ABSTRACT
Legislators as lawmakers find themselves facing difficulties not only in developing countries, but also in those that pride themselves on their democratic vitality. By elucidating the activities of Malaysian MPs with respect to the multiple dimensions of representation, it should be possible to proceed beyond the superficially convincing proposition that developing legislatures exert little or no “policymaking” influence. Observers of Malaysian politics have noted the decisionmaking weaknesses of the legislature from a variety of perspectives. A virtue of the expanded view of policymaking is that it encompasses both collective and individual activities of legislators. Research on legislatures in developing nations indicates that individual legislators perform a number of important functions for the government and polity. The linkage activities of Malaysian MPs would appear to provide communication from the district as a political entity and not merely from individuals within the district. MPs saw a variety of linkage activities as important to their role in the implementation of the housing policy.
