The
Federal Legislative Council (also known simply as the
Legislative Council) was the legislative body of the
Federation of MalayaThe Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...
and the predecessor of the
Malaysian ParliamentThe Parliament of Malaysia is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The King as the Head of State is the third component of Parliament....
. It was formed in 1948 after the abolition of the
Malayan UnionThe Malayan Union was a federation of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single government so as to simplify administration. The Malayan Union later became the independent...
and the formation of the Federation, as part of the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's promise to grant self-rule to the Malayans. The council convened in
Kuala LumpurKuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
.
The council was composed of representatives from the
MalayMalays are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...
, the Chinese and the Indian communities. Initially, all representatives were appointed by the
British High Commissioner for Malaya.
In 1955,
a general electionGeneral elections were held in Malaya on 27 July 1955, the only general elections before Malaya's independence in 1957. It was held to elect members of the Federal Legislative Council, which prior to this was fully appointed by the British High Commissioner in Malaya.The election was the first in...
was held for the first time. 52 seats were contested, with the majority party earning the right to appoint seven more. In the election, the Alliance Party contested all 52 seats and won 51, while the Pan-Malayan Islamic Party won the remaining seat. Following the elections, Raja Uda Raja Muhammad was elected as the Speaker of the Council, similar to the present
Speaker of the Dewan RakyatThe Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat is the presiding officer of the Dewan Rakyat, the lower house of the Parliament of Malaysia. He is responsible for convening sessions of the Dewan Rakyat, organising debates, and examining the admissibility of petitions, bills and amendments.In the absence of the...
.
The Federal Legislative Council passed the Malayan Constitution (later, the
Malaysian ConstitutionThe Federal Constitution of Malaysia, which came into force in 1957, is the supreme law of Malaysia. The Federation was initially called the Federation of Malaya and it adopted its present name, Malaysia, when the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined the Federation...
) on August 15, 1957. Malaya gained independence on August 31, 1957.