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
Sarawak and
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==