Petronas Twin Towers
Photo by Peter Macdonald

Malaysia is a country in South-East Asia, located partly on a peninsula of the Asian mainland and partly on the northern third of the island of Borneo. West (peninsular) Malaysia shares a border with Thailand, is connected by a causeway and a bridge (the 'second link') to the island state of Singapore, and has coastlines on the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca. East Malaysia (Borneo) shares borders with Brunei and Indonesia.

Malaysia is a mix of the modern world and a developing nation. With its investment in the high technology industries and moderate oil wealth, it has become a leader within South-East Asia. For the traveler, Malaysia for most part presents a happy mix: there is high-tech infrastructure and things generally work well and more or less on schedule, but prices remain reasonable and daily life far more vibrant than, say, sanitized Singapore.

FAST FACTS

• Capital: Kuala Lumpur
• Government: Constitutional monarchy
• Area: 329.750 km²
• Land: 328.550 km²
• Water: 1200.00 km²
• Population: 23,522,482 (July 2004 est.)
• Language: Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka, Hainanese, Foochow, Hok-chew), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi, and Thai; in addition, several indigenous languages are spoken in East Malaysia, especially Iban and Kadazan
• Religion: Muslim, Buddhist, Daoist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh; note - in addition, Shamanism/Animism is practiced in East and, to a lesser extent, West Malaysia
• Electricity: 230V/50Hz (British plug)
• Calling Code: +60
• Internet TLD: .my
• Time Zone: UTC+8

REGIONS

Peninsular Malaysia (Malay: Semenanjung Malaysia) occupies most of the Malayan Peninsula between Thailand and Singapore, and is also known as West Malaysia (Malaysia Barat) or the slightly archaic Malaya (Tanah Melayu). It is home to the bulk of Malaysia's population, its capital and largest city Kuala Lumpur, and is generally more economically developed.

Some 800 kilometres to the east is East Malaysia (Malaysia Timur), which occupies the northern third of the island of Borneo, shared with Indonesia and tiny Brunei and is made up of Sabah and Sarawak. Covered in impenetrable jungle where headhunters roam (on GSM networks if nothing else), East Malaysia is rich in natural resources but very much Malaysia's hinterland for industry and tourism.

GEOGRAPHY

The climate in Malaysia is tropical. The north-east monsoon (October to February) deluges Borneo and the east coast in rain and often causes flooding, while the west coast (particularly Langkawi and Penang) escape unscathed. The milder south-west monsoon (April to October) reverses the pattern. The southern parts of peninsular Malaysia, including perennially soggy Kuala Lumpur, are exposed to both but even during the rainy season, the showers tend to be intense but brief.

The terrain consists of coastal plains rising to hills and mountains.