This baseline study looks at the local government system in West Malaysia, focusing on the interrelated issues of its structure and powers, its governance conditions, finance, and inter-governmental relations. In its concluding part, the study investigates the extent of public participation in local government decision-making, especially in view of the controversial absence of local elections.

The main conclusions reached are that local government lacks sufficient autonomy to improve its performance, and that local democracy needs to be restored as part of a general and overdue revamping of the local government system