Malaysia

Malaysia was formed in 1963 through a merging of the former British colonies of Malaya and Singapore, including the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern coast of Borneo. The first several years of the country's history were marred by Indonesian efforts to control Malaysia, Philippine claims to Sabah, and Singapore's secession in 1965.

• air pollution from industrial and vehicular emissions;
• water pollution from raw sewage;
• deforestation;
• smoke/haze from Indonesian forest fires

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

0-14 years:

34.1% (male 3,974,532; female 3,753,407)

15-64 years:

61.6% (male 6,995,451; female 6,969,435)

65 years and over:

4.3% (male 424,776; female 544,764) (2002 est.)

at birth:

1.07 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.06 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.78 male(s)/female

total population:

1.01 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

noun:

Malaysian(s)

adjective:

Malaysian

• Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai;
• note - in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest of which are Iban and Kadazan

conventional long form:

none

conventional short form:

Malaysia

former:

Federation of Malaysia

• based on English common law;
• judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court at request of supreme head of the federation;
• has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

chief of state:

• Paramount Ruler Tuanku SYED SIRAJUDDIN ibni Almarhum Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail, the Raja of Perlis (since 12 December 2001);
• replaced Paramount Ruler Sultan TUNKU SALAHUDDIN Abdul Aziz Shah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Hissammuddin Alam Shah who died in office 21 November 2001

head of government:

Prime Minister MAHATHIR bin Mohamad (since 16 July 1981); Deputy Prime Minister ABDULLAH bin Ahmad Badawi (since 8 January 1999)

cabinet:

Cabinet appointed by the prime minister from among the members of Parliament with consent of the paramount ruler

election results:

Tuanku SYED SIRAJUDDIN ibni Almarhum Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail elected paramount ruler following the death of TUNKU SALAHUDDIN Abdul Aziz Shah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Hisammuddin Alam Shah

elections:

• paramount ruler elected by and from the hereditary rulers of nine of the states for five-year terms;
• election last held 12 December 2001 (next to be held NA 2006);
• prime minister designated from among the members of the House of Representatives;
• following legislative elections, the leader of the party that wins a plurality of seats in the House of Representatives becomes prime minister

• Alternative Coalition or Barisan Alternatif-BA (includes the following parties: Party Islam Se-Malaysia or PAS [FADZIL Mohamad Noor], National Justice Party or NJP [WAN AZIZAH Wan Ismail], and Malaysian People's Party or PRM [SYED HUSIN]);
• National Front or NF (ruling coalition dominated by the United Malays National Organization or UMNO [MAHATHIR bin Mohamad], includes the following parties: Malaysian Indian Congress or MIC [S. Samy VELLU], Malaysian Chinese Association or MCA [LING Liong Sik], Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia or Gerakan [LIM Keng Yaik], Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu or PBB [Patinggi Haji Abdul TAIB Mahmud], Parti Angkatan Keadilan Rakyat Bersatu or Akar [PANDIKAR Amin Mulia], Parti Bangsa Dayak Sarawak or PBDS [Leo MOGGIE], Parti Bersatu Sabah or PBS [Joseph PAIRIN Kitingan], Sabah United People's Party or SUPP [Jeffrey KITINGAN], Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [CHONG Kah Kiat], Sabah Progressive Party or SAPP [YONG Teck Lee], People's Progressive Party or PPP [M. KAYVEAS], Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah or PBRS [Joseph KURUP], Sarawak National Party or SNAP [Amar James WONG], Parti Demokratik Sabah or PDS [leader NA], and United Pasok Momogun Kadazan Organization or UPKO (state level only) [Bernard DOMPOK]);
• Parti Bersekutu [HARRIS Salleh];
• State Reform Party of Sarawak or STAR [PATAU Rubis];
• Democratic Action Party or DAP [LIM Kit Siang]

chief of mission:

Ambassador GHAZZALI bin Sheikh Abdul Khalid

chancery:

2401 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

consulate(s) general:

Los Angeles and New York

FAX:

[1] (202) 483-7661

telephone:

[1] (202) 328-2700

chief of mission:

Ambassador Marie T. HUHTALA

embassy:

376 Jalan Tun Razak, 50400 Kuala Lumpur

mailing address:

P. O. Box No. 10035, 50700 Kuala Lumpur; American Embassy Kuala Lumpur, APO AP 96535-8152

telephone:

[60] (3) 2168-5000

FAX:

[60] (3) 2142-2207

• 14 equal horizontal stripes of red (top) alternating with white (bottom);
• there is a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a yellow crescent and a yellow fourteen-pointed star;
• the crescent and the star are traditional symbols of Islam;
• the design was based on the flag of the US

lowest 10%:

2%

highest 10%:

38% (1997 est.)

• Peninsular Malaysia - rubber and oil palm processing and manufacturing, light manufacturing industry, electronics, tin mining and smelting, logging and processing timber;
• Sabah - logging, petroleum production;
• Sarawak - agriculture processing, petroleum production and refining, logging

• Peninsular Malaysia - rubber, palm oil, cocoa, rice;
• Sabah - subsistence crops, rubber, timber, coconuts, rice;
• Sarawak - rubber, pepper;
• timber

general assessment:

modern system; international service excellent

domestic:

• good intercity service provided on Peninsular Malaysia mainly by microwave radio relay;
• adequate intercity microwave radio relay network between Sabah and Sarawak via Brunei;
• domestic satellite system with 2 earth stations

international:

submarine cables to India, Hong Kong, and Singapore; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean and 1 Pacific Ocean) (2001)

total:

1,801 km

narrow gauge:

1,801 km 1.000-m gauge (148 km electrified) (2001)

total:

64,672 km

paved:

48,707 km (including 1,192 km of expressways)

note: in addition to these national and main regional roads, Malaysia has thousands of kilometers of local roads that are maintained by local jurisdictions (1999)

unpaved:

15,965 km

• Malaysia involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with China, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei;
• Malaysia and Singapore are considering taking the dispute over Pulau Batu Putih (Pedra Branca Island) to ICJ;
• Malaysia concerned over Singapore's land reclamation works on Johor, which affect the maritime boundary, shipping lanes, and water ecology in the Tebrau Reach;
• since 1998, ICJ has been considering Malaysia's longstanding Sipadan and Ligitan islands dispute with Indonesia;
• ICJ rejected the Philippines' application to intervene in this case in October 2001;
• Sultanate of Sulu granted the Philippine Government power of attorney to pursue his sovereignty claim over Malaysia's state of Sabah, over which the Philippines have not fully revoked their claim;
• a one km stretch of Malaysia-Thailand territory at the mouth of the Kolok river remains in dispute, despite overall success in boundary redemarcation