Since we’ll be here for the next few days – either virtually or in person, we thought we would give you a quick fact sheet about Malaysia.
You’ll see why it is so fitting that the Global Peace Convention 2013 is in Kuala Lumpur with the theme: “Unity in Diversity: Creating Social Cohesion through Universal Aspirations, Principles and Values”.
- BIODIVERSITY: Malaysia ranks 17 in Megadiverse Countries. Megadiverse is a term dedicated for countries which have rich biodiversity. Kuala Lumpur captures this as a metropolis surrounding by rich tropical greenery.
- EDUCATION: Last year the Malaysian Ministry of Education issued the National Education Blueprint. It calls for holistic education that considers not only knowledge based skills, but critical thinking, leadership, multilingualism and ethics and national unity. There are five years of primary and five years of secondary education. The education system is divided into two categories: national primary schools, which teach in Malay, and vernacular schools, which teach in Chinese or Tamil.
- GOVERNMENT: Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy. The political leader is the Prime Minister. He is appointed by Yang di-Pertuan Agong from among elected members of Parliament. The king of Malaysia is elected from among the nine rulers of nine Malay States every five years.
- INDEPENDENCE: Malaysia gained independence from Great Britain on 31 August 1957. Originally the Federation of Malaya united with North Borneo, Serawak and Singapura. In in 1965, Singapore succeeded from the federation.
- ECONOMY: Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. It is the third largest economy in ASEAN and the 29th largest in the world. Malaysia has lot natural resources and now is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism. It is also an important center of Islamic Banking.
- RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY: The Constitution of Malaysia allows for freedom of religion. 61.3% of Malaysians are Muslim. There are also Christian, Buddhists, Hindus and other.
