Malaysia
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Malaysia is nation in south east Asia.It is composed of two parts, Peninsular Malaysia bordering Thailand and northern one-third of the island of Borneo (the southern two thirds of the island are part of Indonesia).
Its major environmental issues include: air pollution from industrial and vehicular emissions; water pollution from raw sewage; deforestation; smoke/haze from Indonesian forest fires.
History
During the late 18th and 19th centuries, Great Britain established colonies and protectorates in the area of current Malaysia; these were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. In 1948, the British-ruled territories on the Malay Peninsula formed the Federation of Malaya, which became independent in 1957. Malaysia was formed in 1963 when the former British colonies of Singapore and the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern coast of Borneo joined the Federation. The first several years of the country's history were marred by a Communist insurgency, Indonesian confrontation with Malaysia, Philippine claims to Sabah, and Singapore's secession from the Federation in 1965. During the 22-year term of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad (1981-2003), Malaysia was successful in diversifying its economy from dependence on exports of raw materials to expansion in manufacturing, services, and tourism.
Geography
Location: Southeastern Asia, peninsula bordering Thailand and northern one-third of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia, Brunei, and the South China Sea, south of Vietnam. It has a strategic location along Strait of Malacca and southern South China Sea.
Geographic Coordinates: 2 30 N, 112 30 E
Area: 329,847 km2 (328,657 km2 land and 1,190 km2 water)
arable land: 5.46%
permanent crops: 17.54%
other: 77% (2005)
Land Boundaries: 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)
Maritime Claims: Territorial sea: 12 nautical miles; exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles and continental shelf: to 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation; specified boundary in the South China Sea
Natural Hazards: Flooding; landslides; forest fires
Terrain: Coastal plains rising to hills and mountains. The highest point is Gunung Kinabalu 4,100 m
Climate: tropical; annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons
Ecology and Biodiversity
- Biological diversity in Indo-Burma
- Biological diversity in Sundaland
- Borneo lowland rain forests
- Borneo montane rain forests
- Borneo peat swamp forests
- Kinabalu montane alpine meadows
- Myanmar Coast mangroves
- Peninsular Malaysian montane rain forests
- Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests
- Peninsular Malaysian rain forests
- South China Sea Islands
- Sunda Shelf mangroves
- Tenasserim-South Thailand semi-evergreen rain forests
Government
Government Type: Constitutional monarchy with a bicameral Parliament consisting of a nonelected upper house and an elected lower house; all Peninsular Malaysian states have hereditary rulers (commonly referred to as sultans) except Melaka and Pulau Pinang (Penang); those two states along with Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia have governors appointed by government; powers of state governments are limited by federal constitution
Capital: Kuala Lumpur
Independence Date: 31 August 1957 (from the UK)
Legal System: Based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court at request of supreme head of the federation; Islamic law is applied to Muslims in matters of family law and religion; has not accepted compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction.
International Environmental Agreements
Malaysia is party to international environmental agreements on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, and Wetlands.
People and Society
Population: 25,715,819 (July 2009 est.)
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 31.4% (male 4,153,621/female 3,914,962)15-64 years: 63.6% (male 8,210,373/female 8,143,043)65 years and over: 5% (male 569,245/female 724,575) (2009 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 1.723% (2009 est.)
Birthrate: 22.24 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Death Rate: 5.02 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
Urbanization: 70% of total population (2008) increasing at a rate of 3% annually from 2005-10 (est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth: 73.29 years
Total Fertility Rate: 2.95 children born/woman (2009 est.)
Languages: Bahasa Malaysia (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai. In East Malaysia there are several indigenous languages; most widely spoken are Iban and Kadazan
Literacy: 88.7% (male: 92%; female: 85.4% (2000 census)
Water
See also Water profile of Malaysia
Total Renewable Water Resources: 580 cu km (1999)
Freshwater Withdrawal: total: 9.02 cu km/yr (17% domestic, 21% industrial 62% agricultural). Per capita: 356 cu m/yr (2000)
Agriculture
See also Malaysia- FAO's Information System on Water and Agriculture
Agricultural products: Peninsular Malaysia - rubber, palm oil, cocoa, rice; Sabah - subsistence crops, rubber, timber, coconuts, rice; Sarawak - rubber, pepper, timber.
Irrigated Land: 3,650 km2 (2003)
Resources
Natural Resources: Tin, petroleum, timber, copper, iron ore, natural gas, bauxite.
Energy
See also Energy profile of Malaysia
Oil - production: 753,700 bbl/day (2008 est.) (27th largest in the world)
Oil - consumption: 501,100 bbl/day (2006 est.)
Oil - proved reserves: 3 billion bbl (1 January 2008 est.) (30th largest in the world)
Natural gas - production: 64.5 billion cu m (2007 est.) (14th largest in the world)
Natural gas - consumption: 32.9 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 2.35 trillion cu m (1 January 2008 est.) (15th largest in the world)
Health
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrheavectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria
Economy
Malaysia, a middle-income country, has transformed itself since the 1970s from a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy. After coming to office in 2003, former Prime Minister Abdullah tried to move the economy farther up the value-added production chain by attracting investments in high technology industries, medical technology, and pharmaceuticals. The Government of Malaysia is continuing efforts to boost domestic demand to wean the economy off of its dependence on exports. Nevertheless, exports - particularly of electronics - remain a significant driver of the economy. As an oil and gas exporter, Malaysia has profited from higher world energy prices, although the rising cost of domestic gasoline and diesel fuel forced Kuala Lumpur to reduce government subsidies. Malaysia "unpegged" the ringgit from the US dollar in 2005 and the currency appreciated 6% per year against the dollar in 2006-08. Although this has helped to hold down the price of imports, inflationary pressures began to build in 2007 - in 2008 inflation stood at nearly 6%, year-over-year. The government presented its five-year national development agenda in April 2006 through the Ninth Malaysia Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for the allocation of the national budget from 2006-10. Abdullah unveiled a series of ambitious development schemes for several regions that have had trouble attracting business investment. Real GDP growth averaged about 6% per year under Abdullah, but regions outside of Kuala Lumpur and the manufacturing hub Penang did not fare as well. The central bank maintains healthy foreign exchange reserves and the regulatory regime has limited Malaysia's exposure to riskier financial instruments and the global financial crisis. Decreasing worldwide demand for consumer goods is expected to hurt economic growth in 2009 and beyond, however.
GDP: (Purchasing Power Parity): $384.3 billion (2008 est.)
GDP: (Official Exchange Rate): $222.2 billion (2008 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: 4.6% (2008 est.)
GDP- per capita (PPP): $15,200 (2008 est.)
GDP- composition by sector:
agriculture: 10.1%industry: 43.7%services: 46.3% (2008 est.)
Industries: Peninsular Malaysia - rubber and oil palm processing and manufacturing, light manufacturing, electronics, tin mining and smelting, logging, timber processing; Sabah - logging, petroleum production; Sarawak - agriculture processing, petroleum production and refining, logging.
Currency: Ringgits (MYR)
See also: