Contents
- Monarchy
- History
- People and Religions
- Geography and Climate
- Time and Language
- Contacts and Departments
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Below you find facts and figures about the constitution, history, religion, climate and
the people of this paradise.
Further information can be found in the other sections of the
site, while the Interactive section features details
about each state, traditional dances, nature reserves, videos, etc. - Enjoy. |
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Malaysia's constitution is a unique marriage between traditional and democratic values.
While the government of the country is based on parliamentary democracy with the Prime
Minister heading the Cabinet of Ministers, the office of head of state is occupied by a
King (Yang Di-Pertuan Agong). However, this King himself is elected for a term of five
years on a rotating base, from the hereditary rulers who head nine of the 13 states and two federal
territories (Kuala Lumpur and Labuan, an island off the coast of Sabah) that form the
Federation.
(This is a bit as if the British House of Lords would elect the King of England
for a five year term from the nine highest ranking peers in the house).
The obvious advantage of the system is that no particular state and/or ruling family can
claim permanent predominance over the others.
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History
Because of its strategic position between the Indian Ocean and the South
China Sea, Malaysia has long been the meeting place for traders and travelers
from West
and East.
Hence its history is one of continual interaction with foreign powers and influences.
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Early Settlement
Nature's bounty no doubt accounts for the fact that Malaysia was one of the earliest
homes of Man. Stone implements found at Lenggong in Perak and the remarkable finds in the
Niah Cave of Sarawak provide evidence for this. |
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The earliest of the present-day inhabitants of Malaysia are the orang asli
of the Peninsula and people such as the Penan of Sarawak and the Rungus of
Sabah, many of
whom still pursue a largely nomadic way of life. Their presence in the country probably
dates back to over 5000 years.
These early settlers were probably the pioneers of the
movement of peoples southwards from China and Tibet through
Mainland Southeast Asia and the Malay Peninsula to the
Indonesian Archipelago and beyond. |
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The next arrivals to the country, the Malays, represented the second and third wave of
this movement.
The first Malay settlers (the Proto-Malays) had probably established themselves here by
1000 BC.
This movements were followed by other waves of immigrants (the Deutero-Malays) over the
next few centuries, who came equipped with more advanced farming techniques and new
knowledge of metals. The Malay peoples also spread out into the islands of the
archipelago, settling down into small self-contained communities which gave rise to the
complex and variegated ethnic pattern of Malaysia and Indonesia today. The Malays of the
Peninsula had their closest affinities with the Malays of Sumatra, and for centuries the
Straits of Melaka did not form a dividing line between two nations but served as a
corridor linking different parts of the same family. Until recent times the Malays and
Malay-related inhabitants of the area remained politically fragmented, but they shared a
common culture.
Together with the orang asli they make up the indigenous peoples of Malaysia today, and
are classified as "sons of the soil" or Bumiputera. Despite the considerable
differences between the various Bumiputera groups, they all share certain characteristics
which are the hallmarks of the indigenous culture of Southeast Asia. These characteristics
are rooted in an agrarian-maritime economy and reflected in a village society where
leadership was largely through consensus and those attitudes were informed by a belief in
an all-pervasive spiritual world. Although the culture of the Malays in particular came to
be overlaid by Hinduism and then pervaded by Islam, elements of this basic culture still
persist.
Hindu-Buddhist Influences
A new phase in the historical development of the inhabitants of Malaysia began around
the first century BC with the establishment of regular trading contacts with the world
beyond Southeast Asia, specifically China and the sub-continent of India. |
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Although Chinese contacts started as early as, if not predating those of
India, it was the Hindu and Buddhist elements of Indian culture which made a major impact
on the region. Over a period of a thousand years |
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these influences gradually made
themselves be felt, and have left their marks in the native language, literature
and social custom.
During this Hindu-Buddhist period which was marked by a tremendous growth in the
East-West trade, the shadowy outlines of the first political units emerged in the
Peninsula and in Kalimantan.
However, for the greater part of this time the inhabitants of the area were subjected to
the sway of either Javanese or Sumatran power The most tangible evidence of the
Hindu-Buddhist period in Malaysian history is now to be found in the temple sites of
Lembah Bujang and Kuala Merbok in Kedah.
Islamisation And The Melaka Sultanate
The Hindu-Buddhist period of Malaysian history ended with the penetration of Islam
into the area. Brought primarily by Indian and Arab traders, there is evidence of the
presence of the new religion in the region as early as the thirteenth century. |
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After 1400, Islam became a major influence with the conversion of the
Malay-Hindu rulers of Melaka. From Melaka, Islam spread to other parts of the Malay
Peninsula and to the Malay states in Sumatra and along the trade routes throughout the
Indonesian archipelago.
Once established as the religion of the Malays, Islam profoundly affected Malay society
and the Malay way of life. |
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After the collapse of Melaka, the sultanate of Brunei in Kalimantan rose to become the
principal agent for the propagation of Islam in that area.
The Malay kingdom of Melaka which dominated both sides of the Straits of Melaka for a
hundred years marked the classical age of Malay culture . Most of the Malay States of the
Peninsula today can trace their genesis back to the Melaka sultanate.
In Kalimantan the inhabitants of modern Sabah and Sarawak lived an autonomous existence
although the ancient kingdom of Brunei exercised a general sway over them until the end of
the nineteenth century.
European Penetration And Colonialism
Both the Melaka and Brunei empires were shattered by the coming of the Europeans into the
region. Melaka fell to a sudden Portuguese assault in 1511.
The power of Brunei was crippled in its infancy by the establishment of the Spaniards in
the Philippines and by the rise of Dutch power in Java.
Johor tried to take the place of Melaka but was restricted not only by the Europeans, but
also by the activities of local rivals such as the Achinese, Minangkabau and the
Bugis.
As a result, the present-day States of the Peninsula gradually emerged as sovereign units
in their own right.
Despite their technological superiority, European power in the region remained
restricted until the British intrusion at the end of the eighteenth century which brought
the resources and organisation of the Industrial Revolution.
From their new bases of Pulau Pinang (1786), Singapore (1819) and Melaka (1824), which
became known collectively as the Straits Settlements, their influence and power spread
into the Malay Peninsula, and the process of political integration of the Malay States of
the Peninsula into a modern nation-state began.
In 1824 the Malay world was arbitrarily divided into British and Dutch spheres of
influence (i.e. by the Anglo-Dutch treaty of that year).
In 1874 the British took the first steps towards bringing the peninsula States under their
direct supervision when they imposed the Pangkor Treaty on the rulers of Perak and made
similar arrangements in Selangor.
Meanwhile in Kalimantan, the States of Sarawak and Sabah were beginning to take shape as
British adventurers acquired the territories at the expense of the Brunei sultanate.
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By 1914 the political organisation of the present-day states of Malaysia was as follows: |
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The Straits Settlements
British crown colony headed by a British governor, consisting of Singapore,
Melaka, Pulau Pinang, Labuan, the Cocos Isles and Christmas Isle with Singapore as the
Capital |
Sarawak
British protectorate ruled
by the Brooke family with
Kuching as Capital. |
The Federated Malay States
British protectorate headed by a British High Commissioner (Governor of the Straits
Settlements); consisting of the States of Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak and
Selangor. |
Sabah
British protectorate, ruled by the Chartered Company of the British North Borneo
with Jesselton (Kota Kinabalu) as Capital. |
The Unfederated Malay States
British protectorate under the tutelage of a British Adviser in each State responsible to
the British Commissioner, consisting of Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and
Terengganu. |
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The Japanese Conquest And It's Aftermath
The Japanese invasion of Malaya and British Borneo in late 1941, which culminated in
the humiliating British surrender in Singapore two and a half months later, shattered
Western colonial supremacy and unleashed the forces of incipient nationalism. Although the
British were able to resume their authority in the region after the collapse of Japan in
1945, they faced an entirely new political situation and those circumstances forced them
to adopt new policies.
As a result the Straits Settlements were dissolved. Pulau Pinang and Melaka were joined
with the Malay States of the Peninsula to form a new Malayan Union.
Singapore became a separate crown colony and so did both Sarawak and British North Borneo
in place of the former Brooke and Chartered Company regimes. Labuan was joined to British
North Borneo.
These new arrangements met with considerable Malaysian opposition. In Sarawak a strong
campaign developed opposing the crown colony status and culminated in the assassination of
the second British governor (1949).
But the most serious opposition was in the Malay Peninsula against the Malayan Union which
reduced the status of the Malay States virtually to that of a British colony.
Consequently, the British were obliged to abandon the Malayan Union scheme, and in 1948 in
its place established the Federation of Malaya, after protracted negotiations with the
Malay Rulers, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and other parties concerned.
The new Federation consisted of all the nine Malay states of the Peninsula, along with
Melaka and Pulau Pinang, united under a federal government in Kuala Lumpur headed by a
British High Commissioner.
By the Agreement of 1948 the British had committed themselves to preparing the way for
the Federation's independence.
Under the twin pressures of a communist rebellion (the Emergency) and the development of a
strong Malay nationalist movement (represented by UMNO), the British introduced elections,
starting at local level in 1951.
The problem of obtaining political cooperation among the main ethnic groups in the country
to fight for independence was resolved by the successful establishment of an alliance
between UMNO and the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA), the two principal communal
parties, in the same year, which was subsequently joined by the Malayan Indian Congress
(MIC).
When the first federal elections were held in 1955, the UMNO-MCA-MIC Alliance, headed by
Tunku Abdul Rahman, won an overwhelming victory (51 out of the 52 seats contested), and
the Tunku was appointed the Federation's first Chief Minister.
The Alliance was successful in pressuring the British to relinquish their sovereignty in
August 1957. In the meantime slower constitutional progress had been taking place under
British colonial rule in Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah.
In 1955 Singapore was granted internal autonomy (the Rendel Constitution) and had its
first Chief Minister (David Marshall).
By 1959 Singapore had achieved full internal self-government and was led by the Peoples'
Action Party (PAP) under Lee Kuan Yew. In Sarawak local elections were introduced in 1959.
The first move towards the formation of Malaysia came in 1961 when the idea for the
formation of a wider federation comprising the Federation of Malaya, Singapore and the
Kalimantan States (including Brunei) was mooted by Tunku Abdul Rahman in a speech in
Singapore.
The Tunku's proposal received mixed reception. It was generally popular in Malaya and
Singapore but raised doubts in Sabah and Sarawak. It also quickly aroused opposition from
the Philippines which asserted a claim over British North Borneo (Sabah) and from
Indonesia where it was viewed as a "neo-colonialist" plot by Sukarno and the
powerful Indonesian Communist Party.
However, the proposal had the immediate effect of accelerating constitutional development
in Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei. Elections were held for the first time in Brunei and in
Sabah in 1962.
A joint Anglo-Malayan commission headed by a former governor of the Bank of England, Lord
Cobbold, visited Sabah and Sarawak in 1962 and reported that the majority in both states
favoured the formation of Malaysia.
However, continued Philippine and Indonesian opposition led to the sending of a United
Nations mission to Borneo in 1963, which also reported that public opinion was in favour
of joining Malaysia. Consequently, on 16 September 1963, Malaysia was formally
promulgated, although without Brunei which by this time had declined to join.
The first few years of Malaysia were taken up by a serious challenge to its survival,
mainly from Indonesia whose policy of confrontation took the form of armed attacks on the
Peninsula and across the land frontiers of Sabah and Sarawak. Confrontation was finally
brought to an end by an agreement signed in Bangkok in 1966, while the Philippines gave
its formal recognition to Malaysia the same year. In the meantime, however, (i.e. in 1965)
Singapore ceased to be a member of the Malaysian federation and became an independent
state.
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| People and Religions
Malaysia is a multi-racial country with a population approximately 19.9
million comprising a cosmopolitan mix of Malays, Chinese, Indians, Eurasians,
Ibans, Bidayuhs, Kadazans and a very diverse group of indigenous people in Sabah and Sarawak. |
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This multi-ethnic and multi religious population characterize Malaysia with a diversity in
culture and gallery in festivities.
The rich heritage that descended through years enchanted the mystique and charm of the
country.
The world's major religions have taken root in this country and co-exist peacefully.
This is due to the fact while Islam is recognized as the official religion, the
constitution also provides every person the right to profess and practice his own
religion. Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism and Buddhism are the other major religions in
this country.
The Chinese practice a mix of Confucianism, Taoism and ancestor worship while also other
religions as well as the remainders of indigenous rites are practiced freely.
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| Geography and Climate
Malaysia is a tropical paradise situated 7 degrees north of the Equator in
the heart of Southeast Asia. It comprises Peninsular Malaysia and the two states of Sabah
and Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Together they cover a total area of 329,758 sq. km .
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The climate is warm and humid throughout the year with cooler temperatures in the hill
resorts. Average temperature is between 21 C and 32 C. Humidity is high.
Rain tends to occur between November to February on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia,
on western Sarawak, and north-eastern Sabah.
On the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia the rainy season is April to May and October to
November.
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Malaysia is 8 hours ahead of GMT and 16 hours ahead of the U.S.Pacific Standard Time.
Bahasa Melayu (Malay) is the national language but English is widely spoken while many
Malaysians also use their respective indigenous languages such as Chinese (Mandarin) and
Tamil among themselves.
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