneo)	State	2,500,000	124,450	19.1	SRW	MY-13	MY11
Terengganu	Kuala Terengganu	West (Peninsula)	State	1,150,286	12,955	83.0	TRG	MY-11	MY13

Codes and Abbreviations

Country and regional codes. Note that FIPS 10-4 and ISO 3166-2:MY codes are not interchangeable.

Regions	Abbreviation	ISO 3166-2:MY	FIPS 10-4^N1
Johor	JHR	MY-01	MY01
Kedah	KDH	MY-02	MY02
Kelantan	KTN	MY-03	MY03
Melaka^N2	MLK	MY-04	MY04
Negeri Sembilan	NSN	MY-05	MY05
Pahang	PHG	MY-06	MY06
Pulau Pinang^N2	PNG	MY-07	MY09
Perak	PRK	MY-08	MY07
Perlis	PLS	MY-09	MY08
Selangor	SGR	MY-10	MY12
Terengganu	TRG	MY-11	MY13
Sabah	SBH	MY-12	MY16
Sarawak	SRW	MY-13	MY11
W.P Kuala Lumpur	KUL	MY-14	–
W.P Labuan	LBN	MY-15	MY15
W.P Putrajaya	PJY	MY-16	–
Wilayah Persekutuan^N3	–	–	MY14

Governance

The nine Malay States have a hereditary Ruler as titular Head of state and a popularly elected, executive Chief Minister or Menteri Besar as politically responsible Head of government. The rulers of Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor and Terengganu are styled Sultans (typically Islamic). Only Negeri Sembilan's elective ruler holds the rare, autochthonous Malay title of Yang di-Pertuan Besar, whereas only the Ruler of Perlis is titled Raja (a relic from the Hindu period). The Federal King (titled Yang di-Pertuan Agong) is elected (de facto rotated) among the nine rulers to serve a 5-year term. Former British settlements and crown colonies of Penang and Malacca (both peninsular) and Sabah and Sarawak (both on Borneo) each have a federally appointed titular Governor (but styled Yang di-Pertua Negeri 'head of state') and an executive Chief Minister.

Theoretically, any matter not set out in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution of Malaysia can be legislated on by the individual states. However, legal scholars generally view this as a "pauper's bequest" because of the large scope of the matters listed in the Ninth Schedule. The courts themselves have generally favoured a broad interpretation of the language of the Ninth Schedule, thus limiting the number of possible subjects not covered. The Ninth Schedule specifically lists the following matters as those that can only be legislated on by the states: land tenure, the Islamic religion, and local government.^[1] Sabah and Sarawak have additional powers as part of the terms when they joined Malaysia, such as immigration controls.

The Parliament of Malaysia is permitted to legislate on issues of land, Islamic religion and local government in order to provide for a uniform law between different states, or on the request of the state assembly concerned. The law in question must also be passed by the state assembly as well, except in the case of certain land law-related subjects. Non-Islamic issues that fall under the purview of the state may also be legislated on at the federal level for the purpose of conforming with Malaysian treaty obligations.^[2]

Singapore and Brunei

Singapore was a Malaysian state from the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963 until Singapore separated from the rest of Malaysia on 9 August 1965.

Brunei was invited to join the federation but decided not to at the last minute because of several reasons, such as the status of the Sultan within Malaysia, division of royalties for Bruneian oil, and pressure from opposition groups which amounted to the Brunei Revolt.

Elections

2008 Malaysian general election

The Barisan National (BN), which comprises of the Malay-based United Malay National Organisation (UMNO), the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and other parties from East Malaysia, had ruled almost all of Malaysia since the independence of the country on August 31, 1957.

However in the general elections of 2008, the opposition front or Pakatan Rakyat consisting of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) and the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP) made history by unprecedentedly gaining control of five states and the Federal Territory.

PAS maintained its control of Kelantan, which it has had ruled for 18 years, and while it failed to recapture Terengganu as widely expected, it gained control of Kedah. In Kelantan, PAS rules by itself while in Kedah, it rules with the support of the PKR.

DAP gained Chinese-dominated Penang, and won the most seats by the opposition in Perak. However, it was not abled to rule Perak singly since its 19 seats fall far short of the majority needed for it to form a government. Currently, it is ruling Perak together with the support of the PKR and PAS representatives.

In a unique twist, the post of the chief minister of Perak did not go to DAP but to PAS. This is seen as a compromise in Perak where the majority population is Malay. The issue of the chief minister nearly caused a major rife within the Pakatan Rakyat or People's Alliance.

With the Perak chief ministership going to PAS, this party has three chief ministers with DAP and PKR one each.

The PKR gained Selangor, the most populated state of Malaysia which encircles the capital of Kuala Lumpur. Again, in Selangor, the PKR did not win enough seats and is ruling the state with PAS, which wins the second largest number of seats after the PKR, and DAP.

Recently in August 2008, Anwar Ibrahim, contested and won his old constituency of Permatang Pauh with a huge margin, returning him to parliament for the first time since he was charged and jailed for corruption and sexual crimes. Those crimes were recently declared bogus by the court. He is the de facto leader of both the PKR and the alliance. While he was incarcerated, his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had contested in Permatang Pauh, winning it three times in a row, lastly in the general elections of 2008. She gave up her seat to make way for Anwar Ibrahim.

It should be noted that their daughter contested the Lembah Pantai constituency in the Federal Territory in the same elections and won against the incumbent, a Federal Minister.

Key statistics

States of Malaysia by area

The areas are rounded to the nearest square kilometer or square mile. Percentages are given to the nearest tenth of a percent.

Rank	Name and flag	Total area (km²)	Total area (mi²)	Percentage of national total area
1	Sarawak	124,450	48,050	37.7%
2	Sabah	76,115	29,388	23.1%
3	Pahang	35,964	13,886	10.9%
4	Perak	21,006	8,111	6.4%
5	Johor	19,984	7,716	6.1%
6	Kelantan	14,922	5,761	4.5%
7	Terengganu	12,955	5,002	3.9%
8	Kedah	9,426	3,639	2.9%
9	Selangor	7,956	3,072	2.4%
10	Negeri Sembilan	6,645	2,566	2.0%
11	Malacca	1,650	637	0.5%
12	Pulau Pinang	1,046	404	0.3%
13	Perlis	810	313	0.3%
14	FT Kuala Lumpur	243	95	0.1%
15	FT Labuan	92	36	>0.1%
16	FT Putrajaya	46	18	>0.1%
Total	Malaysia	329,847	127,355	100.0%

States of Malaysia by population

All the figures in the list below are estimations for 2007.

Rank	Name and flag	Population	Percentage of national total population (approx.)	Population density (/km²)
1	Selangor	7,200,000	26.0%	905.0
2	Sabah	3,387,880	12.2%	32.2
3	Johor	3,300,000	11.9%	137.6
4	Sarawak	2,500,000	9.0%	19.1
5	Perak	2,260,576	8.2%	104.7
6	Kelantan	2,100,000	7.6%	93.8
7	FT Kuala Lumpur	1,887,674	6.8%	7747.5
8	Kedah	1,818,188	6.6%	188.7
9	Pulau Pinang	1,503,000	5.4%	1436.9
10	Pahang	1,396,500	5.0%	38.2
11	Terengganu	1,150,286	4.2%	83.0
12	Negeri Sembilan	1,004,807	3.6%	137.4
13	Malacca	733,000	2.6%	432.1
14	Perlis	215,000	0.8%	244.9
15	FT Labuan	85,000	0.3%	923.9
16	FT Putrajaya	50,000	0.2%	1087.0
Total	Malaysia	27,730,000	100.0%	83

Notes

^ The code MY10 is not used in FIPS 10-4 but was used for FIPS 10-3^[3] (for Sabah)
^ Territories named in official language for both FIPS 10-4 and ISO 3166-2:MY code lists^[4]
^ Wilayah Persekutuan defined as the territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. Used by FIPS only

References

^ Wu, Min Aun & Hickling, R. H. (2003). Hickling's Malaysian Public Law, pp. 64–65. Petaling Jaya: Pearson Malaysia. ISBN 983-74-2518-0.
^ Wu & Hickling, pp. 65–66.
^ USAid Geocode
^ MaxMind GeoIP

External links

Local government in Malaysia

[1] Wu, Min Aun & Hickling, R. H. (2003). Hickling's Malaysian Public Law, pp. 64–65. Petaling Jaya: Pearson Malaysia. ISBN 983-74-2518-0.

[2] Wu & Hickling, pp. 65–66.

[3] USAid Geocode

[4] MaxMind GeoIP

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e States and federal territories of Malaysia
Capital: Kuala Lumpur
States	Johor Kedah Kelantan Malacca Negeri Sembilan Pahang Penang Perak Perlis Sabah Sarawak Selangor Terengganu
Federal Territories	Kuala Lumpur Labuan Putrajaya
Former states	Singapore

v t e Articles on first-level administrative divisions of Asian countries
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