The Malaysian government has put in place a plan for Malaysia to become a fully developed nation both economicaly and socially by the year 2020. The country is already a long way ahead in this aim, especially in the capital.

Malaysia is a federation of thirteen states in Southeast Asia. The country consists of two geographical regions divided by the South China Sea:

• Peninsular Malaysia (or West Malaysia) on the Malay Peninsula shares a land border on the north with Thailand and is connected by the Johor-Singapore Causeway and the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link to the south with Singapore.

• Malaysian Borneo (or East Malaysia) occupies the northern part of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia and surrounding the Sultanate of Brunei. It consists of the states of Sabah and Sarawak and the federal territory of Labuan.

  The name "Malaysia" was adopted in 1963 when the Federation of Malaya (Malay: Persekutuan Tanah Melayu) Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak formed a 14-state federation. Singapore was expelled from the federation in 1965 and subsequently become an independent country.

Cultural Diversity

Malaysia exhibits a unique blend of cultural diversity that is difficult to find elsewhere. The fusion between Malay, Indian and Chinese tastes in everything offers something very different to anywhere else in Asia.

Although politically dominated by the Malays, modern Malaysian society is heterogeneous, with substantial Chinese and Indian minorities.[7] Malaysian politics have been noted for their allegedly communal nature[8]; the three major component parties of the Barisan Nasional each restrict membership to those of one ethnic group.