<text><span class="style42"></span><span class="style12">MALAYSIA</span><span class="style42">Official name:</span><span class="style13"> Persekutuan Tanah Melaysiu (The Federation of Malaysia)</span><span class="style42">Member of: </span><span class="style13">UN, Commonwealth, ASEAN, Apec</span><span class="style42">Area: </span><span class="style13">330442 km2 (127584 sq mi)Population: 19077000 (1993 est)</span><span class="style42">Capital: </span><span class="style13">Kuala Lumpur 1233000 (including suburbs; 1990 census)</span><span class="style42">Other major cities: </span><span class="style13">Ipoh 390000, George Town 325000, Johor Baharu 325000 (1990 est)</span><span class="style42">Languages: </span><span class="style13">Bahasa Malaysia (Malay; official; 58%), English, Chinese (32%), Tamil</span><span class="style42">Religions: </span><span class="style13">Sunni Islam (official; over 55%), Buddhist, Daoist and various Christian minorities</span><span class="style42">GOVERNMENT</span><span class="style13">The Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the King of Malaysia) holds office for five years. He is elected ΓÇô from their own number ΓÇô by the hereditary sultans who reign in nine of the 13 states. The 70-member Senate (upper house) comprises 40 members appointed by the King and two members elected by each of the state and territorial assemblies for a three-year term. The 192-member House of Representatives is elected by universal adult suffrage for five years. The King appoints a Prime Minister and a Cabinet commanding a majority in the House. The states have their own governments.</span><span class="style42">GEOGRAPHY</span><span class="style13">Western (Peninsular) Malaysia consists of mountain ranges ΓÇô including the Trengganu and Cameron Highlands ΓÇô running north to south and bordered by densely populated coastal lowlands. Tropical rainforest covers the hills and mountains of Eastern Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak, the northern part of the island of Borneo). The highest point is Kinabalu in Sabah (4101 m / 13 455 ft). </span><span class="style42">Climate: </span><span class="style13">Malaysia has a tropical climate with heavy rainfall (up to 2500 mm / 100 in in the west). There is more seasonal variation in precipitation than temperature, with the northeast monsoon (from October to February) and the southwest monsoon (from May to September) bringing increased rainfall, particularly to Peninsular Malaysia.</span><span class="style42">ECONOMY</span><span class="style13">Rubber, petroleum and tin are the traditional mainstays of the Malaysian economy, but all three suffered drops in price on the world market in the 1980s. Pepper (mainly from Sarawak), cocoa and timber are also important. One third of the labor force is involved in agriculture. Large numbers of Malays grow rice as a subsistence crop. Manufacturing industry is now the largest exporter; major industries include rubber, tin, timber, textiles, machinery and cement. The government has greatly encouraged industrialization, investment and a more active role for the ethnic Malay population in industry, which ΓÇô with commerce and finance ΓÇô has been largely the preserve of Chinese Malaysians. Malaysia has experienced high economic growth rates since the early 1980s. The tourist industry is being promoted. </span><span class="style42">Currency: </span><span class="style13">Ringgit.</span><span class="style42">HISTORY</span><span class="style13">MalaysiaΓÇÖs ethnic diversity reflects its complex history and the lure of its natural wealth and prime trading position. Most of the area was part of the Buddhist Sumatran kingdom of Sri Vayaja from the 9th century to the 14th century, when it fell to the Hindu Javanese. From the 15th century, Islam came to the region and the spice trade attracted Europeans. The trading post of Malacca was taken by the Portuguese in 1511 and then by the Dutch in 1641. The British established themselves on the island of Penang (1786), founded Singapore (1819), and in 1867 established an administration for the Straits Settlements ΓÇô Malacca, Penang and Singapore. Ignoring Thai claims to overlordship in the peninsula, the British took over the small sultanates as protected states. The British suppressed piracy, developed tin mining with Chinese labor and rubber plantations with Indian workers. Sarawak became a separate state under Sir James Brooke ΓÇô the ΓÇÿWhite RajaΓÇÖ ΓÇô and his family from 1841, and was ceded to the British Crown in 1946. Sabah became British ΓÇô as British North Borneo ΓÇô in 1881.The Japanese occupied the whole of Malaysia during World War II. A Federation of Malaya ΓÇô the peninsula ΓÇô was established in 1948, but was threatened by Communist insurgency until 1960. Malaya became independent in 1957 with a constitution protecting the interests of the Malays, who were fearful of the energy and acumen of the Chinese. Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined the Federation ΓÇô renamed Malaysia ΓÇô in 1963. Singapore left in 1965, but the unity of the Federation was maintained, with British armed support, in the face of an Indonesian ΓÇÿconfrontationΓÇÖ in Borneo (1965ΓÇô66). Tension between Chinese and Malays led to riots and the suspension of parliamentary government (1969ΓÇô71), but scarcely hindered the rapid development of a resource-rich economy. During the 1980s, the growth of Islamic fundamentalism led to a defensive re-assertion of Islamic values and practices among the Muslim Malay ruling elite.</span></text>
