*** Malaysia***
Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. This is thirteen states and three federal territories. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur. The population of Malaysia is 28 334 135, for a density of 86/km². The official language is the Malaysian, and English as a second language.
- History
In the country of Malaysia, archaeological evidence indicates that they were inhabitants just around 40 000 years ago.
In the 17th century, The Europeans arrived on the Malay Peninsula. Indeed, the Dutch, who occupied first Australia, established trading posts along the coastlines.
The Malay states were seen very fast as being a country where there was an abundance of natural resources. They also colonized it and occupied for over 150 years.
During World War II, the Japanese invaded, and occupied the area for over three years, until that war finally ended in 1945.
In 1948, the British-ruled territories on the Malay Peninsula (southern parts of Burma (Myanmar), Thailand and the Peninsular Malaysia) formed the Federation of Malaya, and in 1957, after a decade of intense negotiations, it gained independence from Britain.
Malaysia itself was formed in 1963 when Singapore and the states of Sabah and Sarawak joined the Peninsular Malaysia Federation; Singapore left in 1965 to become a separate nation.
- Geography
The geography of Malaysia deals with the physical and human geography of Malaysia, a country located in Southeast Asia. Malaysia borders Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei, and has maritime boundaries with Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines. Both West Malaysia and East Malaysia consist of rugged forested mountainous interiors descending to coastal plains. Malaysia's highest peak is Mount Kinabalu at 4,100 meters in East Malaysia. Located near the equator, Malaysia's climate is equatorial, being hot (up to 34°C) and humid (2 to 4 meters of rain annually) throughout the year.
- Economy
Since independence in 1957, Malaysia has been transformed from a commodity-based economy focusing on rubber and tin to one of the world's largest producers of electronic and electrical products. Malaysia is a significant trading nation as measured by trade as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), with its goods and services exports amounting to around 100 per cent of GDP.
According to the Malaysian Government, manufactured goods made up 67 per cent of Malaysia’s exports in 2012, with electronic and electrical products comprising 32.9 per cent of the value of total merchandise exports for the year.
Malaysia is also the world's second-largest exporter of palm oil and one of the region's major oil and gas exporters.
According to key development indicators, Malaysia is now a high middle-income, export-oriented economy, with per capita GDP (in current prices) of US$10,085 in 2012, life expectancy of 74 years and gross primary school enrolment of 100 per cent of the school-age population.
Malaysia's economic development policies are enunciated in a number of guiding documents which include: Vision 2020; the National Mission (2006-2020); the Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011-2015); the New Economic Model (2010); and the Economic Transformation Program (2010).
Vision 2020, launched in 1991, sets out Malaysia's plan to achieve developed-economy status by 2020. Specific targets include increasing real GDP eightfold between 1990 and 2020 – translating to average annual growth of seven per cent – and increasing per capita income by a factor of four.
The National Mission provides a framework for Malaysia to achieve Vision 2020. It builds on previous policies including the National Vision Policy (introduced in 2001), the National Development Policy (introduced in 1991) and the New Economic Policy (introduced in 1970). These policies were designed to eradicate poverty and advance the economic position of Bumiputeras ('sons of the soil' – mainly Malays but also other indigenous groups). While the Government's target of 30 per cent Bumiputera ownership of capital has not been achieved (and the timeline has been extended to 2020), there has been a significant shift in the balance of ownership, coinciding with the emergence of an influential new class of Bumiputera entrepreneurs.
The Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011-2015) is the Malaysian Government's economic blueprint. The plan places an emphasis on becoming a high-income nation, inclusiveness and sustainability.
Since his appointment in April 2009, Prime Minister Najib has set out a number of reforms aimed at liberalising the economy, especially the services sector. Service sector liberalisation has included the removal of the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity ownership requirement in 27 service sub-sectors, issuance of new foreign commercial banking and insurance licenses, and the removal of the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity requirement for publicly listed companies. In October 2010, Prime Minister Najib also launched an Economic Transformation Program, which proposes to facilitate private-public partnership projects that would promote Malaysia's economic growth. In December 2010, the National Economic Advisory Council published the concluding part of two papers on a New Economic Model for Malaysia, presenting an overall framework for transforming Malaysia from a middle income to an advanced nation by 2020.
- Politic
The Federation of Malaya was established on 31 August 1957. On 16 September 1963 the Federation was enlarged by the accession of Singapore, Sabah (formerly British North Borneo) and Sarawak. The name 'Malaysia' was adopted from that date. Singapore left the Federation on 9 August 1965.
Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. The Head of State is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) (Abdul Halim). The Head of Government is the Prime Minister (Najib Tun Razak), who is also the head of the Cabinet.
Legislative power is divided between federal (bicameral) and state (unicameral) legislatures. The Federal Parliament comprises the House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat) and the Senate (Dewan Negara). The House of Representatives has 222 members elected for five-year terms in single-seat constituencies. The Senate consists of 26 members elected by State Legislative Assemblies and 44 appointed by the King on the advice of the Prime Minister. The tenure of office is a three-year term for a maximum of two terms. States have their own elected Legislative Assemblies. Federal and state elections are generally held concurrently, with the exception of state elections in Sarawak, which are held separately.
The governing Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition comprises the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the Malaysian Chinese Association, the Malaysian Indian Congress, plus a number of other parties including some based in East Malaysia. This coalition, in which UMNO is the dominant voice, has been in power at the federal level in one form or another since the first elected government in 1955.
Barisan Nasional was returned to power with a reduced majority of 133 seats in the General Election on 5 May 2013, down from the 140 seats won in the 2008 Elections. The Opposition Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Pact) alliance won 89 seats.
- Religion
The Malaysian constitution guarantees freedom of religion while making Islam the state religion. According to the Population and Housing Census 2010 figures, ethnicity and religious beliefs correlate highly. Approximately 61.3% of the population practice Islam, 19.8% practice Buddhism, 9.2% Christianity, 6.3% Hinduism and 1.3% practice Confucianism, Taoism and other traditional Chinese religions. 0.7% declared no religion and the remaining 1.4% practised other religions or did not provide any information.
All ethnic Malays are considered Muslim by law of the Constitution. Statistics from the 2010 Census indicate that 83.6% of the Chinese population identify as Buddhist, with significant numbers of adherents following Taoism (3.4%) and Christianity (11.1%), along with small Hui-Muslim populations in areas like Penang. The majority of the Indian population follow Hinduism (86.2%), with a significant minority identifying as Christians (6.0%) or Muslims (4.1%). Christianity is the predominant religion of the non-Malay bumiputeracommunity (46.5%) with an additional 40.4% identifying as Muslims.
Muslims are obliged to follow the decisions of Syariah courts in matters concerning their religion. The Islamic judges are expected to follow the Shafi`i legal school of Islam, which is the main madh'hab of Malaysia. The jurisdiction of Shariah courts is limited to Muslims in matters such as marriage, inheritance, divorce, apostasy, religious conversion, and custody among others. No other criminal or civil offences are under the jurisdiction of the Shariah courts, which have a similar hierarchy to the Civil Courts. Despite being the supreme courts of the land, the Civil Courts do not hear matters related to Islamic practices.
Sources:
* http://www.tourism.gov.my/en/intl* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia
* http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/malaysia/malaysia_brief.html
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