Publication

The Political Economy of Federal State Relations : How the Centre influence resources distribution

The changes in Malaysia’s recent political landscape are meaningful and consequential on the country’s complex dynamics of federal-state relations. Historically a contested relationship where the centre influences much of the resource allocation and distribution to the periphery, this policy paper traces how this took shape during the early years of Malaysia’s formation and brings to the fore current developments. It argues that the federal government has strategically determined resource allocation through a number of means including through party-centred state administrations, administrative encroachment for greater political control, constitutional and legal requirements and by use of the politico-bureaucratic complex. The paper ends by proposing several recommendations that the government should consider for future adoption.