Malaysia in a Nutshell

1. POPULATION
As at the date of the last Government census taken in 1999, the population of Malaysia was categorised as follows -
50% Malay
33% Chinese origin
09% Indian origin
08% Indigenous

2. RELIGION
Freedom of religion is enshrined in our constitution, a
semi-unique situation in a predominantly Muslim country.

52% Muslim
17% Buddhist
08% Christian
09% Hindu
14% Other

3. TOPOGRAPHY AND RAINFALL
The Malaysian Peninsula is largely hilly with many small rivers. The only mountain above 1,000 metres however, is Mount Kinabalu, in the Borneo state of Sabah.
The average rainfall on the south west coast is 190 mm although apart from the east coast, rainfall is relatively even throughout the year in most parts of the country. South West Coast (Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Melaka, Port Dickson)

Seasons Average Temperature Average Rainfall

January - December 23 - 32C 190 mm

North West Coast (Penang, Langkawi, Pulau Pangkor, Ipoh)

Seasons Average Temperature Average Rainfall

January - December 23 - 31C 204 mm

East Coast (Kuantan, Tioman Island, Perhentian Islands, Terengganu, Kota Bharu)

Seasons Average Temperature Average Rainfall

February - October 23 - 32C 189 mm

Rainy Season
November - January 22 - 29C 407 mm

Hill Stations (Cameron Highlands, Fraser's Hill, Maxwell Hill)

Seasons Average Temperature Average Rainfall

January - December 15 - 22C 211 mm

Sarawak (Kuching, Miri, Sarawak)

Seasons Average Temperature Average Rainfall

April - September 23 - 32C 236 mm

Rainy Season
October - March 23 - 31C 446 mm

Sabah (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah)

Seasons Average Temperature Average Rainfall

December - April 23 - 31C 126 mm

Rainy Season
May - November 24 - 31C 287 mm

The average mean temperature is 32 degrees centigrade and little variance is experienced throughout the year. The northern areas bordering Thailand and the central highlands experience temperatures generally 10 degrees cooler.

4. MAJOR INDUSTRIES

EXPORT
Rubber
Tin
Crude Petroleum
Palm Oil
Sawn logs
Sawn Timber
Manufactured Goods

IMPORT
Machinery and Transport Equipment
Manufactured Goods
Crude Petroleum
Food
Rice
Wheat
Raw Beet and Cane Sugar
Dairy Products

5. POLITICS

Through a semi-unique coalition of parties representing the Malay, Chinese and Indian population and known as the "Barisan Nasional", a degree of highly democratic political stability has existed since Federation in 1957.

As our political system is unique (particularly for a majority Muslim country), most foreign correspondents do not fully understand exactly how democratic it really is.

The opposition parties have hitherto unsuccessfully attempted to form similar alliances with an arguably more fundamentalist Islamic party as the ruling opposition. This party presently controls 3 of the nations 14 states but holds a small minority in the lower and upper houses of the parliament where nearly 75% of the popular vote is obtained by the ruling coalition.

6 CURRENCY

There are far too many currencies to provide a full list.

We hope you will be satisfied to know that the exchange rate between the Malaysian Ringgit (RM) and the US$ is presently around RM3.50 = US$1.00. The exchange rate is under a restricted float.

Please note that the opinions stated in this section are those of the author and no correspondence shall be entered into in relation thereto.