Malaysia Travel Tips

Malaysia Travel Tips (9 April, 2004)


B. Melayu

Malaysia Travel Tips provides you useful tips for planning your visit to Malaysia, with information on every state in the country.

Hi! My name is Timothy Tye, and I'm the author of this website. When I started this website back in 2008, I called it Penang Travel Tips because at that time, I intended to describe only my hometown Penang. Since then, I have expanded to write about every state in Malaysia, as well as on Singapore. "Penang Travel Tips" has become a brand name for my website, though nowadays, I have "travel tips" for every state as well as general tips for the entire country. To write this website, I have travelled across thousands of kilometers crisscrossing the country, with more trips planned in the future, so that I can provide you a look-and-learn discovery of Malaysia.

Malaysia in brief

Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. It has a total landmass of 330,803 square kilometers (127,724 square miles). The country is divided into two parts by the South China Sea. These are presently known as Peninsular Malaysia (130,598 sq km/50,424 sq miles) and East Malaysia (200,565 sq km)¹, representing 61% of the landmass but only about 20% of the population.

The capital of Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur while the administrative capital is Putrajaya. The island of Labuan is also part of the Federal Territories of Malaysia.

KLIA (1 March, 2006)

Arriving in Malaysia

The majority of visitors arrive in Malaysia by flight, with a good number arriving by road and by rail from Thailand and Singapore, and some by sea.

There are five international airport in Malaysia namely the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Kota Kinabalu International Airport, Penang International Airport, Kuching International Airport, Senai International Airport and Langkawi International Airport.

I will describe below how most visitors arrive via KLIA. For the other international airports, please refer to their respective pages in the links above.

Arriving at KLIA and KLIA2

The Kuala Lumpur International Airport comprises KLIA and KLIA2. KLIA is the main terminal. This is where most of the international flights arrive, and is the home for Malaysia Airlines, the country's main flag carrier. KLIA comprises the main building as well as a satellite building, which is linked by a free aerotrain service.

Next to KLIA is KLIA2, the low-cost carrier terminal. This is the home to AirAsia, the main low-cost carrier airline.

KLIA2 (6 July, 2016)


Upon arriving at KLIA or KLIA2, follow the signages to exit the airport. For more details, please read Arriving At KLIA main terminal and KLIA2 User Guide.

Map of the States and Federal Territories of Malaysia

This website offers you information on the tourist attractions and places of interest all over Malaysia. To make it easier for you to find your way about, I have separated them into the places in the Federal Territories and the places in the States of Malaysia.

Explore the Federal Territories of Malaysia

Explore the States of Malaysia

Discover Explore, Discover and Enjoy Malaysia !

Directory of Sights and Businesses in Malaysia

For a one-time fee, your business will be added to this directory, so that customers will be able to find you. Click on Form below to see the pricing details.

Form

Administrative Divisions of Malaysia

Malaysia comprises three Federal Territories and thirteen states. The states in Peninsular Malaysia, as well as the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, are subdivided into districts. Districts are administered under district councils (majlis daerah), while some of the bigger towns and their surrounding areas administered by municipal councils (majlis perbandaran). Towns with city status are administered by city councils (majlis bandaraya), which is also called city hall (dewan bandaraya) in the case of Kuala Lumpur. The districts and municipalities are further subdivided into counties (mukim).

The Federal Territory of Putrajaya is subdivided into precincts while the Federal Territory of Labuan comprises Bandar Labuan and 27 administrative villages (kampung). The states of Sabah and Sarawak are subdivided into divisions (bahagian) which are then further subdivided into districts (daerah).

Government of Malaysia

Malaysia is a federal constitutional elective monarchy with the head of state being the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, or King, who is elected to the office for a five-year term among the nine hereditary rulers of the Malay states. At time of writing (May 2018), the King of Malaysia is Muhammad V of Kelantan.

The Parliament of Malaysia comprises the lower house (House of Representatives), which comprises 222 members (known as Members of Parliament), elected for a maximum term of 5 years; and the upper house (Senate), comprising 70 members (known as Senators), who sit for 3-year terms. Of the 70 Senators, 26 are elected by the 13 State Assemblies while the remaining 44 are appointed by the King upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Parliamentary election follows the first-past-the-post system.

Executive power of the Government of Malaysia is vested in the Cabinet, which is led by the Prime Minister, who is both the Head of Cabinet and Head of Government.

Geography of Malaysia

Malaysia covers 329,613 square kilometers (127,264 square miles). It comprises Peninsular Malaysia (also called West Malaysia) and East Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia shares land borders with Thailand, while East Malaysia shares land borders with Indonesia and Brunei. Peninsular Malaysia is also physically linked to Singapore by the Johor-Singapore Causeway and the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link.

Peninsular Malaysia measures 740 km (460 miles) from north to south, and is roughly 322 km (200 miles) at its widest. The East and West Coasts of Peninsular Malaysia are separated by the main range, Banjaran Titiwangsa, with its tallest peak being Gunung Korbu (2,183 m / 7,162 ft). The tallest peak in Peninsular Malaysia is Gunung Tahan (2,187 m / 7,175 ft) while the longest river is Sungai Pahang (459 km / 285 mi).

Economy of Malaysia

As of 2014, Malaysia has a Gross Domestic Product at Purchasing Power Parity of US$746.821 billion, giving it the third largest GDP in the ASEAN region behind the more populous Indonesia and Thailand, and the 28th largest in the world¹ It is the 28th largest economy in the world, and according to HSBC economist Karen Ward², the economy will in 2050 grow to US$1.2 trillion, making it the 21st largest in the world.

Population of Malaysia

The most populous state in Malaysia is Selangor (as of 2000)³, with a population of 4.2 million people, followed by Johor (2.7 million) and Sabah (2.6 million). Selangor also recorded the highest percentage of in-migrants of any state in Malaysia, 28.2% in 2003-2004 and 16.4% in 2006-2007, with the majority coming from Kedah (8,900), Perak (6,500), the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (5,300) and Kelantan (4,400).

The state of Penang has the highest percentage of migrants, for the period of 2008 to 2009, with the highest number of net migrants (15,400), a contra of 20.7% in-migrants and 5.3% out-migrants. In other words, of 100 persons who either moved to or out of Penang, the state received 60 addition persons.

References

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