Country information

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ap

Area: 329,758 sq km (127,317 sq miles)
Population: 26.0m (2005)
Capital City: Kuala Lumpur (population: 1.5m); Putrajaya (Administrative Capital)
People: Bumiputra (mostly Malays) (65.7%), Chinese (25.4%), Indians (7.6%), Others (1.3%)
Languages: Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) is the national language. Other languages include Chinese, Tamil and Iban. English is widely used.
Religions: 55% Muslim, 17% Buddhist, 12% Taoist, 7% Christian, 7% Hindu, 2% Animist/Other
Currency: Ringgit Malaysia (RM)
Major Political Parties: Malaysian political parties are distinguished more by their differing racial compositions than by competing political philosophies. The Government has been dominated since Independence by the Barisan Nasional (BN), a coalition of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), plus a series of smaller parties (mainly from the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and reflecting their complex ethnically mixed populations).
The main opposition parties are the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR - People's Justice Party).
Government: Constitutional Monarchy: the King (Yang di-Pertuan Agong) is drawn on a rotating 5-year basis from the Sultans and hereditary rulers of the states of the Malay Peninsula.
Head of State (Agong): HM Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah
Prime Minister: Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Foreign Minister: Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim
Membership of international groupings/organisations: Malaysia is a member of the Commonwealth, the UN, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) and the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

 

 

 

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