22 nd International Association of Historians of Asia (IAHA), Surakarta (Solo), Central Java, Indonesia 2 nd -5 th July 2012 1 A STUDY ON SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE LOCAL AUTHORITY IN SARAWAK FROM CUSTOMER’S PERSPECTIVE: EXPERIENCE FROM THE PAST AND CHALLENGES FOR BETTER FUTURE URBANIZATION NONI HARIANTI JUNAIDI 1 ASSOC. PROF. DR DANI SALLEH 2 Abstract In Sarawak, local authorities were established under the Local Authority Ordinance 1996. This ordinance is the successor of pre-independence law, the Local Government Ordinance 1948. Other laws regulating the running of local authorities in Sarawak include Building Ordinance 1994, Protection of Public Health Ordinance 1999 as well as by-laws formulated under these main laws. The state Ministry of Local Government and Community Development is responsible for overseeing the running of local authorities in the state. Local authorities are responsible to fulfill the people’s needs. This paper focuses on the services provided by local authority in the respective area. Some local authorities in Sarawak are inexperience when it comes to competing in the open market where knowledge on customer needs and wants are needed. This paper, used historiographic method by referring to primary sources such as official documents and records deposited in Sarawak State Archive, as well as secondary sources including newspapers, books and journal articles and, through a survey which has been conducted using questionnaires distributed to the respondents. In addition, observation was also conducted at the scavenging area of the respective local authority. This study aimed to find alternatives in identifying and improving the level of customers’ satisfaction of local authority services of their present customer, the public. For the purpose of this study, the researchers focused on Serian District Council (SDC). Hopefully this study will help the management to retain the present customers and to attract future customers to continue using the services provided by the local authority. The findings also indicated that the public were dissatisfied with some of the services and activities carried out by the respective local authority for example, the schedule of garbage collection. This study is significant for the preparation of better future urbanization in the local authority area. 1 Senior lecturer in Universiti Teknologi MARA, SARAWAK Branch Campus, 94300 Kota Samarahan, SARAWAK. Email address: noniehj@sarawak.uitm.edu.my 2 Assoc. Prof. (PhD) in College of Law, Government & International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok 06010, Kedah, Malaysia. Email address: danihome36@gmail.com