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Malaysia (
i/məˈleɪʒə/ mə-lay-zhə or i/məˈleɪsiə/ mə-lay-see-ə) is afederal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi) separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions,Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Land borders are shared with Thailand,Indonesia, and Brunei, and maritime borders exist with Singapore, Vietnam, and thePhilippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. In 2010 the population exceeded 27.5 million, with over 20 million living on the Peninsula.
i/məˈleɪʒə/ mə-lay-zhə or i/məˈleɪsiə/ mə-lay-see-ə) is afederal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi) separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions,Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Land borders are shared with Thailand,Indonesia, and Brunei, and maritime borders exist with Singapore, Vietnam, and thePhilippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. In 2010 the population exceeded 27.5 million, with over 20 million living on the Peninsula.Malaysia has its origins in the Malay Kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. The first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as theFederation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963, with sibeing added to give the new country the name Malaysia. Less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. Since independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its natural resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce andmedical tourism.
The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a large role in politics. The government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary systemand the legal system is based on English Common Law. The constitution declaresIslam the state religion while protecting freedom of religion. The head of state is the King, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. He is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the Prime Minister.
Malaysia contains the southernmost point of continental Eurasia, Tanjung Piai. Located in the tropics, it is a megadiverse country, with large numbers of endemicflora and fauna. It is a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and a member of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the Non-Aligned Movement.
Etymology
The word Melayu is thought to derive from the Sanskrit term Malaiur or Malayadvipa, which can be translated as "land of mountains", the word used by ancientIndian traders when referring to the Malay Peninsula.[14][15][16][17][18] Other theories propose it originates from the Tamil wordMalai, meaning "mountain".[19] The term was later used as the name of theMelayu Kingdom, which existed between the 7th and 13th centuries onSumatra.[20]
Following his 1826 expedition in Oceania, French navigator Jules Dumont d'Urvilleinvented the terms Malaysia, Micronesia and Melanesia, distinguishing these Pacific cultures and island groups from the existing term Polynesia. In 1831, he proposed these terms to the Société de Géographie. Dumont d'Urville described Malaysia as "an area commonly known as the East Indies".[21] In 1850, the English ethnologist George Samuel Windsor Earl, writing in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, proposed naming the islands of Southeast Asia as Melayunesia orIndunesia, favouring the former.[22]
In 1957, the Federation of Malaya was declared as an independent federation of the Malay states on the Malay Peninsula.[23] The name "Malaysia" was adopted in 1963 when the existing states of the Federation of Malaya, plus Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak formed a new federation, with "si" being added to Malaya in honour of the three joining states.[24] Prior to that, the name itself had been used to refer to the whole Malay Archipelago.[25] Politicians in the Philippines contemplated renaming their state "Malaysia" before the modern country took the name.[26] At the time of federation, other names were considered: among them was Langkasuka, after the historic kingdom located at the upper section of the Malay Peninsula in the 1st millennium CE.[27]
History
Main article: History of Malaysia
Evidence of modern human habitation in Malaysia dates back 40,000 years.[28] The first inhabitants are thought to be Negritos.[29] Traders and settlers from India and China arrived as early as the 1st century AD, establishing trading ports and coastal towns in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Their presence resulted in strong Indian and Chinese influence on the local cultures, and the people of the Malay Peninsula adopted the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Sanskrit inscriptions appear as early as the 4th or 5th century.[30] The Kingdom of Langkasuka arose around the 2nd century in the northern area of the Malay Peninsula, lasting until about the 15th century.[27] Between the 7th and 13th centuries, much of the southern Malay Peninsula was part of the maritime Srivijaya empire. After the fall of Srivijaya, the Majapahit empire had influence over most of Peninsular Malaysia and the Malay Archipelago.[31] Islam began to spread among Malays in the 14th century.[3] In the early 15th century, Parameswara, a prince of the former Srivijayan empire, founded the Malacca Sultanate, commonly considered the first independent state in the peninsula.[32] Malacca was an important commercial centre during this time, attracting trade from around the region. Parameswara became a Muslim, accelerating the spread of Islam.[3]
In 1511 Malacca was conquered by Portugal,[3] after which it was taken by theDutch in 1641. In 1786 the British Empire established a presence in Malaya, when the Sultan of Kedah leased Penang to the British East India Company. The British obtained the town of Singapore in 1819,[33] and in 1824 took control of Malacca following the Anglo-Dutch Treaty. By 1826 the British directly controlled Penang, Malacca, Singapore, and the island of Labuan, which they established as the crown colony of the Straits Settlements. By the 20th century, the states of Pahang,Selangor, Perak, and Negeri Sembilan, known together as the Federated Malay States, had British Residents appointed to advise the Malay rulers, to whom the rulers were bound to defer by treaty.[34] The remaining five states in the peninsula, known as the Unfederated Malay States, while not directly under British rule, also accepted British advisers around the turn of the 20th century. Development on the Peninsula and Borneo were generally separate until the 19th century. Under British rule the immigration of Chinese and Indians to serve as labourers was encouraged.[35] Sabah was governed as the crown colony of British North Borneo after it was leased from the Sultanate of Sulu in 1878.[36] In 1842, Sarawak was ceded by the Sultan of Brunei to James Brooke, whose successors ruled as the White Rajahsover an independent kingdom until 1946, when it became a Crown colony.[37]
In the Second World War the Japanese army invaded and occupied Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore for over three years. During this time, ethnic tensions were raised and nationalism grew.[38] Popular support for independence increased after Malaya was reconquered by Allied Forces.[39] Post-war British plans to unite the administration of Malaya under a single crown colony called the Malayan Union met with strong opposition from the Malays, who opposed the weakening of the Malay rulers and the granting of citizenship to the ethnic Chinese. The Malayan Union, established in 1946 and consisting of all the British possessions in the Malay Peninsula with the exception of Singapore, was quickly dissolved and replaced by the Federation of Malaya, which restored the autonomy of the rulers of the Malay states under British protection.[40] During this time, mostly Chinese rebels under the leadership of the Malayan Communist Party launched guerrilla operations designed to force the British out of Malaya. TheMalayan Emergency lasted from 1948 to 1960, and involved a long anti-insurgency campaign by Commonwealth troops in Malaya.[41] After this a plan was put in place to federate Malaya with the British crown colonies of Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore. The proposed date of federation was 31 August 1963, however, the date was delayed until 16 September 1963 due to opposition from Indonesia's Sukarno and the Sarawak United Peoples' Party.[42]
Federation brought heightened tensions including a conflict with Indonesia, Singapore's eventual exit in 1965,[43][44] and racial strife. This strife culminated in the 13 May race riots in 1969.[45] After the riots, the controversial New Economic Policy was launched by Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak, trying to increase the share of the economy held by the bumiputra.[46] Under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad there was a period of rapid economic growth and urbanisation beginning in the 1980s. The economy shifted from being agriculturally-based to one based on manufacturing and industry. Numerous mega-projects were completed, such as thePetronas Towers, the North-South Expressway, the Multimedia Super Corridor, and the new federal administrative capital of Putrajaya.[24] However, in the late 1990s theAsian financial crisis almost caused the collapse of the currency and the stock and property markets.[47]
Governance
Malaysia is a federal constitutional elective monarchy. The system of government is closely modelled on that of the Westminster parliamentary system, a legacy of British colonial rule.[48] The head of state is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, commonly referred to as the king. The King is elected to a five-year term by and from among the nine hereditaryrulers of the Malay states; the other four states, which have titular Governors, do not participate in the selection. By informal agreement the position is systematically rotated among the nine,[48] and has been held by Abdul Halim of Kedah since December 2011.[49]The King's role has been largely ceremonial since changes to the constitution in 1994, picking ministers and members of the upper house.[50]
Legislative power is divided between federal and state legislatures. The bicameral federalparliament consists of the lower house, the House of Representatives and the upper house, the Senate.[51] The 222-member House of Representatives is elected for a maximum term of five years from single-member constituencies. All 70 senators sit for three-year terms; 26 are elected by the 13 state assemblies, and the remaining 44 are appointed by the King upon the Prime Minister's recommendation.[3] The parliament follows a multi-party system and the government is elected through a first-past-the-post system. Since independence Malaysia has been governed by a multi-party coalition known as the Barisan Nasional.[3]
Each state has a unicameral State Legislative Assembly whose members are elected from single-member constituencies. State governments are led by Chief Ministers,[3] who are state assembly members from the majority party in the assembly. In each of the states with a hereditary ruler, the Chief Minister is required to be a Malay, appointed by the ruler upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister.[52] Parliamentary elections are held at least once every five years, the most recent of which took place in March 2008.[3] Registered voters of age 21 and above may vote for the members of the House of Representatives and, in most of the states, for the state legislative chamber. Voting is not mandatory.[53] Except for elections in Sarawak, all state elections are held concurrently with the federal election.[50]
Executive power is vested in the Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister. The prime minister must be a member of the house of representatives, who in the opinion of the King, commands a majority in parliament. The cabinet is chosen from members of both houses of Parliament.[3] The Prime Minister is both the head of cabinet and the head of government.[50] The incumbent, Najib Razak, appointed in 2009, is the sixth prime minister.[54]
Malaysia's legal system is based on English Common Law.[3] Although the judiciary is theoretically independent, its independence has been called into question and the appointment of judges lacks accountability and transparency.[55] The highest court in the judicial system is theFederal Court, followed by the Court of Appeal and two high courts, one for Peninsular Malaysia and one for East Malaysia. Malaysia also has a special court to hear cases brought by or against Royalty.[56] Separate from the civil courts are the Syariah Courts, which apply Shariah law to cases which involve Malaysian Muslims[57] and run parallel to the secular court system.[58] TheInternal Security Act allows detention without trial, and the death penalty is in use for crimes such as drug trafficking.[59]
Race is a significant force in politics, and many political parties are ethnically based.[3] Actions such as the New Economic Policy[46] and the National Development Policy which superseded it, were implemented to advance the standing of the bumiputra, consisting of Malays and the indigenous tribes who are considered the original inhabitants of Malaysia, over non-bumiputra such as Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indians.[60] These policies provide preferential treatment to bumiputra in employment, education, scholarships, business, and access to cheaper housing and assisted savings. However, it has generated greater interethnic resentment.[61] There is ongoing debate over whether the laws and society of Malaysia should reflect secular or Islamic principles.[62] Islamic laws passed by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party in state legislative assemblies have been blocked by the federal government.[63]
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