Counted per resident, Sarawak’s interior and Putrajaya get the most federal contract money; counted in total, Kuala Lumpur does
We read every federal tender and quotation award the Treasury published for January 2023 to September 2026, RM 103.6 billion in all, and placed each in the district where its title says the work is done. Per resident, Belaga (RM 3,018 a year), Putrajaya (RM 2,992) and Julau lead, and Selangor trails every state at RM 185 against RM 387 nationally; in total, Kuala Lumpur leads with RM 3.7 billion in tenders. We also asked whether a ministry places more money in its own minister’s or deputy minister’s seat. Across 169 terms since January 2021 it does not, on the whole, though single seats stand out.
Built from public data only: the Treasury’s MyProcurement award results, DOSM population, land area and parliamentary seat outlines, DOSM’s 2024 household income survey, and the cabinets as Wikipedia lists them. Money is placed where the work is done, never where the ministry or the contractor sits. The data is correct as of the study date, 15 October 2026, revised 16 October 2026; the study is not refreshed after it. Corrected 16 October 2026: results the archive published twice are now counted once (RM 0.5 billion), so the total fell from RM 104.1 to RM 103.6 billion and Belaga from RM 3,124 to RM 3,018 per resident a year.
The study in 2 minutes: one award placed in Belaga by its title, the 57% of tender money that names a district, and that money counted three ways, with a different leader each time: Kuala Lumpur in total, Putrajaya per km² of land, Belaga per resident. AI narration; captions in English.
Per resident a yearUnder RM 230 36 districtsRM 230–370 30 districtsRM 370–490 29 districtsRM 490–700 33 districtsRM 700 or more 32 districts
Belaga, Putrajaya and Julau receive the most tender money per resident; nine of the next eleven districts are also in Sarawak.
Belaga RM 3,018 a year, Putrajaya RM 2,992, Julau RM 2,949, Kapit RM 2,053, against RM 387 nationally. Most of the interior’s money is Education’s: RM 1,251 per resident a year in Belaga, RM 1,788 in Julau and RM 1,175 in Kapit. A district with few residents can top this list on a handful of contracts.
How a district ranks depends on how it is counted.
In total, the big cities lead: Kuala Lumpur (RM 3.7 billion in tenders), Johor Bahru and Petaling. Per km² of land, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur lead. Per resident, small districts lead, because a few contracts go a long way among few people; the technical study measures how much of that spread is chance.
Rural districts receive more tender money per resident than towns and cities: RM 540 a year against RM 343.
Grouped by density, rural districts (under 150 residents per km²) lead suburban (RM 331) and urban (RM 343) ones. Quotations, the smaller purchases, are level: RM 91 to 94 in every group.
Selangor receives the least per resident of any state, for tenders and for quotations.
RM 185 a year in tenders and RM 63 in quotations, against RM 387 and RM 93 nationally. Johor (RM 287) and Kedah (RM 297) are next lowest for tenders; Putrajaya (RM 2,992) and Labuan (RM 1,135) the highest.
Poorer districts receive more tender money per resident, not less.
Split into fifths by median household income, the poorest fifth of districts (1.8 million residents) received RM 534 per resident a year in tenders and the richest (17.9 million) RM 337. For quotations the fifths are close: RM 80 to 103. District by district, the link with income is weak.
Education and Health hold 54% of the money; services are half of it.
Of RM 103.6 billion in tenders and quotations, Education’s is RM 33.4 billion and Health’s RM 22.4 billion. By category, services are RM 52.6 billion, supplies RM 33.8 billion and works RM 16.0 billion.
Ministers’ own seats
A ministry does not, on the whole, place more of its money in its own minister’s seat.
We followed every minister and deputy minister who held a Dewan Rakyat seat from January 2021 to September 2026, through the Muhyiddin, Ismail Sabri and Anwar cabinets: 221 terms, 169 with enough awards to test. For each term we set the ministry’s money placed in the holder’s own seat against what the seat’s share of every other ministry’s money would give it (its pull), and ranked the seat among all 222 on that ratio. On average the holder’s seat ranked at the 50th percentile, where chance puts it; 20 landed in the top tenth, where chance puts 17. Had each holder’s seat received one extra fair share of its ministry’s money, the average would have been the 87th. Of the 165 terms where both can be measured, 81 show a higher ratio during the term than outside it: a coin toss.
Four terms in detail
Single seats still stand out, in both directions. These are the four terms the technical study discusses; it lists all 221.
Ahmad Maslan, Deputy Minister of Works, member for Pontian (P.164)
Works placed RM 38.0 million in Pontian from December 2023 to September 2026, against RM 3.1 million from the seat’s pull: the 97th percentile. It is one award, the upgrading and widening of the Pontian Besar bridge on Federal Route 5.
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Minister of Rural and Regional Development, member for Bagan Datuk (P.075)
The ministry placed RM 22.7 million in Bagan Datuk from December 2022 to September 2026, against RM 5.7 million: the 87th percentile. RM 20.9 million of it is one award, the upgrading of the road to Bagan Sungai Burung.
Fadhlina Sidek, Minister of Education, member for Nibong Tebal (P.047)
Education placed RM 10.9 million in Nibong Tebal from December 2022 to September 2026, against RM 22.3 million: the 36th percentile.
Alexander Nanta Linggi, Minister of Works, member for Kapit (P.215)
Works placed none of its seat-attributable money in Kapit from December 2022 to September 2026, against RM 26.9 million: the 3rd percentile.
A ranking, not a finding about any person: a seat can rank high because work there was due, and tender boards, not ministers, award contracts. Money placed in a seat is an estimate from the award’s title.
Read the full study.The five-page technical study behind this summary is open to everyone: every district counted three ways and how much of the spread is chance, the money by category and ministry in each district, where the winning firms are based, and all 221 ministerial terms.
Limits: a contract is placed by its title, at its accepted price, not what was finally paid. 57% of the tender money (71% of quotations) names a place we could pin to a district; state-wide, national and unplaced money is left out of the district figures, never spread over them. Where a title names no district, an AI model read it. Residents are DOSM’s 2024 estimates. In the seat test, only money that can be pinned to one seat counts: 60% of the placed money; an award naming only a district split between seats is left out rather than shared. Senators who held posts have no seat and are not tested, nor are the 52 terms that were too short or placed too few awards in seats. The test finds broad patterns; it cannot rule out a single favour, nor show why any seat ranks where it does.