According to Findjobdescriptions, Malaysia is a federal state (332.995 km 2 with 11.900.000 residents in 1975) of South Asia, associated with the Commonwealth; capital Kuala Lumpur (451,000 residents in 1970).
Malaysia was formed on September 16, 1963, following the merger of the continental part (Federation of Malaysia) with Singapore (then separated on August 9, 1965), with Sabah and Sarawak, located in northern Borneo. It is made up of 13 states, each with its own legislative and executive apparatus, with federal government and central parliament, residing in the capital. The basic problem remains that of a multiracial society, made up, apart from the minor groups, of Malaysians (46.8%), Chinese (34%), and Indians (9%), which corresponds to a deep split in economic activities (to the Malays the political-administrative apparatus and the primary sector; to the Chinese the commercial-industrial one; to the Indians the function of reservoir of generally unskilled labor), in the cultures, in the language (Malay is the national language, but the Chinese speak dialects of southern China and the Indians Tamil), in religion (Muslim for the Malays, Buddhist and Taoist for the Chinese, Hindu or Muslim for the Indians), in customs and even in food traditions. The division of powers and fields of activity inevitably creates social ghettos with mutual distrust and exclusion, elements that do not allow for social integration to be foreseen as next, despite the attempts made also by means of development plans; with these considerable progress has been made in the economic field, at least compared to other countries in Southeast Asia, but the fractures between ethnic communities have been widened, while the gap between urban society (largely Chinese) and rural society (predominantly Malay) has grown. For the fear of a Chinese numerical prevalence, it was decided first to restrict the right of citizenship, then to delegate to the head of the federation (currently Abdul Halim Mu’azam Shah, Sultan of Kedah) the power to appoint elected members of Parliament in a manner to constantly guarantee a Malaysian majority. 84.3% of the residents live in the western part, that is in the continental part, 6.3% in Sabah and 9.4% in Sarawak, making up the eastern part. In the first, the annual growth rate is 2.4% (1963-72), the birth rate is 33.8 ‰, the mortality is 7.3 ‰, but infant mortality is still very high (40.8 ‰ in the 1970). The demographic development is higher in the two states of Sabah and Sarawak where, in order, they reach 3.7% and 3.4% (1963-72). Alongside traditional crops (rice, cassava, coconut palm, etc.) oil palm plantations are increasingly expanding (11,350,000 q of oil in 1975), which in some ways seem to want to supplant those of rubber (1,563,600 tons in 1976), and plantations of tropical fruit, especially bananas and pineapples. The plantations are gradually being modernized and extended under the leadership of a special body, the Federal Land Development Authority. Tin continues to be the main production in the country, the largest deposits are found along the western slope of the Central-Malaysian mountain range near Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur. In 1976 the quantity of tin extracted was 63,396 t (first place in the world). Iron deposits are found in Terengganu, near Dungun and in Pahang: 270,000 tons of metal. The discovery and exploitation of oil in Sarawak is recent, for t 4,339,200. The industrial zones are increasing: from those of Penang and Butterworth (foundries, shipyards, oil mills) to that of Kuala Lumpur, along the highway leading to the airport (mechanical workshops, rubber factories, soap factories) and to Port Kelang which today proposes as an alternative to the now over-saturated port of Singapore. Other industrial districts are found in Sarawak, Lutong (oil refineries), Kuching (textile plants, soap factories, antimony foundries) and Sibu (tobacco factories).
The railway lines reached a length of 2163 km in 1972; the roads 18,100 km in 1973, of which 15,786 km are asphalted.
History. – The idea of forming a federation comprising the Malaysian Union, Singapore and the British colonies of Borneo, i.e. Sarawak, Northern Borneo (Sabah) and Brunei, was first put forward by the Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman the May 26, 1961. The English supported the proposal if they did not inspire it. The federation appeared to be a way to prevent the granting of independence to Singapore from leaving that important position exposed to Communist influence, with the vast majority of the population (over 75%) being Chinese; or that its integration into Malaysia alone would modify the already precarious balance between Chinese and Malaysians. The birth of the new state was proclaimed on September 16, 1963, after the internal opposition coming mainly from the Chinese of Singapore and the opposing reservations from the Philippines (Manila agreement of August 15, 1963), which claimed ancient rights over northern Borneo, were won. The difficulties posed by Brunei, which preferred not to join, and the hostility of Indonesia, which manifested itself in the following months with aid to the nationalist guerrillas of northern Borneo and with incursions of commandos on those shores. However, the Indonesian opposition also fell away with Sukarno’s exhaustion (Jakarta agreement of August 1966). The major problem of the new state was, as was to be expected, the difficult coexistence between the Malay and Chinese ethnic groups. This led to the secession of Singapore in 1965, to which economic reasons and the rivalry between the Tunku and the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew, whose Popular Action party competed with the Malaysian Alliance, were not unrelated.. The latter won 89 seats out of 104. In the five years of the legislature the Alliance lost much of its following, having the policy of collaboration between ethnic groups displeased both the Malaysian conservatives in favor of an integral malization and the Chinese who accused the Tunku of practicing a ” opposition) regained the two-thirds majority it had before the crisis. In foreign policy Malaysia has followed a policy of neutrality and regional agreements. In 1967 he established ASEAN (Association of South East Asia Nations) with Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore, which was scarcely vital even for the rekindling in 1968 of the controversy with the Philippines; and on April 15, 1971, it entered into defense agreements with England, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. After the Sino-American rapprochement and the American disengagement from Southeast Asia, Malaysia has rejoined China. In May 1974 Abdul Razak traveled to Beijing and Malaysia was the first ASEAN state to recognize the People’s Republic of China.
