The call for the revival of local elections was raised again last year by a DAP leader following the abrupt departure of Kuala Lumpur mayor Maimunah Sharif a little over a year after being appointed.
Proponents of local elections argue that elections would ensure more transparent governance; however, detractors tend to argue along communal lines, insisting that one ethnic group would end up monopolising posts, leading to possible racial conflicts.
Local elections were held in the past before being suspended in 1965 and effectively abolished a year later. FMT takes a look back at the issue.
Birth of local elections
Kuala Lumpur held its first municipal council election in 1952, a year after George Town.
Kuala Lumpur Umno and Selangor MCA formed a sucessful alliance to contest the municipal election, winning nine out of 12 seats. The partnership also notched subsequent victories in other municipal elections throughout the 1950s.
However, the local council elections scheduled for 1965 and 1966 were suspended after a state of emergency was declared because of the Indonesia–Malaysia Confrontation.
A royal commission set up in 1965 called for local elections to be restored; however, the federal government decided against it and enacted the Local Government Act 1976, effectively suspending local elections.
The law empowers state governments to appoint mayors, presidents, and councillors, rather than having them elected by the public.
In 2008, the Pakatan Harapan-led states of Penang and Selangor attempted to revive the polls, to meet election promises, but to no avail.
In 2021, then housing and local government minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican also rejected the implementation of local government elections due to the high cost – an estimated RM2 million for every local council.
In February 2024, Nga Kor Ming, the current housing and local government minister, said local council elections were not a priority as there were other areas his ministry was focusing on such as road safety and cleaner public toilets and drains.
What critics say now
And while the feasibility study on a DBKL election is still under way, several leaders from Umno, PAS and Bersatu have come out to oppose the election.
PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan said there were more pertinent issues to be addressed, adding the arguments that the polls would lead to a more efficient City Hall (DBKL) was “overly simplistic, naive and misguided”.
Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi raised the spectre of such polls being influenced by “gangsters” who would back certain candidates, while Bersatu information chief Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz had previously said Kuala Lumpur needed an efficient administrator to manage the capital, instead of local elections.
What KL residents want
A 2025 survey conducted by Invoke, an NGO linked to PKR’s Rafizi Ramli, revealed that more than half of the residents in Kuala Lumpur , or 62%, preferred to elect a mayor, while 28% were in favour of the mayor being appointed by the federal government. The remaining 10% of residents were unsure.
A breakdown of the survey, which involved 700 residents, revealed that three-quarters of Indian and Chinese respondents were in favour of city elections, but only 52% of Malays were in favour. Malays comprise half of Kuala Lumpur’s population.
Official statistics show that 2.07 million people are residents of the capital, including both citizens and non-citizens.
Invoke’s survey also showed that 40% had concerns of ethnic tension should local elections be held, while 25% had concerns about KL remaining under federal authority, and 19% had concerns about economic uncertainty.
The way forward?
In December, PKR’s Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad had, along with six other Pakatan Harapan MPs, proposed for the introduction of a council system comprising councillors nominated by Kuala Lumpur MPs and chaired by the mayor.
Parti Sosialis Malaysia had opposed the idea on grounds it would shut residents out of deciding who represents them, as MPs would choose the nominees, while residents are limited to merely voting for those selected.
Nik Nazmi defended his proposal at a recent forum, saying that direct elections would be too complicated and unrealistic
Seputeh MP Teresa Kok said in order to push for local government or mayoral elections, the current governance structure in KL must be improved first, adding that the capital was plagued by administrative issues.