Malaysia

• 1. Origins And Etymology

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  The name Malaysia emerged from a combination of the word Malays and the Latin-Greek suffix -ia, translating to 'land of the Malays'. Ancient Sanskrit texts like the Vayu Purana mentioned a land named Malayadvipa as early as the first millennium CE. Ptolemy's 2nd-century Geographia used the term Malayu Kulon for the west coast of Golden Chersonese. The 7th-century account by Yijing referred to a place called Malayu. The Melayu Kingdom took its name from the Sungai Melayu river. This term later became associated with Srivijaya and various parts of Sumatra, especially Palembang. It only developed into an ethnonym when Malacca became a regional power in the 15th century. Islamisation established an ethnoreligious identity in Malacca, making the term Melayu interchangeable with Melakans. The initial Portuguese use reflected this, referring only to the ruling people of Malacca. Prominent traders from Malacca led Melayu to be associated with Muslim traders and eventually the wider cultural group. Before European colonization, the Malay Peninsula was known natively as Tanah Melayu or 'Malay Land'. Under German scholar Johann Friedrich Blumenbach's racial classification, natives of maritime Southeast Asia were grouped as the Malay race. French navigator Jules Dumont d'Urville proposed the terms Malaysia, Micronesia, and Melanesia to the Société de Géographie in 1831. English ethnologist George Samuel Windsor Earl wrote in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia in 1850, proposing naming the islands Melayunesia or Indunesia. The state that gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1957 took the name the Federation of Malaya. In 1963, the name Malaysia was adopted when existing states formed a new federation.

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• 2. Colonial History And Independence

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  Evidence of modern human habitation in Malaysia dates back 40,000 years. Traders and settlers from India and China arrived as early as the first century AD. Sanskrit inscriptions appear as early as the fourth or fifth century. The Kingdom of Langkasuka arose around the second century in the northern area of the Malay Peninsula. Between the 7th and 13th centuries, much of the southern Malay Peninsula was part of the maritime Srivijayan empire. By the 13th and 14th century, the Majapahit empire wrested control over most of the peninsula and the Malay Archipelago from Srivijaya. Parameswara founded the Malacca Sultanate in the early 15th century after fleeing the former Kingdom of Singapura. Malacca became an important commercial centre attracting trade from around the region. Portugal conquered Malacca in 1511, and the Dutch took it in 1641. The British Empire established a presence in Malaya in 1786 when the Sultan of Kedah leased Penang Island to the British East India Company. The British obtained Singapore in 1819 and took control of Malacca following the Anglo-Dutch Treaty in 1824. By 1826, the British directly controlled Penang, Malacca, Singapore, and Labuan as the Straits Settlements crown colony. Under British rule, immigration of Chinese and Indians to serve as labourers was encouraged. The area that is now Sabah came under British control as North Borneo between 1877 and 1878. In 1842, Sarawak was ceded by the Sultan of Brunei to James Brooke. The Klang War began in 1867 as a dispute between Raja Abdullah and Raja Mahadi over the Klang chieftaincy. The conflict drew in rival Chinese secret societies and Bugis-descended chiefs. Fighting spread after Mahadi captured the Klang Fort, disrupting tin production and trade routes. The Pangkor Treaty of 1874 established the system of British Residents in the Malay states. During World War II, the Japanese Army invaded and occupied Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore for over three years. Popular support for independence increased after Malaya was reconquered by Allied forces. Post-war British plans to unite administration under the Malayan Union met with strong opposition from Malays. The Malayan Union was quickly dissolved and replaced on the 1st of February 1948 by the Federation of Malaya. On the 31st of August 1957, Malaya became an independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

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• 3. Political Structure And Governance

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  Malaysia is a federal constitutional elective monarchy and the only federal country in Southeast Asia. The head of state is the King, whose official title is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The King is elected to a five-year term by and from among the nine hereditary rulers of the Malay states. By informal agreement, the position rotates among the nine rulers. Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor has held the position since the 31st of January 2024. Legislative power is divided between federal and state legislatures. The bicameral federal parliament consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The 222-member House of Representatives is elected for a maximum term of five years from single-member constituencies. All 70 senators sit for three-year terms; 26 are elected by the 13 state assemblies, and 44 are appointed by the King upon the Prime Minister's recommendation. Parliamentary elections are held at least once every five years. In July 2019, a bill to lower the voting age to 18 years old was officially passed. Executive power is vested in the Cabinet led by the Prime Minister. The prime minister must be a member of the House of Representatives who commands the support of a majority of members. As a result of the 2018 general election, Malaysia was governed by the Pakatan Harapan political alliance. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad resigned amid a political crisis in 2020. In March 2020, the Perikatan Nasional coalition formed under Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Ismail Sabri Yaakob replaced Muhyiddin in August 2021. Anwar Ibrahim of the PH coalition was appointed as the new Prime Minister on the 24th of November 2022. The legal system is based on common law. The highest court in the judicial system is the Federal Court. Race is a significant force in politics. Affirmative actions such as the New Economic Policy were implemented to advance the standing of the bumiputera over non-bumiputera. These policies provide preferential treatment in employment, education, scholarships, business, and access to cheaper housing. Islamic criminal laws passed by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party with UMNO state assemblymen have been unenforced by the federal government. After UMNO lost power at the 2018 Malaysian general election, Malaysia's ranking increased by 9 places in the 2019 Democracy Index to 43rd.

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• 4. Economic Transformation And Infrastructure

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  Malaysia has the world's 36th-largest economy by nominal GDP and the 31st-largest by PPP. In 2017, the large service sector contributed to 53.6% of total GDP, the industrial sector 37.6%, and the small agricultural sector roughly 8.8%. Malaysia has a low official unemployment rate of 3.4% as of 2024. Its foreign exchange reserves are the world's 24th-largest. It has a labour force of about 15 million, which is the world's 34th-largest. The country's automotive industry ranks as the world's 22nd-largest by production. Malaysia is the world's 23rd-largest exporter and 25th-largest importer. International trade facilitated by the shipping route in adjacent Strait of Malacca and manufacturing are key sectors. Malaysia was once the largest producer of tin, rubber, and palm oil in the world. Manufacturing has a large influence in the country's economy, although its structure has been moving away from it. Tourism is the third-largest contributor to Malaysia's GDP after manufacturing and commodities sectors. In 2019, tourism contributed about 15.9% to the total GDP. Over 26.1 million visits were recorded in 2019, making Malaysia the fourteenth-most visited country in the world. International tourism receipts in 2019 amounted to $19.8 billion. In 2020, Malaysia exported high-tech products worth $92.1 billion, the second-highest in ASEAN after Singapore. Railway transport spans some distance and is state-run. Malaysia has the world's 26th-largest road network with some roads. Kuala Lumpur International Airport is the 12th-busiest airport in Asia. Port Klang is the 13th-busiest container port among seven federal ports. The telecommunication network is second only to Singapore's in Southeast Asia, with 4.7 million fixed-line subscribers and more than 30 million cellular subscribers. There are 200 industrial parks along with specialised parks such as Technology Park Malaysia and Kulim Hi-Tech Park. Fresh water is available to over 95% of the population, with groundwater accounting for 90% of freshwater resources. Total power generation capacity was over 29,728 megawatts in 2013.

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• 5. Demographics And Ethnic Diversity

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  According to the Malaysian Department of Statistics, the country's population was 32,447,385 in 2020. Malaysia has an average population density of 96 people per km2, ranking it 116th in the world for population density. People within the 15, 64 age group constitute 69.5% of the total population. In 1960, when the first official census was recorded, the population was 8.11 million. 91.8% of the population are Malaysian citizens. Malaysian citizens are divided along local ethnic lines, with 69.7% considered bumiputera. The largest group of bumiputera are Malays, defined in the constitution as Muslims who practise Malay customs and culture. Non-Malay indigenous groups include Dayaks, Kadazan-Dusun, Melanau, and Bajau. There are also indigenous or aboriginal groups known as Orang Asli on the peninsular. 22.8% of the population are Malaysian Chinese, while 6.8% are Malaysian Indian. Local Indians are mostly of Tamil descent. Every citizen is issued a biometric smart chip identity card known as MyKad at the age of 12. The population is concentrated on Peninsular Malaysia, where 20 million out of approximately 28 million Malaysians live. Due to labour-intensive industries, the country has over 3 million migrant workers, about 10% of the population. Sabah-based NGOs estimate that out of the 3 million that make up the population of Sabah, 2 million are illegal immigrants. Malaysia hosts a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 171,500. Approximately 79,000 are from Myanmar, 72,400 from the Philippines, and 17,700 from Indonesia. Malaysian officials turned deportees directly over to human smugglers in 2007. The government employs RELA, a volunteer militia with a history of controversies, to enforce immigration law.

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• 6. Biodiversity And Environmental Challenges

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  Malaysia signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on the 12th of June 1993 and became a party on the 24th of June 1994. It is estimated to contain 20% of the world's animal species. There are about 210 mammal species in the country. Over 620 species of birds have been recorded in Peninsular Malaysia, with many endemic to the mountains there. 250 reptile species have been recorded, including about 150 snakes and 80 lizards. There are about 150 species of frogs and thousands of insect species. Some waters around Sipadan island are the most biodiverse in the world. The Sulu Sea has around 600 coral species and 1200 fish species. Nearly 4,000 species of fungi have been recorded from Malaysia. About two-thirds of Malaysia was covered in forest as of 2007, with some forests believed to be 130 million years old. There are around 14,500 species of flowering plants and trees. Besides rainforests, there are over mangroves and peat forest in Malaysia. The forests of East Malaysia host many members of the Rafflesia genus, the largest flowers in the world, with a maximum diameter of one meter. Logging and cultivation practices have devastated tree cover, causing severe environmental degradation. Over 80% of Sarawak's rainforest has been logged. Floods in East Malaysia have been worsened by loss of trees, and over 60% of the peninsula's forests have been cleared. With current deforestation rates, mainly for palm oil, forests were predicted to be extinct by 2020. Deforestation caused species such as Begonia eiromischa to go extinct. Illegal fishing methods like dynamite fishing deplete marine ecosystems. Leatherback turtle numbers dropped by 98% since the 1950s. Hunting has endangered many animals from marine life to tigers. A total of 28 national parks have been established, 23 in East Malaysia and five in the peninsula.