Location States of Malaysia | ||
 | ||
Category Second-level administrative division Populations Greatest: Petaling District, Selangor—1,812,633 (2010)
Least: Cameron Highlands District, Pahang—38,471 (2010) Areas Largest: Kapit Division, Sarawak—38,934 sq km
Smallest: Southwest Penang Island District, Penang—121 sq km Government City hall, city council, municipal council, district council (in all states and Kuala Lumpur)
Corporation (in Labuan and Putrajaya)
Local authority (in Kulim, Kedah)
Town board (in Kudat, Sabah)
Development authority (in Bintulu, Sarawak) Subdivisions Mukim (Parish)
Daerah (District) (Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak) | ||
District (Malay: Daerah; Jajahan in Kelantan and Bahagian in Sabah and Sarawak) is a type of administrative division below the state level in Malaysia. An administrative district is administered by lands and district office (e.g. Petaling Lands and District Office) which is headed by district officer.
In Peninsular Malaysia, a district is a subdivision of a state. A mukim is a subdivision of a district. The mukim is however of less importance with respect to the administration of land.
In East Malaysia, a district is a subdivision of a division 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. In Sarawak, some districts are further divided into sub-districts (daerah kecil; literally "small district") before the mukim level.
An administrative district can be distinguished from a local government area where the former deals with land administration and revenue while the latter deals with the planning and delivery of basic infrastructure to its inhabitants. Administrative district boundaries are usually coextensive with local government area boundaries but may sometimes differ especially in urbanised areas. For example, the local government of Petaling District in Selangor are administrated by Petaling Jaya City Council, Shah Alam City Council and Subang Jaya Municipal Council; or even the local government of both Northeast Penang Island District and Southwest Penang Island District in Penang are administrated by Penang Island City Council.