Welcome to Malaysia.
Malaysia is a
federation of thirteen states in Southeast Asia. The country consists of
two geographical regions divided by the South China Sea:
Peninsular Malaysia (or West Malaysia) on the Malay Peninsula
shares a land border on the north with Thailand and is connected by the
Johor-Singapore Causeway and the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link to
the south with Singapore. It consists of nine sultanates (Johor, Kedah,
Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu),
two states headed by governors (Malacca and Penang), and two federal
territories (Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur).
Malaysian Borneo (or East Malaysia) occupies the northern
part of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia and surrounding the
Sultanate of Brunei. It consists of the states of Sabah and Sarawak and
the federal territory of Labuan.
The name "Malaysia" was adopted in 1963 when the Federation of
Malaya (Malay: Persekutuan Tanah Melayu), Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak
formed a 14-state federation. Singapore was expelled from the federation
in 1965 and subsequently became an independent country.
Although politically dominated by the Malays, modern Malaysian
society is heterogeneous, with substantial Chinese and Indian minorities.
Malaysian politics have been noted for their allegedly communal nature;
the three major component parties of the Barisan Nasional each restrict
membership to those of one ethnic group. However, the only major
intercommunal violence the country has seen since independence was the May
13 racial riots of 1969 that occurred in the wake of an election campaign
that was dominated by racial issues.
History of Malaysia
The Malay Peninsula has thrived from its central position in the maritime
trade routes between China, India and the Middle East. Ptolemy showed it
on his early map with a label that translates as "Golden Chersonese", the
Straits of Malacca were referred to as "Sinus Sabaricus". From the mid to
the late first millennium, much of the Peninsula as well as the Malay
Archipelago were under the influence of Srivijaya.
It is thought that originally these were Hindu or Buddhist nations. The
first evidence of Islam in the Malay peninsula dates from the 14th century
in Terengganu, but according to the Kedah Annals, the 9th Maharaja Derbar
Raja AD) of Sultanate of Kedah converted to Islam and changed his name to
Sultan Muzaffar Shah. Since then there have been 27 Sultans who ruled
Kedah.
There were numerous Malay kingdoms in the 2nd and 3rd century CE, as many
as 30 according to Chinese sources. Kedah – known as Kedaram or Kataha, in
ancient Pallava or Sanskrit – was in the direct route of invasions of
Indian traders and kings. Rajendra Chola, who is now thought to have laid
Kota Gelanggi to waste, put Kedah to heel in 1025 but his successor, Vir
Rajendra Chola, had to put down a Kedah rebellion to overthrow the
invaders. The coming of the Chola reduced the majesty of Srivijaya which
had exerted influence over Kedah and Pattani and even as far as Ligor.
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