GEOGRAPHY
Total land area:
329,847 sq km. Comprises of 13 state and three federal territories. The country is divided into 2 regions by the South China Sea - The Peninsular Malaysia and the Malaysian Borneo. Putrajaya is the newly created administrative capital for the federal government of Malaysia, while Kuala Lumpur remains to the country’s capital and seat of the Parliament.
Location:
Between latitudes 3°08′N and 101°42′E.
Climate:
The local climate is equatorial and characterized by the annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons.
SOCIETY
Language:
Malay is the national language, but due to a large percentage of Chinese and Indian communities, English is used in business. The issue of language and schools is a key issue for many political groups in Malaysia. UMNO championed the cause of Malay usage in schools but private schools using the Chinese and Tamil language are allowed.
Literacy Rate:
Literacy rate is at 88.7%, with 92% men and 85.4% women.
Religion:
The main religion is Islam, however, 19.2% of the population account for Buddhism, 9.1% Christianity and 6.3% Hinduism. The remaining 3% is a mix of Confucianism, Taoism and other traditional Chinese religions.
Culture:
Malaysian society, just like Singapore, is a multi-culture, multi-ethnic and multilingual society, flanked by a majority of Malays, Chinese and Indians. A smaller minority is compose of Filipinos, Eurasians and Western migrants.
HEALTHCARE
By putting 5% of the government social sector development budget into public health care, Malaysia holds true its vision for expansion and development of its healthcare facilities. With a rising and aging population, the Government wishes to improve in many areas including the refurbishment of existing hospitals, building and equipping new hospitals, expansion of the number of polyclinics, and improvements in training and expansion of telehealth, a new method of delivery of health-related services via telecommunication technologies.
TRANSPORTATION
Public:
Kuala Lumpur, being the country’s capital, has a public transport system like no other. It has an integrated rail network, with one of the longest driverless metro system, the Kelana Jaya Line. Intracity transport within KL includes the Metro (rapid transit, airport express, monorail and intercity rail), buses and taxis.
Malaysia also has one of the busiest airports. The Kuala Lumpur International Airport averages 25 millon passengers, while the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport is solely for turboprop aircrafts and private jets.
Port Klang, on the other hand, is one of the main ports of Malaysia, which serves as hub for cargo ships and commercial ships travelling to and from Malaysia. The Super Star Virgo and Queen Mary 2, the world’s second largest passenger ship has docked in the terminal for excursion. Port Klang is the home port of call for SuperStar Gemini. Port Klang is well connected by road and rail networks, so traveling across Malaysia is never a problem.
Private:
Cars in Malaysia are left-hand drive. Road signs in Malaysia are not in English, but rather in Malay. More details are found on this feature in Wikipedia - Road Signs in Malaysia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_Malaysia
Roads are the major arteries of Kuala Lumpur’s transportation network. The road network system in Kuala Lumpur is similar to the city road network system in major Chinese cites, where it has ring roads.
TELECOMMUNICATION
Telephones:
There are about 4.366 million lines in use in Malaysia, with good international service. Domestic lines are also provided on Peninsular Malaysia, mainly by microwave radio relay. International submarine cables to India, Hongkon and Singapore and 2 Intelsal stations - one in Indian Ocean and another one in the Pacific Ocean.
Mobile Phone:
There are currently 3 mobile phone operators in Malaysia, namely: Celcom, Maxis and DiGi. Malaysia’s mobile phone infrastructure are largely using GSM, however, analogue mobile communications infrastructure is still present to date.
Internet:
Due to the surge of data centers moving to Malaysia, the Internet technology is fast rising in Malaysia. Telekom Malaysia’s has a virtual monopoly of the broadband market, having owned the nation’s last mile connections, which restrict competition to densely populated areas in major cities.
In 2007, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission granted 4 wimax licenses to 4 companies, expecting to roll out their WiMAX services to 25% of the populiations, with internet access speed no less than 1 Mbps.
EDUCATION
Education in Malaysia is monitored by the federal government Ministry of Education. There are government-operated or government-assisted primary schools in Malaysia. Before moving on to the secondary level, students are required to sit the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), or Primary School Assessment Examination.
Secondary education in government schools last for 5 years. On the 3rd year, students are required to sit the Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR), Lower Secondary Assessment. In the fifth year, they are again required to sit for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), Malaysian Certificate of Education, which is equivalent to the British Ordinary or ‘O’ Levels (now referred to as GCSE).
Primary and secondary medium of instruction is Malay, except for Math and the Sciences. There are also Chinese independent high schools in Malaysia, where most subjects are taught in Chinese. In addition to this, Malaysia has international schools to offer students the opportunity to study the curriculum of another country, and to mainly cater to the grown expatriate population in the country.
Students who wish to enter public universities must complete one and a half more years of secondary schooling in Form Six and sit for the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM), Malaysian Higher School Certificate; equivalent to the British Advanced or ‘A’ levels.
FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS
The most celebrated holiday is the “Hari Merdeka” (Independence Day) on August 31 commemorating the independence of the Federation of Malaya in 1957. There are federal gazetted public holidays, while some are public holidays only in individual states.
Muslims in Malaysia celebrate Muslim Holidays, which Chinese typically celebrate festivals that they observe culturally, around the world. Majority of Indians in Malaysia are Hindus and they celebrate the Diwali, the festival of light, while Thaipusam, where most pilgrims from all over the country flock to the Batu Caves.
Despite most of the festivals being identified with a particular ethnic or religious group, all Malaysians celebrate the festivities together, regardless of their background. For years, when Hari Raya Puasa and Chinese New Year coincided, a slogan, Kongsi Raya, a combination of Gong Xi Fa Cai (a greeting used on the Chinese New Year) and Hari Raya (which could also mean “celebrating together” in Malay language) was coined. For years when the Hari Raya Puasa and Deepavali coincide, a slogan, Deepa Raya, is similarly coined.
COST OF LIVING
The unit of currency in Malaysia is the Malaysian Ringgit (RM), which is relatively on a higher scale as the Philippine peso. The current exchange rate as of this writing is Php 12 = 1 RM. Cost of living in Malaysia depends on the location. If you are living in the Kuala Lumpur, there is a higher cost compared to living and working in Cyberjaya.
Related Posts:
Migrating to Malaysia 1 of 7 : Fast Facts
Migrating to Malaysia 2 of 7 : Opportunities
Migrating to Malaysia 3 of 7 : Visa and Government Regulations
Migrating to Malaysia 4 of 7 : Living the Expat Life in Malaysia
Migrating to Malaysia 5 of 7 : Malaysia - Truly Asia!
Migrating to Malaysia 6 of 7 : Speed Links
Migrating to Malaysia 7 of 7 : Settling In