About Malaysia

At a glance, Malaysia is a tropical paradise and enjoys a strategic location in the heart of South East Asia just north of the Equator.

Malaysia is made up of two regions namely Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia) lies between Thailand (North) and Singapore (South) and East Malaysia which situated across the South China Sea on the island known as Borneo.

The area for both regions are around 330,000 square km with a population of about 29 million people comprises of Malays as majority, Chinese, Indians are mainly at Peninsular Malaysia while at the East Malaysia having ethnic groups such as Iban, Kadazan, Bidayuh plus other races that make up to the rest of the population. Malay is the national language, but English is widely spoken. The ethnics groups also converse in various languages and dialects. Malaysian time is eight hours ahead of G.M.T and sixteen hours ahead of U.S. Pacific Standard Time.

Malaysia's climate is sunny throughout the year with an average of daily temperatures range from 21 degrees to 32 degrees Centigrade. Humidity is high with average rainfall between 2000 mm to 2,500 mm per year. Along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, the rainy season is from August to September. While on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, western Sarawak and north-eastern of Sabah, the wet months are from November to February.

Kuala Lumpur is the Capital City of Malaysia while Putrajaya which situated about 25km of south Kuala Lumpur is now the Administrative Centre for the Government of Malaysia. Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, but other religions are widely practised. The monetary unit is Ringgit Malaysia and written as RM.

Further information about Malaysia can be obtained from many Malaysian government's official portals such as at www.malaysia.gov.my or for more information on tourism at www.tourism.gov.my.