ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the historical development of the agency between central leaders and local elites in Malaysia (formerly Malaya). Specifically, it illustrates how the initial electoral setbacks inspired and justified the central leaders’ initiative to establish centralized, politico-bureaucratic machinery. It did so by weakening state-level bureaucratic and party organizations in exchange for credible compensation for mobilization costs. The insufficiency of self-financing local elites and the central leaders’ dependence on the cooperation of local elites for electoral mobilization and effective development policies led to mutual investment to develop agency between a central leader and local legislators.
