Malaysia - Epitome of Asia - Essay Example

?Business. Country Survey Malaysia – Epitome Of Asia College Introduction Malaysia, truly Asia as tourism Asia claims it, stands correct at the given title. Malaysia is situated in the South Eastern part of the Asian continent and is the 67th largest country in the world as of today. Malaysia is also famous for its diverse culture having people of many backgrounds living there i.e. Malays, Chinese, Indians others. Malaysia today is attaining world wide acclaim through its tourism and succeeding in its attempts of attracting people to the beauties that the nature has gifted the land with. Even though the state religion of Malaysia is Islam, the country gives its people the freedom of choice and holds no barriers to any faith the people may choose to follow. They are given the right of their opinions and no one is forceful of their beliefs on the others. Malaysia is always welcoming new people to let them explore the country to fall in love with its natural beautiful sights. The people there share the same perspective and have a welcoming nature and always try to maintain a friendly relation with anyone they might know outside of their country, speaking on a personal note. Location Malaysia can be found near the far right side when viewing a global map, near the equator. It may seem a little distant from the rest of the world because of its location but that has not proven the people there to take the choice of living in isolation. Malaysia is situated on the South China Sea and has itself divided in two parts of East Malaysia and Peninsular Malaysia. The country shares borders with three countries; Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei. The country solves its problem of being in a far off place by linking itself to countries, like Singapore, through a causeway while also sharing maritime boundaries with countries like, Philippines and Vietnam. History Malaysia did not always have the place it has today in the world. Near the end of 18th and 19th centuries The British had their colonies established in the area and ruled the Malay Peninsula till 1948. It was in 1957 that Malaysia attained the freedom it has today and formed the Federation of Malaya. After the independence the country faced problems with Indonesia, Singapore which was a part of Malaysia for a time, also departed from the Malay Federations. Malaysia was able to succeed in diversifying its economy after the rule of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohammad during the early years after independence. The country chose to develop its services, manufacturing and tourism to give boost to its economy and decided to let go of exporting of raw materials. When these policies proved to be of great advantage to the country, the following prime ministers decided to act upon them as well i.e. Najib bin Abdul Razzak. Geography Being the world’s 67th largest country, Malaysia has a land area of 329,847 square kilometers (UMTECH 2012). Malaysia is the only country that has its land territory situated in both; mainland of the Asian continent and on the Malay Archipelago, the Malay sea studded with islands. The Peninsular Malaysia, one of the two parts that the country is divided in, contains 40 percent of the land mass of the country. It spreads 322 kilometers in width while it’s North to South extends up to 740 kilometers (Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2006). There is a series of mountains that divides the Peninsular Malaysia’s East and West coasts, Titiwangsa Mountains, also called Main Range (Britannica). Main Rage is a mountain range that is heavily forested and is composed of igneous rocks and granite. Most of the mountain has eroded and created a karst landscapes. The other half of Malaysia, East Malaysia, has a coastline of 2,607 kilometers which is divided among its hills, valleys, interiors of mountains and the coastal regions. East Malaysia also consists of the tallest mountain in the country, Mount Kinabalu. The mountain holds the height of 13,436 ft, and ranges between the country and Indonesia’s border (Right Travels Online). Culture Malaysia is a very diverse country when it comes to culture. The population consists of multi-ethnic, multilingual and multicultural people. The country takes its influences from China, India, Persia (nor known as Iran), Saudi Arabia and Britain for its culture. Almost negligible cultural adaptation has taken place of the minorities of ethnic groups due to the government structure of the country. Language Even though the official language of Malaysia is Bahasa Malaysia, English was the administrative language of Malaysia before riots over racial issues broke out in 1969 and Malay took over the dominance. English is still used in public schools of Malaysia for Math and Science subjects and is the second active language in Malaysia. There are many other languages, 137 of them, practiced in the country as well. East Malaysia uses Iban, Dusunic languages in the tribal areas while Malaysian from the Chinese descent uses Chinese dialects as their language. People of Peninsular Malaysia speak 41 out of the 137 languages spoken in Malaysia. A few of the 137 languages are Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil, Thai, Mandarin, Hakka, Cantonese, Fuzhou, Hokkien and Hainanese. Religion The state religion of Malaysia is Islam but the country’s constitution has promised freedom of religion to its people. According to the Population and Housing Census conducted in the year 2010 (Department of Statistics, Malaysia. 2010), from the 28,401,017 population of the country the following figures were put forward; 1. Muslims = 61% of the population 2. Buddhists = 19.8% of the population 3. Christians = 9.2% of the population 4. Hindus = 6.3% of the population 5. Confucians, Taoists and other Chinese traditional religions = 1.3% of the population 6. No religious beliefs = 0.7% of the population 7. Other religions = 1.4% of the population Holidays Malaysians celebrate a national holiday on 31st August as their Independence Day. Due to the diversity in the country’s culture and religion, the people there get to celebrate numerous holidays. Christian holidays contain a practice of Christmas, Easter’s and Good Friday, Muslims, being the largest community of people and the state religion, celebrate Hari Raya Haji (also called Eid ul-Adha), Hari Raya Puasa (also called Eid al-Fitr), Maulidur Rasul (birthday of the Holy Prophet), Malaysian Chinese celebrate the Chinese New Year and other festive, Hindu Malaysians practice Holi, Deepavali etc. Gawai is a harvest festival that is celebrated by East Malaysians. Even though almost all the holidays are related to a certain religious or ethnic group Malaysians are very accepting of each other’s beliefs and make sure to be a part of every celebration. The people there welcome every tradition or festival with open hearts and the celebration is similar to an ‘open-house’ celebration. Political History Malaysia, being proud of its multicultural environment, is almost certainly able to control the racial and ethnic conflicts to a great extent. The Consociationalism approach followed in Malaysia, is partially responsible to mitigate the risks of ethnic, racial and other conflicts since its formation. The basic features of grand coalition, proportionality, cultural autonomy and minority veto of Consociationalism approach lied at the core of Malaysian political system since its formation. Even in 1969 conflicts when racial and ethnic disputes were bringing about vast changes in people and their behaviors, Malaysia succeeded to keep peace at the national level. Malaysia halted the disputes due to violent ethnic clashes resulting in higher rate of murders and violent responses, to a state level as opposed to national level in many other countries. Mohamad Khir Johari, a leading character of United Malays National Organization proposed the coalition option during 1965 (Agus 2009). Taking a closer look to the Malaysian government since its formation in 1957, consociational democracy seems to outweigh other forms of government. Malaysian political sovereignty is consistent by a coalition practice adopted by various ethnicity-based smaller political parties each representing and consisting of member belonging to a common ethnicity. The coalition is translated in the title of ‘Barisan Nasional’ (i.e. ‘national front’) party which dominates the political systems since Malaysia’s formation. Current Political System Today, Malaysia follows Federal parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch. The political system is affected by the territorial divisions of the country. There are 13 states in Malaysia and 3 federal territories. The states have their individual legislative body and government under the control of a chief minister. Out of 13, 9 states follow hereditary rulers i.e. the former Sultans who still possess power and autonomy over the state affairs. The remaining 4 states are ruled by elected governors in counterpart capacity (Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, 2012). US-Malaysia Relationship The two countries under discussion have strong economic bonds. The countries share a trading practice to aid their economy and strengthen their relationship. Despite of the conflicts between the countries, US stand at the 4th position in Malaysian trade partners. On the other hand, Malaysia takes 22nd position in the trading partnership list of the US (Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, 2012). US-Malaysia relationships, however, in political terms are deteriorating since the Iraq invasion. Malaysia takes the US steps as a violation of International Politics’ rules. Moreover, Malaysian government condemns the US actions and holds an opinion that the US participation in the wars, increasing debates over terrorism and human rights are more inclined towards demolishment of Muslims rather than a peace making process. The case of Saddam Hussein further affirms Malaysians’ fear of US’s actions being against Muslims rather than anything else. The deterioration of US-Malaysia relationships became rapid after the Malaysian Prime Minister’s speech in which he encourages Muslim unity and a proactive behavior against their enemies. The speech also presented the invasion in a negative manner and strongly opposed the US act (Beeson). The increasingly stricter US immigration and visa policies seem to worsen the situation between US and Malaysia. Malaysians are of the opinion that such policies and initiatives are brought about to reduce the chances for Muslims to flourish. These policies, according to Malaysian’s views, are aimed at targeting the Muslim population and Islam. The restrictions placed by the US pose as a constraint for Malaysians to enter US and hence, keep Malaysia in the watch list of American visa investigations against Muslim countries. We may conclude that on religious grounds the conflicts between US and Malaysia remain dominant. The disputes seem to strengthen due to various events and policies (Beeson). Economy- GDP The relaxation from economic crisis has been seen in many countries after 2009. The Department of statistics, Malaysia, reports a favorable growth in Malaysian economy during 2010. The growth in Malaysian economy increased up to 7.2% during 2010 as opposed to -1.6% in 2009. The manufacturing and servicing sectors, being 11.4 and 6.8 percent respectively of the total growth, take the leading role in economic strengthening of the country. The economically strongest states, Selangor and Pulao Pinang, show a GDP growth of 10.8% and 10% respectively. Johar and Kuala Lumpur also showed healthy GDP growth at 9.3% and 9.2% respectively. The other states involved in manufacturing and service industries also benefited by the improved GDP (Department of Statistics, Malaysia 2011). The GDP growth rate in 2011 and 2012 (estimated) is 5.1 and 5 percent respectively. The nominal GDP is calculated at $237.8 billion in 2011 (Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, 2012). Unemployment rate: The unemployment rate in Malaysia is found to be 3% in April 2012 (Department of Statistics, 2012). Currency: The Malaysian local Currency is named Ringgit (NYR). The exchange rate of Malaysian Currency is $0.31334 (The Money Converter 2012). Entrepreneurship The Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity of Malaysia (TEA) increased up to 4.96 percent during 2010 in comparison with 4.4 percent in 2009. The TEA of Malaysia is approximately 20% behind other countries proficiently exporting their products internationally. The lack of entrepreneurial education and training takes a lead role in this deteriorated position of Malaysian economy. The women and men are currently encouraged to take active participation in entrepreneurial roles by emphasizing on the course areas related to entrepreneurship (Xavier 2010). References Beeson, M. (2006). Bush And Asia: America's Evolving Relations With East Asia. (pp. 190-195). Newyork, London: Routledge. Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (2012, March 2). Background Note: Malaysia. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved June 27, 2012, from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2777.htm#relations Department of Statistics (2011, October 17). Malaysia Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by State, 2010 . Department of Statistics, Malaysia. Retrieved June 27, 2012, from http://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1300%3Agross-domestic-product-gdp-by-state-2010-updated-74102011&catid=98%3Agross-domestic-product-by-state&Itemid=153&lang=en Noh, A. (2010). Small Steps, Big Outcome: A historical institutional analysis of Malaysia’s political economy. Asia Research Centre, (Working Paper no.164). Right Travels online (n.d.). Singapore Malaysia Vacation Package Online - Glimpse of Malaysia and Singapore. Right Travels Online. Retrieved June 27, 2012, from http://www.righttravelsonline.com/Turkey-Travel-Tour-Package-Glimpse-Malaysia-Singapore.html The Money Converter (2012, June 27). Exchange Rates For Malaysian Ringgit (MYR). The Money Converter. Retrieved June 27, 2012, from http://themoneyconverter.com/MYR/Exchange_Rates_For_malaysian_ringgit.aspx University of Management and Technology (2012). FAQs: Living in Malaysia. In UMTECH. Retrieved from http://www.umtech.edu.my/faq#.T-qBk7WP9Gg Xavier, R. (2009). Entrepreneurship in Malaysia The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Malaysian Report, 2009. GEM Consortium. Retrieved June 27, 2012, from http://www.gemconsortium.org/docs/download/753 Yousoff, M. A. (1991). Consociational politics the Malaysian experience. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Perikatan Pemuda. Marshall Cavendish Corporation. (2006). World and its peoples: Middle East, western Asia and northern Africa. New York: Marshall Cavendish. Read More