What You'd Never Think to Ask But I'm Telling You Anyway

Most Malaysians are soft spoken. There are some loud ones, stay away from them but Malaysians are quite a polite bunch.

Remember to remove your shoes when you enter someone elses house or dwelling. Unlike Westerners who wear shoes in the house, we Asians are lazy and dont like to clean our house much, so we avoid using shoes in the house.

It is customary to bring some small gifts when visiting someone for the first time. Dont bring alcohol if you're visiting a Muslim friend as Muslims do not take alcolhol or pork.

Women are as safe in Malaysia as in any other country. But of course, be aware of dark and seedy places and more importantly, be wary of snatch thieves on motor cycles. These people are a menance to the society and the local police are helpless in doing anything (the local police arent very good anyway).

You will find that English is spoken everywhere in the country as we learn English as a subject in school. And English is predominantly the language of choice in the private sector. The government sector, on the other hand, uses Bahasa Melayu or Malay in most of the dealings. Although government servants know a little English, its best to take a local along who can speak Malay.

Malaysia's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is primarily driven by oil.

The national oil company, Petronas is a huge giant in Malaysia and also a world player in the petroleum industry. Oil in Malaysia is primarily offshore - in the waters of Terengganu, Kelantan and mostly off the water of Sabah. Malaysia's first deep water project was the Kikeh Development Project, at 1550m deep.

Malaysia's economy is a mnufacturing based economy. Penang island is also known as the Silicon Valley of South East Asia as all the major semiconductor giants like Dell, Motorola, Intel, AMD are based there. Malaysia also has its own car - Proton.

The quality of the car has improved over the years, while still not world class because of the requirement to source material from local vendors who are hardly competent in what they do, Proton still lags behind the Japanese in terms of quality and reliability. But its cars are priced cheaper than foreign cars (which are heavily taxed to help Proton survive).

Malaysia also has a second car company, Perodua, known for making compact cars.

Over the years, Perodua has overtaken Proton as the market leader with better quality control. Malaysians prefer to purchase a Perodua because of th fewer defects in the car as compared to a Proton. This is mainly because Perodua is a joint venture with Daihatsu, the Japanese car company and Daihatsu has a tight rein over the quality control programme at Perodua.

However, from an engineering point of view, the engineers at Proton are much superior than those at Perodua since all engineering design and modifications are done back in Japan. Whereas in Proton, local engineers make all the design improvements and learn from trial and error.

Another notable Malaysian company is CTRM which is the largest producer of composite components for the behemoth Airbus A380.

A Little Bit of History

During the late 18th and 19th centuries, Great Britain established colonies and protectorates in the area of current Malaysia; these were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. In 1948, the British-ruled territories on the Malay Peninsula formed the Federation of Malaya, which became independent in 1957. Malaysia was formed in 1963 when the former British colonies of Singapore and the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern coast of Borneo joined the Federation. The first several years of the country's history were marred by Indonesian efforts to control Malaysia, Philippine claims to Sabah, and Singapore's secession from the Federation in 1965. During the 22-year term of Prime Minister MAHATHIR bin Mohamad (1981-2003), Malaysia was successful in diversifying its economy from dependence on exports of raw materials, to expansion in manufacturing, services, and tourism.

Location

Southeastern Asia, peninsula bordering Thailand and northern one-third of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia, Brunei, and the South China Sea, south of Vietnam.
Geographical coordinates : 2 30 N, 112 30 E
Malaysia is roughly the same size as New Mexico.

People

Population : 24.5 million as of June, 2006.
Ethnic groups : Malay 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, Indigenous 11%, Indian 7.1%, others 7.8% (2004 est.)
Religion : Muslim, Buddhist, Daoist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh; note - in addition, Shamanism is practiced in East Malaysia
Languages : Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai
note: in East Malaysia there are several indigenous languages; most widely spoken are Iban and Kadazan

Capital

The capital of Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur. With a population of roughly 3 million, Kuala Lumpur was discovered by miner Yap Ah Loy.

Kuala Lumpur had its origins in the 1850s, when the Malay Chief of Klang sent Chinese upriver from China to open new and larger tin mines where Kuala Lumpur previously is rich in tins. They landed at the confluence of Sungai Gombak (previously Sg. Lumpur, which means Muddy River) and Sungai Klang (Klang River) and established mines at Ampang. Later, tin mines were opened at Pudu and Batu.

This trading post was a wild frontier town plagued by floods, fires, disease and the Selangor Civil War. During this time, Kapitan Cina Yap Ah Loy emerged as a leader, responsible for the survival and growth of the town. In 1880 in view of its strategic location, the Selangor state capital was moved from Klang to Kuala Lumpur. Nothing of this earlier period remains as all structures were of wood and atap (thatch) which were destroyed in the fire and subsequent flood of 1881.

Thereafter, Frank Swettenham, the British Resident of Selangor who was instrumental in the development of the town, required that buildings be constructed of brick and tile. The advent of the railway increased accessibility. The development of buildings intensified in the 1890s so that it warranted the establishment of a Sanitary Board. In 1896, Kuala Lumpur was chosen as the capital of the newly formed Federated Malay States.

Climate

If you like the sun all year long, then Malaysia is the place for you! But you have to stand the rain!