Balancing Central Authority and Regional Autonomy: A Comparative Study of Federalism in Pakistan and Malaysia

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to measure the degree of autonomy in Pakistan and Malaysia to their regional governments in the capacity of federal States. The society where there diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups are surviving definitely the rise of two opposite forces like Unity and Diversity is unavoidable. The federalism is system consciously adopted as a means of solving such problems to retain the distinct identity in a diverse society. This research also explored the historical perspective behind the establishment of federations, the Pakistan and the Malaysia by adopting qualitative and exploratory method of research .The data was collected by the various sources of research. The basic source was used for data collection is the constitutions of both the countries. The constitution is a living document and used as a primary source. The collected data has been analyzed through the comparative methodology and resultantly concluded that the federating units of Pakistan are more autonomous as compare to the federating units of Malaysia except Sabah and Sarawak. Despite it the autonomy of federating units of Pakistan varies from time to time. Malaysian federation is more centralized federation and Pakistan is less centralized federation. The study recommended that Malaysia should consider bringing the amendment in the constitution for elected head of State and a few of articles regarding the autonomy of federating units.