Malaysia

Background: 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.
Location: Southeastern Asia, peninsula and northern one-third of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia and the South China Sea, south of Vietnam. Area: Total: 329,750 sq km, water: 1,200 sq km. land: 328,550 sq km. Area - comparative: Slightly larger than New Mexico. Land boundaries: Total: 2,669 km, border countries: Brunei 381 km, Indonesia 1,782 km, Thailand 506 km. Coastline: 4,675 km (Peninsular Malaysia 2,068 km, East Malaysia 2,607 km).

Climate and Terrain: Climate: Tropical; annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons. Terrain: Coastal plains rising to hills and mountains.
People: Population: 22,662,365. Ethnic groups: Malay and other indigenous 58%, Chinese 24%, Indian 8%, others 10% (2000). Religions: Muslim, Buddhist, Daoist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh; note - in addition, Shamanism is practiced in East Malaysia. Languages: 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.
Government: Government type: Constitutional monarchy. Capital: Kuala Lumpur. Independence: 31 August 1957 (from UK).

Economy overview: Malaysia, a middle income country, transformed itself from 1971 through the late 1990s from a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy. Growth is almost exclusively driven by exports - particularly of electronics - and, as a result Malaysia was hard hit by the global economic downturn and the slump in the Information Technology (IT) sector in 2001. GDP in 2001 grew only 0.3% due to an estimated 11% contraction in exports, but a substantial fiscal stimulus package has mitigated the worst of the recession and the economy is expected to grow by 2% to 3% in 2002 as the world economy rebounds.
Statistics: Telephones - main lines in use: 4.6 million. Telephones - mobile cellular: 5 million. Radio broadcast stations: AM 35, FM 391, shortwave 15. Radios: 10.9 million. Television broadcast stations: 1 (plus 15 high-power repeaters). Televisions: 10.8 million. Internet users: 4.1 million. Railways: Total: 1,801 km. Highways: Total: 64,672 km, paved: 48,707 km,, note: in addition to these national and main regional roads, Malaysia has thousands of kilometers of local roads that are maintained by local jurisdictions, unpaved: 15,965 km. Airports: 116, with paved runways: 34, with unpaved runways: 82. Heliports: 1.