Malaysia, the
Country
Location
Malaysia
is located in the heart of Southeast Asia,
slightly north of the Equator. It is separated into two regions, i.e. Peninsular
Malaysia (West Malaysia), which consists of 11
states, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and the Federal Territory of
Putrajaya; and East Malaysia, which has two
states in addition to the Federal Territory of Labuan. The West Malaysian
states in the peninsular are Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan,
Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and
Terengganu. The East Malaysian states are Sabah
and Sarawak.
Population
Malaysia
is a multi-racial country, which is made up predominantly by the Malays whilst
the rest of the population is made up of Chinese, Indians and others that
include indigenous people and Eurasians.
Language
The official
language is Bahasa Malaysia
although English is widely used. Apart from English, local dialects such as Mandarin
and Tamil are also commonly used.
Religion
Islam is the
national religion although the Federal Constitution provides for the freedom of
worship for other religious groups.
Currency
The local
currency is Ringgit Malaysia (RM).
