State governments of Malaysia in the context of "Government of Malaysia"

Malaysia is a federation of thirteen states and three federal territories, which form the primary administrative divisions of the country. Eleven states and two territories are part of Peninsular Malaysia, while two states and one territory make up East Malaysia. Nine of the Peninsular states have monarchies, with the other four having appointed governors. State governments are led by chief ministers, who are appointed by the monarch or governor, provided they have the support of a majority in the state legislative assembly. The federal territories are governed directly by the national government.

Malaysia was formed through the union of various territories ruled by the United Kingdom in British Malaya and British Borneo. The federal system was created to maintain the status of the Malay sultans, who were the rulers of British protectorates in the Malay Peninsula. The Federation of Malaya was created in 1948, uniting these protectorates with two directly ruled British colonies. Malaya became independent in 1957. In 1963, Sabah and Sarawak, along with Singapore, joined with Malaya to form Malaysia. Singapore was expelled in 1965. The three federal territories–Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya–were created later, from land separated from existing states.

In Malaysia, a state legislative assembly, officially Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN), is the legislative branch of the state governments in each of the 13 Malaysian states. Members of a state legislative assembly comprises elected representatives from single-member constituencies during state elections through the first-past-the-post voting system.

The assemblies have powers to enact state laws as provided for by the Constitution of Malaysia. The majority party in each assembly forms the state government, and the leader of the majority party becomes Menteri Besar (for states with hereditary rulers) or Chief Minister (for states without hereditary rulers) of the state.