During the last decades of the Galactic Republic up to the Clone Wars, the Malastarian council, led by Doge Nakha Urus, governed the Dug species, providing defense and conducting bilateral relations. It is unknown whether the Council represented Malastare in the Galactic Senate since that was occupied by Gran senators from the Gran Protectorate. During the Clone Wars, Malastare's substantial fuel reserves caught the attention of the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which both need the fuel to power their starships. While the Gran Protectorate controlled Malastare's senatorial representation, the Dug-dominated Malastarian Council still retained control of the planet's substantial fuel reserves.
Around 21 BBY, a massive Separatist droid army invaded Malastare. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Malastarian council appealed for the Republic, which dispatched clone troopers and Jedi reinforcements. However, the Republic reinforcements and their Dug allies were still outnumbered two-to-one by the larger droid army. When it appeared that the Republic would lose, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine authorized the deployment of the prototype superweapon the electro-proton bomb, which immobilized the droid forces rapidly, wiping out resistance.
However, the blast opened a crater and the ensuing uproar stirred a Zillo Beast, the last of a gargantuan ancient species that had preyed on the sapient Dug natives in ancient times. The enraged beast emerged from its crater and rampaged through the emaciated Republic and Dug lines, inflicting heavy casualties and much chaos. Fearing an apocalyptic doom, the Malastarian council demanded that the Republic destroy the Zillo beast or they would not ratify the treaty and provide the Republic with fuel.
The fuel treaty is signed
Believing that this would lead to the death of an innocent life form, Windu refused but was overruled by Palpatine who publicly agreed to destroy the monster. However, he and Skywalker secretly arranged to immobilize the beast and have it transported to an undisclosed Outer Rim world for scientific research. Using several stun tanks, the Jedi incapacitated the beast with an energy beam that knocked it unconscious, making it appear to be dead.
With both the Separatists and the Zillo Beast eliminated, the Council convened and granted permission for the Republic to use Malastare's fuel reserves to power its expanded star fleet which was engaged against Separatist forces across the span of the galaxy. In reality, the Zillo Beast was not dead but had been shipped to the galactic capital Coruscant to be studied under a contained environment following a change of plans. Still, the treaty afforded Malastare's place as a key Republic member-world throughout the Clone Wars and the subsequent Imperial Period.
The Malastarian council was first introduced in "The Zillo Beast," an episode in the 2009-10 second season of the The Clone Wars television series. It confirmed Malastare's role as a key Republic member world during the Clone Wars. However, the episode's portrayal of a governing Dug administration capable of providing defense and conducting foreign relations contradicts several other sources which place the immigrant Gran and the Gran Protectorate as the de facto government of Malastare. These sources also stated that the dominant Gran disenfranchised and stripped the indigenous Dugs of political power. This problem is retconned away by Leland Chee's explanation that the Dug-dominated Malastarian council rather than the Gran Protectorate controlled Malastare's fuel resources, thus explaining the need for a separate treaty with the Republic.