Malaysia - Epitome of Asia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Malaysia - Epitome of Asia - Essay Example Malaysia - Epitome of Asia 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 share s 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. 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 Mal aysia 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’