MALAYSIA

n.

Country, Southeast Asia.

It is composed of two regions

Peninsular, or West, Malaysia and East Malaysia

separated by 400 mi (650 km) of the South China Sea . West Malaysia occupies the southern half of the Malay Peninsula (Malaya) and is bordered on the north by Thailand. East Malaysia lies on the northwestern part of the island of Borneo and consists of the states of Sarawak and Sabah. Area: 127,354 sq mi (329,845 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 24,370,000. Capital: Kuala Lumpur . Because it lies on the heavily traveled Strait of Malacca , the country's population is a highly diverse mix, in which ethnic Malays and Chinese form the largest groups. Smaller ethnic groups include Indians, Pakistanis, and Tamils. Languages: Malay (official), Chinese, Indo-European languages. Religions: Islam (official), Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Hinduism. Currency: ringgit. West Malaysia is largely mountainous; East Malaysia has coastal plains rising to hills and then to a mountainous core. Much of Malaysia is covered by rainforest. Tree crops, notably rubber and palm oil, are the country's most important cash crops; rice is the chief staple crop. Petroleum drilling and production and tin mining are important, as is the manufacture of rubber goods, cement, and iron and steel products. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy with two legislative houses; the chief of state is the paramount ruler, and the head of government is the prime minister. Malaya has been inhabited for 6,000–8,000 years, and small kingdoms existed in the 2nd–3rd centuries AD, when adventurers from India first arrived. Sumatran exiles founded the city-state of Malacca 0441; 1400, and it flourished as a trading and Islamic religious centre until its capture by the Portuguese in 1511. Malacca passed to the Dutch in 1641. The British founded a settlement on Singapore Island in 1819, and by 1867 they had established the Straits Settlements , including Malacca, Singapore, and Penang . During the late 19th century, Chinese began to migrate to Malaya. Japan invaded Malaya in 1941 and captured Singapore in 1942. After Japan's defeat in 1945, opposition to British rule led to the creation of the United Malaya National Organization (UMNO) in 1946, and in 1948 the peninsula was federated with Penang. Malaya gained independence from Britain in 1957, and the federation of Malaysia was established in 1963. Its economy expanded greatly from the late 1970s, but it suffered from the economic slump that struck the area beginning in the mid-1990s.