Malaysia Information

Discover & Explore Malaysia

Malaysia is a small country that covers a land mass of 329,847 km², divided between Peninsular Malaysia in the west and the northern part of Borneo in the east. The deforestation rate here is one of the highest in the world, with scarcely any primary rainforest left in Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo being rapidly depleted. The total population is around 27 million people with a multi-racial society consisting of Chinese, Indians, Malays and Indigenous Tribes. The country's political system is determined by autocratic democracy.

Shopping is a major lure for conventional tourists to Malaysia. Expansive malls and large shopping complexes are a common sight in the large cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Georgetown and Johor Bahru. The favourable exchange rate and low prices make Malaysia a popular destination for shopping for tourists from developed countries in Europe, Asia and Australia.

The country's administration is also driven by iconic mega-development and emulating past human achievements from international countries in an attempt to make themselves more known to the world. This includes building a pair of spherical structures known as the Petronas Twin Towers which was at one point, technically considered the tallest buidling in the world, due to their overstretched pinnacles. It has long been surpassed.

Other endeavours over the past decade include building a mega-township and multimedia corridoor near Sepang and Klang by clearing a large area of ecologically-rich mangrove swamps near Sepang and Klang, but which still remains undensely populated and facilities under-utilised today. Also, the administration recently sent in 2007 their first space tourist, a Malay model, to join a departing Russian expedition of cosmonauts, as part of a US1 billion deal with Russia to buy several Sukhoi jet fighters.

Motorcycles make up a large component of vehicles on the road, at almost 50% while trucks, cars and BMX bicycles make up the rest. Proton is a local vehicle marque that accounts for the second largest majority of the cars on the road, due to the exorbitant tax structure placed on cars made by international names. The trophy for most-widely used vehicle brand goes to Perodua, which happens to be a local name plastered on previous generation Daihatsu models.

In Kuala Lumpur, the city is served by the Rapid KL busline, which takes an average of one hour to pick-up waiting commuters from any station, as well as a series of light transit systems that use small electric-powered trains which run on suspended concrete tracks and subway tunnels. Plans are also afoot to build a new highway in traffic-laden Penang Island, which will remove a great deal of Penang's green landscape in the north.

The Chinese have a long historical and economic role in Malaysia. Despite a lack of financial support or constitutional benefits, the Chinese, which form 24 percent of the population, transformed Malaysia into a partly-modern landscape and propelled commercial development to make Malaysia able to stand on its feet among Southeast Asian nations.

However, the Chinese in Malaysia are generally a fixated group that will avoid any issue of political bearing, especially those that may affect their economic role and position. The lions-with-sheep-heart dance effectively portrays this situation. Otherwise, the oriental culture is full of fascinating elemets of tradition, tempered with modernity in today's broadband-connected and Starbucks-fueled lifestyle.

In Peninsular Malaysia, the Indigenous People are known collectively as the Orang Asli, though it is better to refer to them by their individual tribe names like Temuan, Jakun and Semai. These colourful people live mainly in or along the fringes of rainforests. Today, many have adopted a modern lifestyle and partake in permanent agriculture, a huge leap from their traditional hunting and gathering resource from the jungle. Like most indigenous tribes around the world, they are highly-marginalised in society and often deprieved of their ancestral land in the name of modern projects.

Their traditional culture and land have suffered much over the decades from commercial oppression, and today the people are living the effects of being undermined by rapid development. Meeting these people will allow you to catch a glimpse of their unique lively hood and communal fellowship, and develop a deeper understanding and respect for them in the process. This article is meant to enlighten international readers from the author's perspective, but you should still visit Malaysia for the wonders of nature that still exist.