Hj Ali, Zuraidah and Abdul Manaf, Zati Ilham (2026) The Trustees (Incorporation) Act 1952 [Act 258]: assessing its effectiveness in contemporary trust governance. In: ICLAS IX The 9th International Conference on Law and Society Navigating Justice in the AI-Driven Society Through Harmonisation of Laws 22–24 September 2026, 22–24 September 2026, INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA.
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Abstract
The Trustees (Incorporation) Act 1952 (Act 258) is the principal legislation enabling charitable, religious, educational and public-benefit bodies in Malaysia to incorporate their trustees and hold trust property. After more than seventy years, the Act struggles to meet the governance needs of contemporary charitable organisations, owing to outdated provisions, limited regulatory oversight, procedural uncertainty, and the absence of both a comprehensive governance framework and a single regulatory authority for charities. This article evaluates the effectiveness of Act 258 in promoting governance, accountability and oversight. Adopting a doctrinal methodology, the study reads Act 258 together with the Trustee Act 1949, the Trustees (Incorporation) (Amendment) Act 2024, judicial decisions, and the frameworks of the United Kingdom and Singapore. It finds that the 2024 amendment meaningfully strengthens transparency, inspection and sanction by introducing a beneficial-ownership register, inspection and suspension powers, accounts inspection on demand, disclosure, and compounding; however, it still leaves several deficiencies. In particular, it does not contain a comprehensive interpretation section, an administrative mechanism for trustee succession, a right of appeal or reinstatement against revocation, post-revocation enforcement, or clarity on the public-body status of publicly-funded bodies. The article argues that comprehensive reform remains necessary to modernise Malaysia's trustee-incorporation framework and align it with international best practice.
| Item Type: | Proceeding Paper (Plenary Papers) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Act 258; trustee incorporation; charitable governance; regulatory oversight; legislative reform |
| Subjects: | K Law > K Law (General) |
| Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button): | Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws > Department of Civil Law |
| Depositing User: | Dr Zati Ilham Abdul Manaf |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Oct 2026 09:26 |
| Last Update: | 22 Oct 2026 09:26 |
| Queue Number: | 2026-10-Q5758 |
| URI: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/131947 |
| Indexed In: | UNSPECIFIED |
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