There are plenty of books on federal government and polities in Malaysia but very few on local governments. Yet it is the level of government that is closer to us and impacts our lives most directly, and is the one least understood by the average person in the street. This book addresses that problem. Local Democracy Denied? Take a unique and comprehensive approach to discussing local government - one that is political, analytical, personal, historical, and forward looking. It begins with an author’s personal journey to becoming a councilor for six years on the Penang Island City Council, as a representative of civil society. It then provides a brief history of how local councilors. There follow an examination of the structure of local government, its relationship with state government, and some of the crucial functions it performs - planning, enforcement , and provision of urban services, filled with real stories of how council decisions are made and implemented, and the frequent gap between the two. The books ends with a call to revive local democracy by strengthening puclic participation in local government, empowering it and restoring local election preferably based an proportional representation rather than first past the post.