Malaysia Is Made up of Two Geographical Regions . Peninsular Malaysia Or West Malaysia

July 2012 SQM

MALAYSIA

THE COUNTRY

Malaysia is made up of two geographical regions. Peninsular Malaysia or West Malaysia comprising of eleven states and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya and East Malaysia which has two states and the Federal Territory of Labuan.

Peninsular Malaysia is 7 degrees north of the equator and East Malaysia is situated on the island of Borneo. The two regions are separated by about 640 kilometres of the South China Sea.

The total land area is 330,803 square kilometres. Peninsular Malaysia has a land mass of 132,631 square kilometres (40%), Sarawak with a land mass of 124,450 square kilometres (37%) and Sabah with a land mass of 73,722 square kilometres (23%). 80% of the land area is covered by tropical rainforest.

ITS’ PEOPLE

Population

Malaysia has a population of approximately 28.6 million and 80% of them are in West Malaysia and 73% of the population stays in urban areas.

Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural society.

Ethnic Composition

The Bumiputera (indigenous) population comprising of the Malays and the Aborigines account for about 60.6% with the Chinese at about 22.8%, Indians at about 6.8% and the balance of 9.8% represented by other races.

Religion

Islam is the national religion. However, the Constitution provides that every person has the right to profess and practise his own religion and also the right to propagate his faith, although the right to propagate other religions amongst the Muslims is prohibited. In addition to Islam other major religions are Christianity, Buddhism: Chinese religions; Hinduism and Sikhism.

Language

The official language is Bahasa Melayu (although the official language is often referred to as Bahasa Malaysia). English is widely used in business and Mandarin and other Chinese dialects, Hindi and Tamil, are also widely used.

The literacy rate in Malaysia is about 93.9%.

Climate

Malaysia is in the tropics and enjoys an equatorial climate. The average temperature is 33 degrees celsius in the day and 24 degrees celsius in the night. The humidity is high and averages 80%. This is due to the high temperature and high evaporation. Rainfall is common throughout the year with afternoon thunderstorm. The average annual rainfall is 2,500mm.

POLITICS

Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy and practises parliamentary democracy with a Constitution, the Judiciary, the Legislature and the Executive. It has a stable government since independence. The present governing party is the Barisan Nasional comprising of all the major political parties. The major political party is the United Malays National Organisation.

The Malaysian Parliament is made up of His Majesty Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the Monarch), the Dewan Negara (Senate-upper house) and Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives-lower house). Each state, other than the Federal Territories, has its own Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly).

Members of Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) and Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assemblies) are elected and a general election for the House of Representatives and the State Legislative Assemblies must be held every five years.

The majority of the members of the Senate are appointed by His Majesty Yang di-Pertuan Agong, on the advice of the Prime Minister. Each State Legislative Assembly elects two members to the Senate.

The Yang Di Pertuan Agong (the King) is elected by a Conference of Rulers comprising of all the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay sultanates for a term of five years.

Information on the Malaysian Parliament may be obtained from http://www.parlimen.gov.my.

Malaysia has diplomatic relations with over 130 countries and there are over 130 diplomatic missions in Kuala Lumpur.

For more information about the country, its government and government agencies visit the following website : http://www.malaysia.gov.my.

ECONOMY

The economic policies and strategies of the country are set out in the New Economic Model. These are implemented as five yearly economic action plans. The current action plan is the Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011 - 2015). The average growth during the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006 – 2010) was 4.2% per annum and a per capita income of RM26,420 in 2010.

Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Mohd. Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak, he has introduced the Economic Transformation Programme, driven by eight Strategic Reform Initiatives and has targeted growth of at least 6% per annum under the Tenth Malaysia Plan and a per capita income of RM38,850 by 2015 and to become a high income, developed, resilient and competitive nation by 2020.

Over the last ten years Malaysia enjoyed positive growth rate with an average growth rate of 4.8% in the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. Unfortunately Malaysia is not immune to the global economic downturn. The global economic recession resulting from the bursting of the housing bubble in the United States of America, followed by the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 adversely affected the country’s performance which is export oriented. These adverse events resulted in a contraction of -1.7% in the GDP in 2009 but the country rebounded with a 7.2% expansion in 2010. The European sovereign debt crisis accompanied with slowing growth in developed economies and China add to the continuing uncertainty in the global economy. This has dampened the growth of the country’s economy. The growth in 2011 was 5.1% with a GDP of RM709.3 billion and per capita GDP of RM29,661. The growth forecast for 2012 is between 4% and 5%.

For the five years between 2006-2010 inflation averages 2.7% with unemployment at 3.3%. The economic turmoil of 2007 – 2008 followed by the European sovereign debt crisis has resulted in a higher than average inflation rate. For 2011 inflation was at 3.2% with an unemployment rate of 3.1%.

The last five years saw an increased growth in the service sector with slower growth in the manufacturing sector. In 2011 manufacturing account for 25.2% of the GDP (2006-31%), services account for 54.2% (2006-52%), mining account for 8.8% (2002-8.9%), construction account for 3.1% (2006-3.1%) and agriculture for 7.7% (2006-8%).

Manufacturing goods continues to be the major exports at 67.7%, with agriculture at 13.6% and mining at 18.1% of total exports.

The main export continues to be electrical and electronic goods.

Agriculture remains an important economic sector in this resource rich country.

The major agricultural produce is as follows :

Oil Palm (world's second largest producer and exporter of palm oil)

Rubber (world’s third largest producer of natural rubber)

Cocoa (world’s fifteenth largest producer)

Other agricultural produce and minerals and resources are Tin (world’s eighth largest producer), Pepper, Pineapple, Rice, Coconut, Tobacco, Forestry and Timber, Fisheries, Livestock, Fruits and Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The largest trading partner of Malaysia is China, followed by Singapore, Japan, the European Union and the United States of America. China together with the other East Asian countries, such as Korea and Japan, account for 37% of Malaysia’s trade. The European Union continued to be a major trading partner. Germany together with France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are the major trading partners of Malaysia in Europe accounting for more than half of the total trade with the European Union.

Intra-regional trade is growing within ASEAN. Currently it accounts for 25% of Malaysia’s trade, with Singapore accounting for almost half of that trade within ASEAN.

The currency in Malaysia is Ringgit Malaysia (RM). It is issued in notes of denominations of 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, and 1. There are coins of 50 sen, 20 sen, 10 sen and 5 sen.

TRAVEL

Gateway to Malaysia

The major international air gateway into Malaysia is the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at Sepang, situated about 75 kilometres from the City of Kuala Lumpur. Other international airports are Penang and Johor Bahru in Peninsular Malaysia and Kuching and Kota Kinabalu in East Malaysia.

Peninsular Malaysia can be accessed by road and rail from Singapore in the south and Thailand in the north. The country has an extensive network of roads and toll-ways. Driving is on the left.

The major seaport is Port Klang, 48 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia receives 24 million visitors in 2011.

Local Time

Standard Malaysian Time is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean (GMT)

Electricity and Water

There is piped water and drinking from the tap is safe. Electricity supply is 240 volts and 50 cycles.

Working Day

Working days are from Mondays to Fridays and half-day on Saturdays with the exception of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu where the working days are from Saturdays to Wednesdays and half-day on Thursday. (The working days for the state government of Kelantan and Terengganu are from Sunday to Thursday.) Banking hours during weekdays is between 9.30am to 4.00pm (or 10.00am to 3.00pm) and 9.30am to 11.30am on half-days.

Public Holidays

These have to be gazetted and there are many public holidays reflecting the multi-cultural and multi-religious society. On average there are about 16 days per annum and holidays differ from state to state.

Immigration

Travellers must possess valid travel documents. This also applies to travels between East and West Malaysia.

No visa is required for nationals of Commonwealth countries (except Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nigeria).

No visa is required for a visit not exceeding more than one month for nationals of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries.

Generally nationals of other countries (other than specific country restrictions) are allowed to enter Malaysia without a visa for a visit not exceeding one month.

A Social or Tourist Visit is normally granted for a period of 14 days to three months.

Visas must be obtained before entering Malaysia.

Citizens of Israel are not allowed to enter Malaysia. Special approval must first be obtained.

Specific passes are required for employment, business or professional work in Malaysia.

Visitors are advised to check with the nearest Malaysian diplomatic mission before they start their journey.

Health

Yellow fever vaccination is required for all arrivals from infected areas and from Yellow Fever Endemic Zones.

Capital Punishment

The trafficking of illicit drugs and the unlawful possession of live ammunition and explosives are serious offences in Malaysia. Upon conviction, capital punishment (death) is the penalty for such crimes.

Sources of information :

Department of Statistics, Malaysia

Bank Negara Malaysia

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia

Ministry of International Trade and Industry Malaysia

Tourism Malaysia

Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysia

Other useful links and references

Government / Kerajaan Malaysia
Malaysian Government / www.malaysia.gov.my
Legislation / Jabatan Peguam Negara
Attorney General’s Chambers / www.federalgazette.agc.gov.my
Finance / Kementerian Kewangan (Perbendaraan)
Treasury / www.treasury.gov.my
Banking / Bank Negara Malaysia
Central Bank / www.bnm.gov.my
Investments / Kementerian Perdagangan Antarabangsa dan Industri
Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) / www.miti.gov.my
Lembaga Kemajuan Perindustriaan Malaysia
Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) / www.mida.gov.my
Income Tax / Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia
Inland Revenue Board / www.hasil.gov.my
Customs / Jabatan Kastam Diraja Malaysia
Customs / www.customs.gov.my
Statistics / Jabatan Perangkaan
Department of Statistics / www.statistics.gov.my
Business / Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia
Companies Commission of Malaysia / www.ssm.com.my
Securities / Suruhanjaya Securiti
Securities Commission / www.sc.com.my
Stock Exchange / Bursa Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange / www.bursamalaysia.com