Malaysia

The Strait of Melaka has always been the reason. Monsoon winds brought traders from India, Arabia and China to wait for the change of season on the peninsula's shore. Early states such as Kedah (the Bujang Valley temples) and later Srivijaya, based in Sumatra, controlled the trade and took Hindu-Buddhist forms.

Around 1400 Parameswara, a prince from Sumatra, founded Melaka. Its rulers converted to Islam, and the sultanate became the model of Malay kingship, law and court language for the whole region. Portugal seized Melaka in 1511, the Dutch took it in 1641, and the Melaka royal line re-established itself in Johor and Perak.

Britain arrived through trade: Penang in 1786, Singapore in 1819 and Melaka in 1824, combined as the Straits Settlements. From the 1870s British residents advised the Malay sultans, while tin mines and later rubber plantations drew Chinese and Indian workers in huge numbers. Kuala Lumpur grew from a tin-mining camp at a river confluence.

Japan occupied Malaya in 1941–45. After the war a communist insurgency, the Emergency (1948–60), was fought mainly by the British against a largely Chinese guerrilla force. Malaya became independent on 31 August 1957 under Tunku Abdul Rahman, whose cry of 'Merdeka!' at the stadium in Kuala Lumpur is the founding image of the nation.

In 1963 Malaya joined with Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore to form Malaysia; Singapore left in 1965. Race riots in 1969 led to the New Economic Policy favouring Malays and other bumiputera. The long rule of the Barisan Nasional coalition ended in 2018, and a series of short-lived governments followed until Anwar Ibrahim became prime minister in 2022.

Malaysia has about 34 million people. Malays and indigenous peoples (together bumiputera, 'sons of the soil') are about 70 per cent; Chinese Malaysians about 22 per cent and Indian Malaysians about 7 per cent. In Sabah and Sarawak the largest groups are indigenous: Kadazan-Dusun, Bajau, Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu and many more.

The constitution defines a Malay as a Muslim who habitually speaks Malay and follows Malay custom, and it gives Malays special privileges in education, civil service jobs and business. These policies reduced poverty among Malays after 1970 but remain contested, and most parties are still organised along ethnic lines.

Everyday life is more mixed than politics. Schools are split by language stream, but offices, food courts and football crowds are shared. Malaysians switch between Malay, English, Chinese dialects and Tamil mid-sentence, and 'Manglish' is a national joke and a national identity.

Nine Malay states keep their hereditary rulers, who take turns as king for five years. The rulers are guardians of Islam and Malay custom in their states, and questioning their role in public can be a crime.

Islam is the religion of the federation and of every Malay. Each state has its own religious department and Sharia courts for Muslims on family and moral matters; Kelantan and Terengganu, run by the Islamic party PAS, are the most conservative.

Chinese Malaysians practise a blend of Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and ancestor worship in clan houses and temples; the clan jetties and kongsi of George Town are their most visible heritage. Indian Malaysians are mostly Hindu, and the Thaipusam pilgrimage to Batu Caves draws over a million people.

Christians are a majority in Sarawak and a large minority in Sabah, many from indigenous groups converted by missionaries. A long legal dispute over whether Christians may use 'Allah' for God shows how sensitive religious boundaries remain.

In practice, festivals are shared through 'open house' traditions: at Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and Deepavali families invite friends of every faith to eat.

Traditional Malay houses stand on stilts with steep roofs and carved ventilation panels, built for heat and floods. Melaka's Minangkabau-influenced houses and the istanas of Kelantan and Terengganu show the variations.

The Straits shophouse, a narrow two-storey building with a covered 'five-foot way' in front, defines George Town and Melaka; both were listed together by UNESCO in 2008. Peranakan (Nyonya) houses mix Chinese carving, European tiles and Malay textiles.

Modern Kuala Lumpur shows national ambitions: the Moorish-style colonial Sultan Abdul Samad Building, the National Mosque's folded-umbrella roof, and the Petronas Twin Towers (1998), whose plan is based on an Islamic eight-pointed star.

Crafts include batik (hand-drawn or stamped), songket brocade woven with gold thread, silver and brass from Terengganu, and Borneo beadwork and Iban pua kumbu textiles. Wau (kites) and wayang kulit shadow puppets survive in Kelantan.

Malaysian food is where the communities meet. Malay cooking uses coconut, lemongrass, chilli and belacan (shrimp paste); Chinese cooking brought noodles, wok frying and pork; Indian cooking brought curries, roti and the banana-leaf meal.

The mixtures are the best part. Nyonya food, from Peranakan families of Chinese and Malay descent, combines Chinese technique with Malay spices; Mamak stalls, run by Tamil Muslims, serve roti canai, teh tarik and nasi kandar around the clock and are where Malaysians of all backgrounds meet late at night.

Hawker centres and kopitiams (coffee shops) are the national institution. Each stall specialises in one dish, often for decades, and debates about which state makes the best laksa or char kway teow never end.

Halal rules shape where people eat together: Muslims eat at halal outlets, so shared meals happen at Malay, Mamak or halal Chinese restaurants.

Malaysian Borneo is more than half of the country's land and feels like a different place. Sarawak was ruled for a century by the Brooke family, the 'White Rajahs', from 1841 to 1946; Sabah was run by the British North Borneo Company. Both became British colonies after the war and joined Malaysia in 1963.

The Malaysia Agreement gave them special rights, including control over immigration, which is why visitors from the peninsula pass through passport control. Sarawak and Sabah politicians regularly push for more autonomy and oil revenue.

Indigenous peoples make up most of the population. Iban and other Dayak groups traditionally lived in longhouses, long communal buildings on stilts along the rivers; some still do, and visitors can stay by arrangement.

Borneo's rainforests are among the oldest on earth, home to orangutans, proboscis monkeys, hornbills and pygmy elephants, but logging and oil palm have cleared much of the lowland forest. Protected areas such as Danum Valley, Mulu and Kinabalu hold what remains of the old forest.