The Malaysian Association of Social Workers (MASW) was formed on the 3rd of March 1973, and registered with the Registrar of Societies on the 28th of March 1974 (ROS 1387 Selangor). Its formation was the result of a general agreement among professional social workers from social welfare services, general hospitals and the then University Hospital, University of Malaya, that there should be one umbrella body to unite social workers from different fields of expertise, to meet their professional needs and to promote and maintain the quality of social work practice and education in the country.
Before that, the medical social workers in hospitals had already established a Malayan Association of Almoners in 1968, which was later re-named the Malaysian Association of Medical Social Workers (MAMSW). Their members had been successful in obtaining professional recognition from the Public Services Department (Pekeliling Perkhidmatan Bil. 9/1977), were active in promoting social work related activities on a regular basis, and were instrumental in lobbying for improved salaries and a scheme of service for hospital social workers.
With the consensus of the majority, it was seen as necessary to include the Social Welfare Officers who were also social work trained, as a wider network of fellow members, to give the profession more strength in numbers and greater unity in promoting its objectives. Thus, the MAMSW was dissolved on the 16th of May 1975, and the Malaysian Association of Professional Social Workers (MAPSW) was born. In 1989, the word Professional was removed from its name. It has since been known as the Malaysian Association of Social Workers (MASW).
